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Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0527.PDF
Flight, May 16, 1918. ENGINEER? Fir»t Aero Weekly in the World. Founder and Editor i STANLEY SPOONER. A Jouraal deTOUd t* the Interest*, Practice, Mid Prog res* of Aerial Loeomotioa tad Transport. OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE ROYAL AERO CLUB OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. No. 490. (No. 20, Vol. X.) MAY I6, 19x8. and The Aircraft Engineer. EtHttrial Office I 36, GREAT QUEEN STREET, KINGS WAY, W.C. a. Telegrams : Truditur, Westcent, London. Telephone: Gerrard i8«S. Annual Subscription Rates, Post Fra. United Kingdom .. tit. ad. Abroad JJ». od. CONTENTS. Editorial Comment: « FACT LAffaire Maurice 525 Business and the State 6 The Season Ticket Ramp .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 527 A Patriotic Effort 527 The Spad Two-Seater .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 52B Honours 532 In the Hands of the Enemy 533 The Foklcer Triplane 534 The Roll of Honour 7 The Modern Aeroplane. By F. S. Barnwell, Captain, R.F.C 538 Airisms from the Four Winds 540 Trade Parliaments and their Work.—IV. By Ernest J. P. Benn .. ..542 Personals 544 R.K.C. Hospital Fund , 545 The British Air Services 6 Aviation in Parliament 8 Aircraft Work at the Front. Official Information 549 Legal Intelligence 550 Correspondence 0 SideWinds .. .. .. ., .. .. .. .. ., _ 550 " Newspapers are an essential part of our war organisation."— (.Sir Auckland Geddes, Minister of National Service.) |HE playing off of the soldier by the politician against the Government has reached a stage at which it has be- come intolerable. Not many days ago it was General Trenchard's resignation which was made the subject of an agitation against the Government. Still a little while longer since it was the retirement of General Robertson from the post of Chief of the General Staff that gave the politicians their chance to attack the Cabinet. NoW xt is the indiscreti°n of the late Director of Military Operations whichhas given the Opposition its opportunity. So far as concerns the points raised by General Maurice in his letter to the Press, it does not seem to matter so much whether they are well-founded or not as that the letter has certainly shaken public confidence in the manner in which the war is being conducted. Worse than that, it has—or nearly succeeded in doing—alarmed our Allies, who, with more than a little reason, gathered the impression that this country is a house divided against itself. The real gravamen of the matter seems to us to have been, not that General Maurice disagreed with cer- tain statements made in the House by the Premier and Mr. Bonar Law—statements which we fully believe, with some inside, knowledge of the facts, could easily have been reconciled—but that his disagreement was made the occasion for a political attack on the Government. For some little time the truce of God between the parties in Parliament was observed loyally enough, but during the past few months it has become abundantly clear that the group of politicians headed by Mr. Asquith and his henchmen have become tired of being " outs " and are determined, at all costs if their object can only be achieved, to turn out the present administra- tion and get back into office. That they should think for a moment that the country would tolerate another Asquith administration during the war shows how helplessly out of touch with the country and its feeling they—and the whole House of Com- mons, for that matter—are. We agree that the present Government is far from an ideal one. It has made serious mistakes, but it still possesses the confidence of the country in its conduct of the war. In the Party which aspires to office there is no shred of confidence. It has had its day and failed igno- miniously. But that is not precisely the point at issue now. The question which every thinking man is asking now is: How far is the use for political ends of military personages in their differences with the War Cabinet or with their immediate depart- mental chiefs to be allowed to go ? We have had three outstanding cases within as many months, and a few more will of a certainty spell disaster. It cannot be tolerated for a moment that a soldier who is dismissed from an important post, even though he may have been the victim^ injustice, shall be allowed to bring forward his grievances in such a manner that capital can be made out of them for the purpose of embarrassing the Government merely to serve the ends of Party. If such an officer has really been treated unjustly in being relieved of or superseded in his duties, he has his clear remedy in an appeal to the Army Council, or if need be to His Majesty. Not that in the case of General Maurice it would appear that this officer wrote his communication to the Press under any sense of grievance. On the G 2
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