just cause of umbrage. Primary decisions of essentially European questions the United States will not be expected to influence. We were not and are not now in a position to dictate the boundaries of Alsace-Lorraine, of Poland, or of the Balkans. Our disinterested record, the splendor of our moral position will lend a peculiar weight to such counsel, advice, or warning as our accredited representatives may address to the European statesmen, but the character of victory is such as to foreclose dictation by the United States at the peace conference on European or internal issues. Nevertheless, on all international questions involving nations outside Europe or issues not directly European, or even European issues which might indirectly concern nations outside Europe, the direct and active participation of the United States is certain, and it may be that we shall hold the casting vote. So much the degree of our participation would seem to assure.

ROLAND G. USHER.

THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN

AERONAUTICS

BY EARLE REMINGTON

(President of the Aeronautical Society of California)

THE Hughes Aircraft Report is a strictly legal recital of facts, and does not go into the practical question of the programme or make any recommendations for improvements. It is known that more than a billion dollars has been spent for aircraft; but as our Government has not taken the people into its confidence regarding the aircraft programme, the condition of the public mind is extremely uneasy. Americans are fearful that the censorship enforced to protect military secrets and prevent the breaking down of army morale may have been extended to cover up a deplorable condition of affairs.

Government statistics show that appropriations for the year ending July 1, 1918 were nearly one billion dollars, and that approximately one half of this amount was for airplanes and motors. For this we have received something less than ten thousand planes, mostly of the type used for training aviators, and about twenty-five thousand motors.

There has been so much talk of the aircraft scandal that the public is now interested in knowing what salvage can be obtained from the wreck; or, in other words, what we shall have to show when the war is over for the expenditure of a billion and a half of dollars. There is reason to fear that the cancellation of the contracts given to the aircraft manufacturers will demoralize this infant industry, and that the mushroom growth will disappear as quickly as it has appeared.

We are now producing in this country large quantities of training planes which compare favorably with anything in

use in Europe. We are able to produce copies of English and French types of bombing and photographic planes. The progress that has been made in adapting these planes to American factory methods has been painfully slow, and we are today about where we should have been six months ago.

In aerial warfare the bombing, photographic, and observation planes are protected or convoyed by small fast combat planes. We have been compelled to depend during the entire period of the war upon France and England to supply us with these planes. At this time we are about ready to produce two successful types, namely the S. E. 5, an English plane adapted to the Liberty motor, and the LePere, which is a design that Captain LePere, of the French Army, worked out in this country. This latter plane is probably the best prospect of our entire aircraft programme. It probably would have been ready and on the firing line in the spring offensive; but now that the war is over, the contracts for its manufacture are being cancelled.

We are producing in this country the Curtiss motor, which is satisfactory for training purposes; the HispanoSuiza motor, used for advanced training and photographic planes; and the Liberty motor, which is suitable for bombing, photographic work, and certain types of combat planes. The Buggati motor, which is a European type, is about ready to be produced in this country.

The layman cannot understand why it should take so long to copy successfully a European type. It must be remembered that European and American methods of manufacture are totally different. In Europe the work is done by hand, employing highly trained mechanics. In America it is performed by specially designed machinery, which can produce in great quantity when once in operation. The difference in materials and in method of operation make an exact copy impossible. The Wright Brothers in 1910 were unable to have their motor copied in Europe so that it would operate successfully. The Hispano-Suiza motor required two years of experimentation before it operated successfully as made in America.

The public probably does not realize the vast amount of money that has been spent by this Government in the production of raw materials for aircraft. We entered the war at a time when the raw materials of our Allies had been practically exhausted. In the shortest possible length of time

we had to supply their needs as well as our own. Over $200,000,000 was spent in building railways, sawmills, re-saw plants, and kiln-drying outfits for the production of spruce and fir lumber for airplane purposes. Approximately $70,000,000 was spent to produce "cellulose-acetate," generally known as "cloth dope." It is applied to the cloth surfaces of the wings, etc., and leaves a deposit of celluloid, which stretches the cloth tightly and also waterproofs it. This material is a decomposed by-product of gun-cotton. For certain airplane motors castor oil was required, and money was expended by the Government to import beans and arrange for plantings with farmers in various sections of the South. This crop is now available.

A great deal of money was spent in acquiring and equipping aviation fields, wherein to train our aviators and mechanics. Of the original $640,000,000 appropriation, approximately $40,000,000 was used in acquiring and equipping flying fields. Practically every large factory operating for the Government has in its vicinity a Government testing field, where the airplanes can be given a rigid flying test before they are shipped abroad. In the neighborhood of Los Angeles the Government now has one of the finest balloon schools in the world. In the South we have one flying field specializing in aerial gunnery; in another they instruct in bombing and in another in aerial observation work. It is true that some of these fields have been located in places where, from a military point of view, they should not be. It is to be hoped that, since the war is over and fewer fields will be required, the Government will elect to abandon those that are not properly situated.

The first step in training aviators after they have passed their physical examination has been to send them to one of twelve universities for a course in theoretical aviation and for military instruction. The course given to our fliers is superior to that afforded by foreign countries, and it is to be hoped that these universities will be subsidized by the Government so that they may maintain a department of aerodynamics, including well-equipped laboratories, wind tunnels, etc., so that there may be developed in this country a large group of technically trained engineers having a thorough knowledge of the basic principles of flight and aerofoil design.

This country was in the war for a period of nineteen

months. At the outset, well informed military authorities stated that it would be two years before we would achieve our maximum power. Remarkable progress has been made in our air programme, but this country would not have been in a position for another six months to oppose successfully the aerial forces of the Central Powers. We have been forced to depend upon England, France and Italy for the advance training of many of our aviators and for all of our combat planes. The first of our aviators, also the first of our mechanics sent to England, were incorporated into English air squadrons. They fought as an integral part of the English Army. The American Army, even when operating independently, has been largely dependent upon Allied air squadrons for protection.

Airplane production, like the construction of a battleship or of a heavy piece of artillery, takes time, and can be done efficiently only by experts who are afforded every opportunity for keeping up to date in their own special subject. To do this we must have ample appropriations and the proper governmental machinery for the development of our air service. This can best be accomplished by the establishment of a Department of Aeronautics, having a secretary equal in rank to the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy. The Aerial activities of both the Army and Navy should be consolidated and placed under this department. It would then be necessary for the Department of Aeronautics to co-operate with the Signal Corps on problems of signaling for the perfection of the wireless telegraph, wireless telephone, and other methods of transmitting messages from the air. They should co-operate with the Ordnance Department in provision for the arming of our fighting planes. In addition to trained fliers we must have skilled mechanics, inspectors, aeronautical engineers, production supervisors and intelligence officers, so that we may maintain a well rounded organization, in keeping with the importance of the work.

The gradual development of commercial aviation should immediately be fostered by the Government. This need not be a total financial loss to the Government, but there should undoubtedly be subsidized companies who will establish passenger-carrying aerial routes, also routes between important cities for the carrying of express packages. The Post Office Department has already commenced the carrying of mail, and this should be rapidly expanded, particularly in vicini