Government Manufacture of Aeroplanes — 

 A National Menace! 



Bv Eustace L. Adams 



A GOVERNMENT factory for tlie 

 manufacture of aeroplanes and 

 motors. The specter which liaunts 

 iliose who hope to see the United States 

 take her place among the nations with a 

 fleet of aircraft which will demand, and 

 receive, respect ! The ex- 

 periment which cost (jreat 

 Britain nearly five millions 

 of dollars, and produced, al- 

 together, fourteen flying of- 

 ficers and seventeen aero- 

 planes at the end of a wasted 

 three years ! 



There is a strong South- 

 ern movement, of which 

 Senator Duncan U. Fletcher 

 is a leading spirit, to estab- 

 lish at the new aeronautic 

 base at Pensacola, Florida, a 

 government factory for the 

 manufacture of aeroplanes 

 and motors for the Navy. 



lurers. Experiment > may be conducted 

 there which will evolve a highly valu- 

 able type of military aeroplane. There 

 a highly trained force may be created, 

 and a training and industrial plant built 

 up, capable of infinite expansion on the 



A general view of the wharves at the new Aero Base at 

 Pensacola, Florida 



Senator Fletcher, in defending his atti- 

 tude, says : 



"I am strongly of the opinion that the 

 aeronautic base (at Pensacola) should 

 be equipped to manufacture aerojjlanes 

 and motors. Not to manufacture all 

 that we may require, but a considerable 

 number. This will act as a stimulus to 

 private manufacturers, as a nucleus for 

 a considerably increased output in war 

 times, as a check on any tendency to- 

 ward slackness on one hand, or too high 

 prices on the other, by pri\ate manufac- 



It is on these grounds that Flor- 

 ida hopes to see factories estab- 

 lished to manufacture aeroplanes 



government's 1,400 acres, 

 which would be of service 

 that cannot be estimated 

 to the country in time of 

 war. The government has 

 an opportunity to build up 

 a modern manufacturing 

 plant, school and experi- 

 ment station at Pensacola 

 that will attract the best 

 of the official and enlisted 

 personnel of the Navy as well as the 

 most skilled workmen." 



A year ago the Secretary of the Navy 

 requested the lUireau of Construction 

 and Repair and the Bureau of Steam 

 Engineering to investigate and make a 

 report upon the advisability of having 

 the Navy enter upon the manufacture of 

 aeroplanes. This report, which the Sec- 

 retary tran.smitted to Congress, advised 

 strongly against such an attempt. Some 

 of the reasons given were: 



"It would be a tremendous loss to the 



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