Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-25

admlnlStrat II al
itself, the fact
remains that the David Lawrence.
United States all told has less than
$50 first-line combat planes in both
the Army and Navy. 1t Will take at
least Is months for the necessary
combat planes to be built. AS
consequence. Herr Hitler would have
relatively easy time in the interim
bombing American cities and towns
with long-range bombers.
Do the American people know
these facts? There has been
studied effort to keep the truth from
them because if they realized the
significance of it they would be
disillusioned about Mr.. Roosevelt s
alleged experience" and demand
that the New Deal be turned out OF
power at the coming elections. 1t
took the British people quite while
to discover the weaknesses OF the
Chamberlain government and they
did not hesitate even in the middle
of the battle to Gust the then
existing regime and install MI.
. Churchill.
Businessmen Balk as "StOOgeS."
Today the administration has
sought to cover up its mistakes ana
failures on defense preparedness by
bringing a lot of businessmen here
to give an impression Of great actlV-
ity and alertness to defense needs
Whit rplPhPG
Capitol Hill is that some OF these
businessmen have baked at the
idea of being used for political pur-
poses.
One story going the rounds is that
when Senator Byrd, Democrat, OF
Virginia made his first statement
about the relatively small number
of combat planes actually on hand
the White House endeavored to OBJ
tain some sort Of statement from the
Defense Commission which would
refute the Senator's contentious. 1t
was found that Senator Byrd was
right. but it was sought to convey
the idea that he had wrongly inter-
preted the facts. AS the story IS
told. the President asked that the
Defense Commission authorize a
more optimistic statement which ne
had on his desk about the number
Of planes on hand and on order, but
word came back that the Defense
Commission members wouldn't do It.
Thereupon the President is repre-
sented as having given out his own
deductions based on available data
and as having attributed some OF
this information vaguely to the
Defense Commission.
When Senators have sought to
confirm what was given out al the
White House on this occasion they
we're told by one of the defense
commissioners that they had made
no written statement, but had given
"oral information" and the buck was
passed to the War and Navy De-
partments.
Suspicious Strengthened.
This kind of a run-around has
not only strengthened the suspl-
cions of members of Congress that
they are being misled, but that
actually the public is being misled as
10 the state Of our defenses by a
lot of promises and expectations. 1t
Is most unfortunate that among
some members of the stats OF the
Defense Commission itself there is
an air of skepticism about the con-
slant effort to use the commission
for political purposes.
The best information available Is
that the Army has about $50 first
line combat planes. about IS oombers
and no real pursuit planes. but lot
OF interceptor planes and training
planes which, while essential, cannot
do the work Of first-line combat or
bombing planes.
The Navy is supposed to have
between 300 and 400 first-hne COM
bat planes and about 200 bombers.
MANY contracts have been let
and many planes are "on order or
are TO be built as a consequence OF
Letters Of intention" furnished by
airplane manufacturers, but these
tragic and inexcusable delays mean
that. though fully warned by the
events of September. 1899. at Mu-
Mich. the administration did not use
It's big majority in both Houses to
insist on the building of a larger
air force It has used its pressure
for many other things Of less i'm
portance. The White House was
given plenty of advice on the sub
ject by returning observers in 1888
and 1t is not for a moment to be
supposed that Congress would have
refused to build up the air force
II the Executive had carried his
case = the country.
Time Lost for Politics.
The worst part of the situation IS
that there is no certainty America
will have her big airplane force even
IN 1s months or two years. For the
President has declined to appoint a
co-ordinator with full authority to
prevent bottlenecks in production.
Already valuable time has been lost
by the playing Of politics. Mr..
Roosevelt declined. for instance, to
push through q settlement Of the
amortization question either by new
law or by regulation this last summer
and has sought to impose the blame
on businessmen instead.
The delay in ironing out the tax
difficulties arising out Of new plant
construction has been most serious.
The administration has made a re-
grestable failure Of our defenses to
date. Based on the past record,
America may wake up some day as
did the French people and discover
themselves betrayed by the New
Deal politicians who apparently
would blame anybody but themselves
for the serious errors made.