The report of the Air Board ought to be reassuring to the country, gratifying to the service and satisfactory to the Congress.  It is thoroughly complete and represents the mature thought of the best talent in the country.  No radical change in organization of the service seems necessary.  The Departments of War, Navy, and Commerce should each be provided with an additional assistant secretary, not necessarily with statutory duties but who would be available under the direction of the Secretary to give especial attention to air navigation.  We must have an air strength worthy of America.  Provision should be made for two additional brigadier generals for the Army Air Service.  Temporary rank corresponding to their duties should be awarded to active flying officers in both Army and Navy.

Aviation is of great importance both for national defense and commercial development.  We ought to proceed in its improvement by the necessary experiment and investigation.  Our country is not behind in this art.  It has made records for speed and for the excellence of its planes.  It ought to go on maintaining its manufacturing plants capable of rapid production, giving national assistance to the la in out of airways, equipping itself with a moderate number of planes and keeping an air force trained to the highest efficiency.

While I am a thorough believer in national defense and entirely committed to the policy of adequate preparation, I am just as thoroughly opposed to instigating or participating in a policy of competitive armaments.  Nor does preparation mean a policy of militarizing.  Our people and industries are solicitous for the cause of 0111, country, and have great respect for the Army and Navy and foil the uniform worn by the men who stand ready at all times for our protection to encounter the dangers and perils necessary to military service, but all of these activities are to be taken not in behalf of aggression but in behalf of peace.  They are the instruments by which we undertake to do our part to promote good will and support stability among all peoples.

VETERANS

If any one desires to estimate the esteem in which the veterans of America are held by their fellow citizens, it is but necessary to remember that the current budget calls for an expenditure of about $650,000.000 in their behalf.  This is nearly the amount of the total cost of the National Government, exclusive of the post office, before we entered the last war.

At the two previous sessions of Congress legislation affecting veterans’ relief was enacted and the law liberalized.  This legislation brought into being a number of new provisions tending more nearly to meet the needs of our veterans, as well as afford the necessary authority to perfect the administration of these laws.