The Wilmington morning star., 1947-07-28
BY WESTBROOK FEGLER
. Copyright, 1916, by King Features
Syndicate. Incl

Syndicate, lnc.)
There are several phases of Elliott Rose
velt's activities and associations, in addition
to his defaulted loans, which would be thor
ougtIy investigated by appropriate conmlt-
tees Of Congress L the democrats were not
in control and determined to suppress all in
formation which would tend to discreuit ;ae
character with which the party has endoWed
his late father. Practical politicians On botn
sides recognize that this character is one OF
,hc greatest assets of the democratic party
and the republicans therefore are as eager
to d;scredit it as the democrats are TO pre-
serve it. Whether the republicans, in a SINH
lar position, would act otherwise we Go not
know, Mr.. Coolidge did not try to project
he Harding administration. but it would re
!nsive to expect that the democrats Woui1 give
credit for @virtuous motives. Such is The
cvnicjsm of the game Of politics that repucl--
cans night not attribute such motives 20 h'l"'
Certain operations Of Howard Hughes. he
rich Houston, Tex, and Hollywood manulac-
turer, motion picture producer ana aVldtlop
magnate. would come under scrutiny were
~ ~tn,,b1 cans returned to power in Congress.
Huehes and Elliott Roosevelt are Intimate
fr;endc Huohes is also a friend and might
he called a protege of Jesse Jones, OF Hoaslsn'
the former Secretary o. Inc
Joneses have known him since his chlldhood
and RI gard him highly.
Tn 1e43 the Reconstruction Finance Corpora
ION nut up $18. 600, 900 to enable Hughes ane
Henry Kaiser to build three enormous "ooo
and plastic cargo planes, more IMAM t"lee ne
size If the BIG and capable OIL CARVING 49, 10
nersons. Construction began at Culver CITY,
cal hit Kaiser withdrew when it de 1elopeu
II, at the s18. 900, 900 would not produce even
one of these ships. Jones, as head OF the n +
c. +,1d Hughes he himself would have 10 pay
anv excess cost and Hughes earned on. Inc
sli, has not been completed, however, ans
if nav never fly. The experience may re
worth something to aeronauttal sclehee' ou'
there is, of course, no standard by waich TO
appra;se the value OF such lnformauoa.
The Army Air Forces had be come interested
in another Hughes plane in 1889. General
n Fl Arnold states that it seemed suitable
for military use and that the design was mgr
w Interesting because duramold construction
was r. be used and the ship presented the
nror,,~e of Improvement in the aerodynamic
and structural arts. Aluminium was scarce
and General Arnold thought 1t might be pos
S 'blt to get quantity production In So 'e Oh
he s. portage.
Or July 8. 1912, President Roosevelt person
ally inquired about this ship which General
ArncIo describes as suitable for high-speec,
long range, high-altitude service. The next
wear. the Germans we're knocking down many
American photo~-reconnoisance pilots in P-5o s.
1--WE need something that would do the JOB
and crtrun the German fighters" General
Arnold wrote. The British mosquito nad
proved itself but we we're unable to get mos
quitoes in sufficient quantities. The hughes
~airplane was the only one already designed
which appeared entirely suitable and which
cou!d be produced in time to do any goo.
On Sept. 3. 1913. General Arrold "verbally
directed that 100 Of these ships be bought from
Hughes. The aluminium shortage had passed
and the wooden construction had been aban-
ooned in favor of metal.
TIE cntract with Hughes was terminated
last September without the delivery OF a single
slip. The Army still expects to take two,
however, for experiments. The 100 ships were
70 have cost s48, 900, 900 plus a maximum ZEE
Or 4 per cent. Thus about sos. o00, 900 of pihlic
money was committed to Hughes projects
which produced nothing.
Elliott Roosevelt returned from Europe in
the a1tumn of 1943 and served Cor a period at
lie War Department as chief of the recon
naisalce branch. He was head man and it
was during this time that General Arnold gave
his verbal order for 100 Hughes planes. For
a number of reasons, technical and Industrial,
Maj.-Gen. O.. P. Echols had opposed the adop-
ton of this planv to the end, but was over
ruleG.
Setting forth his opposition, General Arnold
|WIOlS llldL IlOll6y was ICNC1 & IA u
lion when American lives and American vic
tory we're at stake.
81 let contracts Cor anything which offered
a probability of speeding victory. I would be
the last to claim that this process was eco
nomical in dollars. In fact, l have never
claimed that war is economical"
Wien Elliott Roosevelt, then a colonel IN
the Army Air Corps, returned from England
On Nov. Is, 1914, the Associated Press stony
said that John E. Meyer, Public relations
representative for Howard Bughes,2 was his
generally stopped at the Waldorf on his visits
to town Hughes also goes to the Waldorf and
maintains an apartment there.
''I1e (ElliotD was a guest of Mr.. Meyer al
a party at the Ell Morocco night club last
night the Az. said. Mr.. Meyer said
Colonel Roosevelt would 60 to Washington late
today"
Less than a month later, On Dec. 3, when
Elliot married Miss Faye Emerson at Grand
Canyon National Park, Ar,z., the press ac-
counts said Meyer again was at his side to
give the bride away and that Jack Frye, the
president Of TWA. the big airline, was best
man. Howard Hughes owns the controlling in
terest in TWA
Last December, Pan-American Anyways,
generally regarded as the pioneer in trans
Atlantic navigation, petitioned the Civil Aero
nautics Board to modify routes which had
been allotted to itself, IVA and American
Airl!nes.
Pan Americans petition said the routes as
signed would give W and Anerica An a
monopoly of American flag air service to Italy
and the Soviet Union and to most Of France
and Germany.
eve ask the board to reconsider whether
it actually desires to be guilty Of the gross
favor.tism to TWA,' the petition said. Fur
Their It charged that the board had practically
thrown Pan-Ameriran out Of France and Ire
land "for the benefit of TWA.'
Sam Pryor, a prominent eastern republican
and former national treasurer of the party.
is one of the chief executives Of Pan-Amerl-