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[[newspaper article]]
VIRGINIAN PILOT AND THE NORFOLK LANDMARK, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1925
Josephus Bush, Speaking Confidentially, Says
Nobody Doubts Secretary Wilbur Made the Navy What It Is Today, But the Question Is: What Is It?
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"I do not anticipate," said Josephus Bush, "being summoned before the court-martital [[sic]]] which is now trying to prove that what Colonel Mitchell said about the army and navy wasn't so. I expected at one time to be called, but have learned since that my presence is not desired.
"I didn't get my information direct, you understand. It came in a letter from a captain in the navy. The letter was handed to me by an intimate friend, and I tore it up after reading it.
"The reason I have not been called before the court is that the general staff has learned that I know something about the operation of aircraft. In this investigation, that, alone, would bar me.
Next to "Judge" Wilbur
"With the possible exception of "Judge" Wilbur, I am the best informed man in the United States on the operation of lighter-than-air machines, and the manufacture of products therefor. Colonel Mitchell, while an experienced airplane man, has also qualified in our department.
"I have been following the court-martital proceedings fairly closely. One witness, to date, has not called Colonel Mitchell a liar. But for that fact I would be convinced firmly and positively that all he has said was true. It may be possible that this one witness was in error, or had failed to receive proper instructions from the general staff.
"I am very sorry that the court-martial has disclosed some criticism of the manner in which the Navy Department handled the itinerary of the Shenandoah. I know, personally, that Secretary Wilbur planned to cover just as many county fairs as possible. If he couldn't cover them all with the Shenandoah, he should not be criticized.
Made It What It Is
"And while I hesitate to speak in anything like criticism of the dead, particularly of so gallant a member of that staunch band of heroes which has crossed the river, I do feel that it was unbecoming in the commander of the great airships to question, for a moment, the judgment of so high an authority on naval and aircraft matters as Judge Wilbur. He is certainly one of the men who has made the American Navy what it is today.
"In America the electric chair is rapidly supplanting other forms of capital punishment, while in France they use the guillotine. (This paragraph, or course, has no reference, whatever, to any other statements contained herein, but is simply offered for your information.)
"When Colonel Mitchell's court-martial proceedings began I was in my old home, Ahoskie, N. C., recuperating from listening to a series of political campaign speeches, I expected to be summoned to Washington. and hurried on back here where they have a postoffice, and while I received a number of franked letters, Colonel Mitchell remained silent.
The attitude was unusual, and one I am still unable to understand.
Those Bluish Terms
"I served with Colonel Mitchell during the World War. I mean by that he and I were in the same army, and neither of us could do anything about it. I always heard him spoken of in glowing terms—glowing with a bluish, sputtering sort of flame, the same terms that were applied to all persons of rank at that time. And I am somewhat surprised that he didn't call me to testify in his behalf.
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cool, calculating manner in which experts on the air service like Secretary Wilbur, Secretary Davis, and other public spirited Republicans who sacrificed $5000 jobs to accept offices at twice the pay, have taken advantage of Colonel Mitchell, and, to all appearances, are trying to expose him to the American public. To me he is rather a pathetic figure. There he stands, solitary, broken-spirited, and alone.
"Out of the 110,000,000 million people in the United States, I don't believe Colonel Mitchell today has more than 109,980,000 supporters. The remainder of this great country, constituting former students at West Point and Annapolis, and other friends of the administration, are unanimous against him.
"So's Your Old Man"
"I have been asked repeatedly whether I am going to take part in the court-martial proceedings. The people who have asked me are the same sort who ask, "Is it hot enough for you?" and my invariable reply is "So's your old man."
"When I was in the army they didn't go to all this trouble when a man spoke disrespectfully of his superior officer. They simply threatened to make him a second lieutenant if it occurred again. And they carried out their threats, too. Today about the only thing a man gets for insubordination is a few years in Fort Leavenworth.
"I am wondering how long this court-martial is going to last. There are still several army and navy officers who haven't testified, but they are serving on remote posts and probably won't be called. They are afraid to call the army officers, because they will prove that the Colonel is right. And they can't call the navy officers from a long distance because their ships break up before they can get to Washington.
"I may have to go there, after all, and insinuate myself in the proceedings. I feel that my support is due to Colonel Mitchell, because we were boys together in Omaha.
"If the pressure of the public, which seems to demand my presence in Washington, does not lessen, I will have to go, against my better judgment. I would have been there long since, but for the fact that I am reluctant to take sides against my old friend, Judge Wilbur, with whom I was raised out on the West Coast."

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