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Show ! IN PREDICTS GREAT RESULTS II NEARFUTURE House Military Committee Is Informed of Government's Govern-ment's Preparations for War in Every Branch. AIR PROGRAMME IS SOMEWHAT BEHIND U. S. Machines Will Be in France by July and Protection Pro-tection for Our Lines Is Assured. WASHINGTON', Mar. h i;,.-Anicri,-an- Ijinlt. luLttlepkincH will t in Kran:e by July In Hiil't'ii'iiMit riuantily to insure ade-(iiiate ade-(iiiate air ihoUmUoii of tlie Hectors then lu-l.l by American troops. This state -nn-nt. rents on tlio liilieHt authority ami' wan matle tonight with full recognition ' of all lailuic.H uti'l (lisappointmcntH that1 have. liampf'i'M t lie development of (he all- programme. Kiwrts ami figures on 1 1 le aviation situ-' a lion an well as every other branch of the sovornineni'H war preparations were laid lixlay before virtually the full mem-I ber.siilp of the house military com mi I tee, J as yesiei'da y they were disclosed to the Kenato committee. J i Acting" secretary Crowed again presided 1 at the session In the rooms of the war council at the war . department, . where, the new policy of taking congress direct- ly into the confidence of the executive , ' branch of the government was launched. 1 Means Teamwork. The comment of Representative Kahn ! 1 of California, ranking Republican mem- i ber of the hou.se committee, expressed ; the sentiment of t lie house members on j the now policy, lie said it means team-' work by the whole government on the enormous problems that face it. The 1 figures revealed to the committee the immediate, current demands of the war programme, and the progress being made! In meeting them, lie added, made it clear i t hat the country was still una wake to , t he enormit y fo its undertaking. ITr, Kahn predicted that great results could be looked for from now on if the weekly week-ly conferences with the executive com-miltees com-miltees are continued. It was disclosed to the committee members mem-bers that the aviation programme is far short of what had been hoped for. Fig- nr-s --! in i;i t in- I'M- d er i -lei:, y in "T-cr-nta.- ti.Hl. l.:.Vf- Oc-Ml quit-d. i,..W'Vr-f, W'tic slioun to be wronir. S' sin-ii mii.-od mii.-od a( -ah 'illation has been evolved. Tli'1 actual di-l,iy can be figmed only in point i( tune. i Sixty Days Behind. The airplane production i ou;ra mine in the I'nited Strit.cs H t'lay su bs i a n t ia i ly sixty days behind v. hat had been hop(-d for by the niosi. sanguine otti'-ials. The foreign cuntiactK whi-Ii were lo have provided U.e initial fighting euniprnent for General Pershing's air frees ate still furt her behind. Tt.t-iv ih ft very indication, indica-tion, howevei, that some of the delay will be umde up. Kven should the sixty days" lost time stand, however, a. id even though th-:e Miiould be no deliw-ries .jn the ivjrop.-att ' 'on i tacts, i ieiieral f'erstilng will receive a considerable number of Atnerica n-built planes bv J Hi v. 10s Until ten of the time required to g-t a completed battleplane from the I'a.-torv in the I'nited Stales to the front i;ave been placed at ninety days. The w;i r department is now concentrating its efforts on reducing that period wit ii bright prospects of cutting it in half. Speeding-up efforts are being directed also at every oi her element of the air- . craft programme. Comment of Kahn. '"'here has been loo much optimism on the one hand and too little knowledge of t he greatness of the task on the other.'" was flepiesi-nta live Kalm's comment on the aviathm situation. War department ofiicials agreed as lo this. Were 1( not lor overop.t hn;st ic pi edict ions made before-congressional before-congressional committees and elsewhere, it is said, what the aircraft production boa rd and the signal corps have already accomplished would be rated as an extraordinary ex-traordinary achievement. In t bin connection It was learned that the undcrlving purpose of the bourd of survey, hearted by Snowden Marshall of New York, and to which Guv In McNab of Sap Kranciaco has been added as the third member, is to prepare for the enlarged en-larged aircraft programme of next year. A decision was reached some time ago than It was necessary that some outside organization, not too busy with details of carrying through this year's programme, be set to work lo find lost motion in the great machine. All the mistakes and delays de-lays are to be traced to their source, to correct Immediately all weaknesses' and Insure fulfillment of next ear's plans. Rests With March. The investigation, by reason of its scope, can have little effect on the present programme. Speeding up of. today's output out-put rests with Major-General March, acting act-ing chief of staff, and the signal corps. Tim eagerness of the war department and the air board to rush their taslc to sinless, Mr. Kahn said today, had caused them to phf-e contracts with manufacturers manufactur-ers who were unable to deliver what they promised. "(ion tractors literally swamped the capital in the early days." he said, "most of them anxious also to do their part, and promising all sorts of results if Riven a contract. In many cases it turned out t hat they were not prepared to handle their contract, either financially or in the m alter of equipment, and soon requests for extensions began to pour Into the department. de-partment. ""We have not suffered this experience alone, however. Kugland had it: France had it, and 1 am certain that Germany has had it. "If we can but lake advantage of these experiences we should make wonderful progress from now oil." |