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THE SPRINGS VALLEY HERALD, FRENCH LICK, INDIANA THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1925 The War Department General Staff vs. Colonel "Billy" Mitchell, A. S. By J. EDWARD CASSIDY, M. Am. Soc. C. E. For practicaly three weeks the War Department's Military Court's Mar- tial has been grinding away on the attempt to punish Colonel "Billy" Mitchell of the Air Service for tell- ing the public a few unpleasant facts about the failures and general in- competency of the War Department to properly administer the various elements of the National Defense. The entire presentation of the War De- partment's case consisted in produc- ing five newspaper men to whom General Mitchell gave prepared state- ments relative to the matter of Avia- tion in the War and Navy Depart- ments. About 90 witnesses were called by General Mitchell in his defense and although less than half of these wit- nesses have testified, tevery charge made by him has been proven true. Technically General Mitchell is on trial before a Court of "generals" with the War Department General Staff as the accuser, but in reality the War Department is on trial be- fore the bar of public opinion with General Mitchell as the accuser. Day after day as the trail progress- es testimony by the hundreds of pages goes into the record, not only showing that General Mitchell's charges are absolutely true, but that the War and Navy Department offi- cials have deliberately and continually given false information to Congress and to the public. "Swivel-chair" officers who would hardly know an aeroplane from a battleship have been placed in tactical command of air units and by their ignorance of aviation matters have caused the deaths of many fine outstanding young officers. The wreck of the navy dirigible "Shenandoah," with a large loss of life, as shown by the official records placed in evidence before the Mitchell Court, was due to a publicity stunt planned and ordered by "swivel-chair" officers of the Navy Department, over the protest of Commander Landsdowne, who died in the wreck. A navy "whitewash" board has been investigating the wreck of the Shenandoah, and not content with making Mrs. Lands- downe a widow, one of the Navy officers of this court attempted to get her to twist her testimony about so as to reflect on her dead husband, sent to his death by "swivel chair" officers of the navy. Following the failure to get Mrs. Landsdowne to repudiate her original testimony she was summoned to appear before the Navy "whitewash" Board, and when she appeared, she was subjected to almost agree of humiliation the Naval officers of the Board could devise. I seriously doubt if the conduct of offiecrs of this Board toward Mrs. Landsdowne has a par- allel in the history of this country. General Mitchell's charges against the Navy Department in the wreck- ing of the Shenandoah have been fully substantiated. When the members of the Courts- Martial selected to try General Mitchell was announced, it was plain that the General Staff had attempted to "load" the Court with Generals who know nothing of aviation, and who were known to be bitterly ap- posed to any change over the cut and dried methods of the War Depart- ment. The ranking member of the Court was known to be particularly bitter against General Mitchell and his ideas. He as well as another member were removed from the Court, for specific cause, while a third was challenged peremptorily. This changed the entire complexion of the court, and placed at its head Major General Howze, a distinguished officer of integrity and ability. Day by day the mass of testimony given by witnesses from various branches of the Service, former offi- cers, and from official documents subpoenaed from the War and Navy Departments, has confirmed and cor- roborated the charges made by General Mitchell against these de- apartments. The Court of Generals of the Army may convict "Billy" Mitchell of dis- obedience to "red tape" orders in giv- ing to the public information relative to the incompetency of the War and Navy Departments, but that will not wipe out the conviction of the War and Navy Departments before the bar of public opinion. General Mitchell is only charged with fracturing "red tape" but the charges made by him and proven not only by scores of witnesses, but by official records, show that officers and officials of the War and Navy Departments have been false to their oaths of office and to the people of the Country whom they are paid to serve. In cross questioning witnesses, it is clear that the War and Navy De- apartments are trying to put the blame for their failures on Congress and the President by using the old plati- tude of "economy" and small appro- proiations. During the past five years the War and Navy Departments have spent over four billion dollars, and accomplished nothing. Congress, who appropriated these immense sums and the public which has been taxed for same will not swallow this alibi. A clean-up of the War and Navy Departments is necessary and it is up to Congress as the direct repre- tentative of the public to see that it is done. The Court Martial of "Billy" Mitchell is nothing more than a smoke screen put out by the War De- partment, assisted by the Navy De- partment, to detract the attention of the public from the incompetency and inefficiency they have shown, but it is apparent that this is one time when the public declines to be fooled. On Friday (Nov. 27) the War De- partment introduced two witnesses against Colonel Mitchell, but under cross examination by Representative Reid, these witnesses gave valuable testimony supporting the charges made by Mitchell. The testimony against the War Department General Staff so peeved Brig. Gen. Edwin L. King, one of the Court and charac- terized the cross questioning as "damned rot." This was quite au- dible to the members of the Court, newspaper reporters and others con- cerned. Representative Reid, Mit- chell's counsel immediately protested such action and pointed out that in a civil court, the case would be stop- ped immediately and the jury dis- charged if any juror showed by words or actions that he had reached a ver- dict before the evidence was in. Be- fore any action was taken, adjourn- ment was taken until Monday. This incident simply shows the unfitness of General King to sit on a court, and if he remains a member of the Court, the remark will probably have far- reaching consequences later on. Although the so-called President's Aircraft Commission has not made a report, this moning's (Nov. 29)pa- pers carry what purports to be a com- plete summary of what the report will contain. The New York Even- ing Post published a statement be- fore the Commission had more than started taking testimony, stating what the report would cover, and as this statement is quite in line with the summary published today, it would appear that the taking of tes- timony was a farce as the commis- sion had its conclusions before it started. This commission was urged by the War and Navy Departments for the purpose of giving them a coat of whitewash before Congress could get in action, and it was also quite clear that the same interests which urged the President to appoint this unofficial commission was in- strumental in naming a sufficient number of the members to insure favorable action on a whitewash. Con- egress has done quite a bit of investi- gating on its own initiative and it is quite unlikely that much attention will be paid to this unofficial com- mission's report. There is one thang certain and that is the exposures which have been made during the past year regarding the operation of government departments will be the largest factor in the Presidential cam- paign of 1928. The War and Navy Departments have gotten to a point where they consider themselves above the public or any public criticism, and they have been getting away with it, but the public has become inter- tested in a way it has probably never been interested before and a strict accounting will be demanded.
