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  REASONS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEPARTMENT OF AIR [[underlined]]

                General Statement [[underlined]]


  The United States is the only great power that would be self-sustaining in the event of war, in so far as men and material are concerned. No matter if hostile navies held either the Pacific of the Atlantic Oceans, or both, if the United States has an adequate military establishment which could be mobilized and concentrated within a month from the declaration of war, no base could be seized and held by those hostile fleets from which an offensive movement would be made into the interior of the country.
  If, however, these hostile countries held the seas, and even if they did not, but gained predominance in the air, they could reach our vital centers with comparatively little trouble, and cause inestimable damage, which not only might result in greatly crippling our power of defense, but might turn the whole scale of war. The Air Service Transcontinental Test showed that, with the average weather conditions in October (which may be taken as an average for the year) the distance from New York to San Francisco can be covered in twenty-five hours. The whole area east of the Mississippi River can be reached in a maximum time of eight hours flying time from our Atlantic and the Gulf Coast. Within this area is included the whole defensive heart of the nation.
  The Panama Canal, our insular possessions, and points west of the Mississippi can be affected in a proportionate manner. There-