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Show Roosevelt Ignored Army Chiefs' Objections To Let French Inspect Latest U. S. Bomber WASHINGTON. Feb. It IfT) Secretary Morgenthau told th sen-tt sen-tt military commute In cloud session ses-sion today, a member said, that President Roosevelt personally had requested that army regulations be relaxed to permit French air mission mis-sion to Inspect tha latest type of American bombing planes, despite army opposition to this course. was reread to the secretary and affirmed by him at this morning's meeting. The testimony wss not made public Immediately by the committee, but some members disclosed dis-closed portions of It It was ths crash of a new type plane, carrying a French air official as a passenger, that touched off the committee's investigation of the French plan deal Austin said teattmonr before the Kraua was attached, happened to become Involved. Kraus said he was a third party" to this transaction and could not explain. Morgenthau then told the committee com-mittee that the procurement division divi-sion wss called upon to act because, be-cause, although It was then not purchasing pur-chasing planes. It maintained daily contacts with plan manufacturers. Although Morgenthau and Secretary Secre-tary of War Woodring testified again today, Sheppard declined to say whether they had retraced the testimony they gave previously when they were reported to have engaged in heated debate over same points. 8heppard said he considered the committee's investigation of the French plan deal closed. He announced an-nounced that the committee would begin work tomorrow morning on the 137S.000.000 defense kill passed by the boue yesterday. Louis Johnson, assistant secretary of war; Rear Admiral C J. Peoples, director of the treasury' procurement procure-ment division; H. E. Collins, Peoples' Peo-ples' assistant, and Charles W. Toat, assistant rhiat of the arm and munitions mu-nitions office of the stats department, depart-ment, testified today In closed sessions. ses-sions. Meanwhile, there were these other development In Oi national defense-foreign affairs situation: 1. The bous passed yestsrday, 37 to IS, ths bulk of President Roosevelt's WM.OOO 000 defense pro-gram. pro-gram. Tha bill authorise $300,000,. 000 for air defenses, Including MOO new army planes, t33.7ftO.OUO for Panama canal defenses and 134,300,-000 134,300,-000 for "educational orders" to private pri-vate manufacturer. It now go to ths senate. I Senator Bridges (R., N. H.) said the military committee at his request bad agreed to call In Hugh Wilson, ambassador to Germany, for a report on conditions In Europe. Eu-rope. Bridges said he had a "suspicion" "sus-picion" that Wilson's attitude was less pessimist lo than that expressed recently by Joseph P. Kennedy and William C Bullitt, ambassador to London and Paris, respectively. 1 Senator Clark D, Mo. appealed ap-pealed In an address for legia- tCeatlniwS M rm Two) I Column renin The committeeman said the secretary, sec-retary, recalled by the committee, had reaffirmed teetlmony given January Jan-uary 2S and 2 to this effect From Senator Austin R.. Vt.) came a statement that testimony before the commute disclosed that army officials had -Tatted specific objections to permitting the French to see a Douglas light bomber that was being testsd for entry Into competition com-petition for an army contract. The French later contracted to purchase 100 of these planes. Austin said ths committee was informed. Austin aald the objection raised by the army officials were twofold two-fold that purchase of plane by the French might Interfere with speedy production of ship under the administration's armaments program and that the army would be denied its usual year's priority of use of the latest type of plane. On committee member said portion of Morgenthau's testimony committee by Morgenthau disclosed that President Roosevelt overrode specific objections from army officials of-ficials to psrmlt the French air mission to buy American planes of tha iatast type, In this testimony, Morgenthau discussed dis-cussed negotiations leading to the granting of special permission to the French. "I thought that I had made It plain," he said in reply to another question, "that we did it at the request of the president." Pressed on this point, he said that "the president himself" had taken the action and added: The president asked us to do It" Senator Clark D Mo.) had asked Captain Sydney M. Kraus, naval officer who accompanied the French mission on Its visits to American airplane plant, how the treasury procurement division, to which j Roosevelt Ignored Army Objections To Let French See Latest Bomber (Oealbroe Frees Pass Oee) latlon to "tax the profits out cf war" and for more stringent neutrality neu-trality laws. Espionage Law 4. Senator Barbour' R N. J.) proposed mandatory prison sentences sen-tences for persons convicted ef peace-time espionage or sabotage. Chairman Bheppard D, Texas) said the army expansion bill would go before the aenate military commutes com-mutes tomorrow morning. Ths measure pesssd ths bouse after Democratic Leader Raybum declared de-clared that "conditions in Europe ars mors volcanic today than In the early nart of 1814." I . ...... i V, V L Rsyburn waa arguing "against Republican proposal that ths purchase pur-chase of the 1000 new planee be spread over a three-year period. He said It might not be nscessary to build ths full quota of planes In the next two yeara, but added: "It might be necessary before the summer is over that America ehould set In motion the forces that will build the 2000 planes In the next 12 months in order to let the world know that America, In planee, In ships. In men and in equipment for those men, is rsady to meet a world In arms." At another point hs declared: "Wherever the frontier of America Amer-ica may be and we today are not compelled to name It I believe I speak the mind of the Inarticulate millions out there . . . when I say that, whsrever that frontier may be, the people of the land want America to be prepared to defend the frontiers." Roar Approval Democrats cheered and roared tnsie approval, .and a- minute 'later voted down the proposed limit on planes, which represented the only eerloua effort to altar the president's presi-dent's program. A proposal by Repreeentetlve Ludlow D, lnd.) to authorise Mr. Roosevelt to suspend any provisions of ths bill which might be obviated by agreements worksd out In a dls-armamsnt dls-armamsnt conference was ruled out of order. Of the IS members voting against the measure, 1 were Republicans: Belles, Thill and Murray of Wisconsin; Wis-consin; Carlson, Lambertaon, Hope ' and Reee of Kansas; Curtis of Nebraska, Ne-braska, Knutson and H. Carl An-dsreen An-dsreen cf Mlnneeote, Lemke and Burdick of North Dakota, Rich of Pennsylvania and Rockefeller of ' Nsw York. Tha lone Democrat was ' Houston of Kansas. SENATOR AUSTIN REVEALED HIS TESTIMONY , Secretary Morgan thaa. . .Again face committeemen |
