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| Fhe Lindbergh Affair. -- . A Double Error .-— QRLY by flying non-stop back from Paris could Chartes A. Lindbergh have achieved as nmuch publicity as he did on Monday and Tuesday when he seized the oppor- . tunity to become a martyr, an opportunity handed to him by the President. i ' " That ia the tactical error committed by a President - who was wise enough during his campaign to refrain so touch ae mentioning his opponent’s name. “That was only an error of strategy; but there was _ f deeper error of principle: —_s- , " _/ ” By using the power of. his office to silence Lind- /bergh, and by implication, to force his resignation as & 7 / Colonel in the U. 8. Air Force Reserves, President . a: ” Roosevelt has seni a shudder of fear through afl those * - qualified experts who would like to tell the’ American * people that we are building OBSOLETE combat, planes. ! With very few exceptions, the men who are quali- . | fied to criticize technical aspects of our defense pro- eed Ursa duction, are either in Army or Navy Reserve; or they have becn called into active service: or they bold a i defense job in Washington: or they are trying to land 7 at ™ B government contract. Critics Driven to Cover a: . In other words, if the fdea gets around that th President is going ta crack down on anybody who ’ dares express a contrary opinion té the “official view,” then the only way we can find out that we are Mmsaking the wrong kind of tanks and combat planes is to lose a big battle and the lives of hundreds of American boys. That brand of folly in high places cost France her independence as a nation, ij made Nazi war prisoners of 8 million French aoldiers. De Gaulle tried to tell France that tanks were needed to stop Hitler—all he got for / am v/ | “f “ his trouble waa a price on his head: and the nensity CSo-— HTT s France pays for not listening to him: is slavery, : America bas a martyr, too. His story has been told here before. Repetition is appropriate. It is the story of “Billy Mitchell, Chief of the A.E.F. Air Noree . ang first American to fly a combat plane over the \Ger- n hnes, * . y; “Billy” Mitchell fought, and died.for the reforms CLIPPING FROM in U. 8. Aviation that even the fall of France have not YEN YORE DAILY MIRROR yet brought about. : . In February, 1925, approaching a climax of his PATE AP R 3 01941 crusade for an independent Air Force, General Mitchell T. told the House Military Affairs Committee that the War Department was “auite incapsble of ereating, handling or administering air power in an efficient manner." That honest indictment brought General Mitchel the kind of erack-down Lindbergh got—he was demoted in rank to a Colonel and shifted to an “exile” post in exas. Stupid, Unjust, Crimiaatl He kept slugging for the truth; and got a court martial. Thirteen generals tried him. Those generals should be hauled up now and shamed publicly for their verdict. Ht stands out in U. 6. history for stupidity and injustice. Read it: “We ask the dismissal of the accosed for the sake of the Army, whose discipline he has endangered and whose fair name he has attempted to discredit. We ask his disminsa! for the sake of those young officers of the Anny Air Service whose ideals he has thadowed and whose loyalty be has corrupted. . _ “Finally, we ask it in the name of the American peo- pie, whose fears he has played upon, whose hysteria he as fomented, whose confidence he has beguiled and whose faith he has betrayed.” . ~ And now The Mirror aske Mayor LaGuardia to erect a memorial to “Billy” Mitchel! at LaGuardia Air- port, s memoria! to the best friend “those young officers ef the Army Air Service” ever had. . _ And The Mirror calls for more “martyrs” to-volun- - teer to carry on Billy Mitchell's crusade, to carry en his Questioning, his indicting of the Brasshats who are hold- ing back U. 8. Aviation. . ; . : And if they want ammunition for their questioning, | Why is the P-46 fighter plane, BACKBONE of the I TI & Ate Baensn mend aot . here tae te _