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[[top left corner]] EDITORIAL The Washington Post Sunday, November 15, 1925 UP TO YOU, MR PRESIDENT The Mitchell courtmartial has disclosed conditions in the War and Navy departments which call for immediate and drastic action on the part of the Commander-in-Chief. The people are horrified by these conditions, and are looking to President Coolidge to assert the power of his office to correct them. The evidence of reliable witnesses proves that men have been sent to death through the ignorance and neglect of superior officers; that dangerously defective airplanes are still in use; that millions of dollars have been squandered without producing an air service worthy of the name; that the public has been misled as to the number and condition of airplanes; that a naval officer attempted to tamper with a witness for the purpose of eliciting false testimony; that the general staff of the army is utterly incompetent in the matter of developing an air force; that false reports were circulated regarding antiaircraft guns; that the facts concerning the sinking of battleships by airplanes were suppressed; that there is a lack of co-operation between the army and the navy in aircraft operations; and that the most influential officers of both the army and navy have been incompetent in dealing with the air services, and lacking in truthfulness in their reports concerning those services. The people of the United States have learned from the Mitchel courtmartial that they have been deprived of the facts regarding the true state of the national defense. Col. Mitchell's astounding accusations have been substantially proved by witnesses whose lips had been sealed by the military and naval bureaucracy. The people are amazed and disquieted by these revelations, which show that the United States at this moment is not prepared to defend itself in case of war. Public confidence in the directing staffs of the army and navy no longer exists. The public places confidence in President Coolidge. It relies upon him, as Commander-in-Chief of the army and navy, to set things right. He has lately appointed as Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis, a vigorous and capable executive who is conversant with his department and who, if so directed, would doubtless gladly reorganize the general staff and weed out incompetents and misfits. Mr. Coolidge has as Secretary of the navy a gentlemen whose repeated mistakes in speech and action have destroyed his public usefulness and greatly impaired the morale of the navy. [[top of center column]] The situation demands the personal intervention of the President-not as to Col. Mitchell, who is now on trial for speaking the truth-but for the purpose of restoring the War and Navy departments to public confidence and making certain that the national defense shall be brought and kept up to date. Col. Mitchell has been guilty of a breach of discipline by blurting out facts which army and navy bureaucrats had concealed. His offense must be punished, for the sake of discipline. But the facts remain facts. The War and Navy departments are the real defendants, and the evidence against them is conclusive. Mr. President, you have a competent Secretary of War. Use him! Direct him to clean out the general staff. Tell him to make sure that officers skilled in aviation shall have a place on the staff. Instruct the new general staff to work out a plan for developing an air force and co-ordinating it with military plans of national defense. You have an incompetent Secretary of the Navy, Mr. President. Get rid of him! Place at the head of the Navy Department a man in whom the people and the navy will have confidence. Direct him to throw out the incompetents on the general board, and compel it to work out a plan for developing air force in co-operation with the navy. What is the use of striving for economy, Mr. President, when your military and naval advised waste millions without developing an air force? The blood of heroic airmen sacrificed by official stupidity cries out to you, Mr. President! The people hear that cry. They are powerless to mend the situation, but they have you, and they rely upon you to prevent further sacrifice of life and waste of money. They are deeply moved and will not be satisfied until they learn that you, President Coolidge, are making it your business to clean out the War and Navy departments and build up an efficient air force for the nation's defense. [[top of right column]] LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [[beginning of written in pencil]] Pruk-11/15/[[?]]5 [[end of written in pencil] Calls The Post to Account To the Editor of The Post-Sir: In your editorial of Sunday entitled "It's Up to You, Mr. Coolidge," with reference to the Mitchell trial and the "cleaning up" of the War and Navy departments, your paper specifically states as facts ten charges against the War and Navy departments and against the personnel in these departments. It is not my purpose to take up the merits of this case and it will be sufficient for all of us to let it rest to its ultimate conclusion and settlement long after it shall have left the editorial and the front pages of your paper. However, in charge No.5 your editor states "A naval officer attempted to tamper with a witness for the purpose of eliciting false testimony," and in the tenth charge he states "that most influential officers are incompetent in dealing with the air service, and made untruthful reports concerning these services." These two statements require an immediate answer from every loyal thinking American to the editor of your paper. In reference to the first statement, your editor should be informed that a naval court of inquiry is entirely different from a court-martial and that it is the duty of the judge advocate of a naval court of inquiry to interview all witnesses as in this type of court there is no "prosecution," and there is no "defense," and in all cases it is the duty of the judge advocate to endeavor to place the facts before the court in the most expeditious manner. That your editor should have the audacity to state as a fact that a certain naval officer of unquestioned loyalty and years of self-sacrificing service should advance false testimony is almost unbelievable. Your editor must have run away with himself in a race with caustic language and forgotten that some code of ethics is also expected from an editor. In regard to the tenth charge, he flatly states that the most influential officers in both services have made untrue reports in regard to their services. This is manifestly ridiculous. Our country has been educating officers and instilling in them the highest code of moral ethics which has been the backbone not only of out national defense but of our country since it was founded. We fail to see why such statements should be made by editors, who undoubtedly have ways and means of ascertaining the true facts, and who are responsible to the people for conveying truth and not slander. RADFORD MOSES United States Naval Reserve. Washington, November 16. The Mitchell Case. To the Editor of The Post-Sir: Congratulations on your editorial in Sunday's Post on the Mitchell case. Let your good work go on, for it tends to help obtain clean government, what all good citizens should strive for regardless of political party. No one seems to be much interested in Mitchell personally, but all disinterested persons believe that the War and Navy Departments heed a good thorough cleaning out and more business, up-to-date methods and efficiency in those departments. E. W. MONOHAN Rockville, Md., Nov. 16.
