EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. THEORDORE FRANCIS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01731R000500380052-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 5, 2002
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: July 16, 1947
• Content Type: OPEN

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(Not printed at Government expense)
United States
of America
COD R Ord
grtv.-4 Iona cc.
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 80th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
Lecture by Mr. Antoine Gazda
HON. THEODORE FRANCIS GREEN
OF RHODE ISLAND
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Friday, July 18 (legislative day of
Wednesday, July 16), 1947
Mr. GREEN. Mr. President, during
the war the State of Rhode Island made
an outstanding record of production.
One of the great contributors to its suc-
cess was'Mr. Antoine Gazda, a native of
Austria although now a citizen of Rhode
Island -He-was a-flyer -in-World War I,-
well known for his armament and avia-
tion inventions. He revolutionized avia-
tion when he brought ou the first jet-
propelled helicopter 3 years ago.
On April 22 of this year he delivered
a lecture before the American Society
of Civil Engineers and the Rhode Island
Society of Professional Engineers. I ask
unanimous consent to have it printed
in the Appendix of the RECORD.
There being no objection, the lecture
was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,
as follows:
Mr. President, gentlemen, it certainly is a
great honor for me to be with you tonight,
and I was happy to be able to accept Mr.
Blais' kind invitation to address this dis-
tinguished gathering.
Not being much of a speaker, and my Aus-
trian mother tongue still struggling with my
English, I felt a little uncomfortable when
Mr. Blais asked me to address you. As a
matter of fact, I felt like the Duke of Welling-
ton before the Battle of Waterloo, when he
was asked what his chances were and what
he thought about his generals; he answered,
"When the enemy is as afraid of my gen-
756411-22112
erals as I am, then I- shall win the battle."
And he did.
Another problem for me was the subject
on which to speak to you.
Being in New England, the cradle of the
great American industry, and having myself
been connected for a life-time with patents
and industry, I decided to talk.to you about
New England industry, particularly in Rhode
Island, where I settled in 1940 to organize
a new branch of industry.
You may be interested to know why I chose
Rhode Island.
country-America-famous for its mass pro-
duction, as a peace-loving Nation had the
smallest defense industry, in proportion to
its size and resources, that I had ever come
across. In fact, for its gun models it was
almost entirely dependent upon foreign de-
signs and licenses. Switzerland, the oldest.
democracy in the world, is also well-known,
as a peace-loving nation, though a small.
one, but I found that in America there was.
not one armament factory organized and.
equipped in a manner to compare with our
Swiss-Oerlikon Works. There were prac-
I came to this State in 1940, although this tically no machine tools to be had for im-
was not my first visit to America. As a-mediate _use-for-armament work.- Therewas
matter of fact, I had been here eight times
before, each time fascinated anew by the
tremendous and exciting strides in ideas and
production methods made by America's justly
famous engineering talent. I was already
very familiar with American mass produc-
tion-especially in the automotive and avia-
tion industries, in which I had many friends,
having previously visited their plants from
the east to the west coast.
When I flew to the United States in May
1940, a few weeks before the collapse of
France, I carried with me all - the manu-
facturing drawings of the 20-mm. Swiss
Oerlikon cannon. This new weapon had
by'then been recognized by the British as
the right answer to the dive-bomber, against
which they were now engaged in a life-
struggle, and it was my intention to organ-
ize the production of this cannon in the
United States for the' British Admiralty.
After my arrival in 1940 I traveled all over the
States, renewing my friendship with in-
dustrialists, Wall Street bankers and Gov-
ernment officials, and trying to interest them
in the manufacture of this weapon, or parts
of it, for the British.
To my astonishment, I discovered, during
this visit, that this big, highly industrialized
only a minimum percentage of toolmakers
and skilled workers for armament work. This
situation, of course, was not favorable for my
program. However, I was not discouraged
by all these setbacks, and proceeded with my
plan, as I wanted to fulfill the promise I had
given to the British Admiralty when I warned
them of the collapse of France-that I would
insure delivery of Oerlikon cannons from.
America. When the unbelievable happened,
and France did fall, the Swiss Oerlikon Works
were, of course, no longer able to deliver to
England,,and my purpose was to hasten pro-
duction here of the 20-mm. Oerlikon As.
cannon which the British fleet now needed,
so urgently.
I had heard about New England's machine-
tool and textile-machinery industries. Also,
Governor William Vanderbilt of Rhode Island
had heard of my presence in this country
and of my plans. He sent Mr. William Allen,
chairman of the industrial commission of-
the State of Rhode Island, to New York to.
Invite me for a visit to Providence. 'This.
visit soon convinced me of the skill of New
England's labor and its adaptability to my-
plans. A large proportion of the plants and
shops in Rhode Island were at that time idle,.
and my idea was that these would form an.
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excellent basis for the American production
of Oerlikon cannons. I made headquarters
with the Rhode Island Industrial Commis-
sion, who furnished me with a desk in its
offices, and I immediately went to work, with
the assistance of the secretary of the com-
mission, Mr. Clifton N. Lovenberg, and Mr.
.Cockrell, consulting engineer of the com-
mission, to locate production capacity for
this cannon in Rhode Island.
Before I left Switzerland, the Swiss Oer-
likon Works had shipped a 20-millimeter Oer-
likon antiaircraft cannon, as a prototype to
the United States. Unfortunately, this can-
non never reached the United States, as it
was captured on the boat in Bordeaux by the
Germans when they overran France. Never-
theless, I was able to arrange with the British
Admiralty to bring another Oerlikon cannon
to the United States by destroyer, and when
this cannon reached New York I shipped it
immediately to Providence. As soon as the
Oerlikon arrived here, I contacted Gen.
Herbert R. Dean, then in charge of the Rhode
Island National Guard, and asked for his as-
sistance. General Dean gave me his full co-
operation, and placed at my disposal the
State Armory in Cranston, where this Oer-
iikon cannon was exhibited, under heavy
guard, so that interested manufacturers
might be able to compare our drawings with
the actual parts.
I invited Rhode Island manufacturers to
view the cannon and drawings, and discussed
their po.-sibilities of manufacturing parts for
this cannon. When I realized the favorable
potentialities existing in Rhode Island, I in-
structed one of our Swiss Oerlikon engineers,
Mr. Lameraner, whom I had left in London,
to come to Providence to assist me in estab-
lishing the subcontracting organization for
producing this gun in Rhode Island.
I am happy to say that here in Rhode
Island I received a great deal of eager and
active cooperation in my plans. However,
among other obstacles-which I found par-
ticularly in Washington-I had to overcome
resistance from Rhode Island sources which
had no sympathy with Britain's war, ignor-
ing the possibility of this country's being
involved, and showing little appreciation of
the danger the world was facing in those
days. I also had opposition from sources
which did not care to see competition in
Rhode Island labor market.
Finally, it was in this little State of Rhode
Island that I had the privilege of trans-
forming idle workshops and textile-ma-
chinery plants, in the shortest time, into
756411-22112
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
important participants in the foundation of
what was to become a gigantic United States
armament industry. In spite of the lull
existing in those days, it was the traditional
fame of New England's industry that brought
me to this progressive State of Rhode Island
7 years ago.
When Gov. J. HOWARD MCGRATH took of-
fice. he asked a friend of mine to arrange a
meeting with me. When I met the young
Governor, he complimented me on what I
was doing to improve the economic status of
the State, and for the Allied war effort, and
urged me to call on him directly in any mat-
ters in which he could be of assistance.
From that time onward he was my keenest
supporter in all I did for the Allied war effort.
With its traditional industrial spirit, Rhode
Island proved equal to the task when, 18
months before Pearl Harbor, I started there
mass production of the now-famous 20-
mil-limeter Oerlikon antiaircraft cannon for the
British Admiralty.
Soon came the terrifying news of the fall
of France-which I had foretold, which
everyone had refused to believe, and which
was the reason that brought me to America
this time. The Nazi occupation of France
made it impossible for Switzerland to con-
tinue deliveries to England, and the British
Government immediately sent me a hurry-
up call to investigate the possibilities of
speediest delivery of Oerlikon cannons from
.America. The British had by now learned
by tragic experience of the danger of air
power. They had seen the terror of the dive-
bombers, which had devastated Poland and
Belgium, and which had sent .many of their
own ships to the bottom of the sea. No
longer did the British ridicule the danger
from the air to ships, as they did in 1936,
when I developed this Oerlikon cannon model
and proposed it as the only defense against
the coming divebomber.
You will be interested to hear that it had
taken me almost 3 years to convince the
British Admiralty of the necessity of this
new anti-aircraft defense. During the years
1937, 1938, and 1939, I had to fight against
many skeptical ordnance experts to get this
powerful cannon introduced into Eritish Ad-
miralty service. Most of these experts felt
that the mighty battleships and destroyers
of the Royal Navy could easily cope with any
threat from the air, and that they had noth-
ing to fear. Some even relied on their mighty
16-inch cannons. My records of those years
show that it took me 238 meetings with the
Admiralty officials, during 380 days' stay in
England, to accomplish the introduction of
this defense which they came to need so
desperately.
In my efforts to convince the British Ad-
miralty of their need of this new armament
against the coming dive-bomber, I was for-
tunate in having the support of Lord Louis
Mountbatten-then a commander in the
Royal Navy-who was one of the first to
recognize the significance of this powerful
new defense, and who gave me his unceasing
assistance and encouragement. It was he
who arranged so many of my important
meetings and who accompanied me on my
visits to influential officials. Indeed, it was
largely due to Lord Louis Mountbatten's fore-
sight and persistence that the British Ad-
miralty finally accepted the Oerlikon can-
non as anti-aircraft defense. He even came
to America at the beginning of 1941, and,
on the basis of his own battle experiences as
commander of destroyer flotillas, convinced
the United States Navy of the fact that the
Oerlikon cannon was the best defense against
the Axis dive bomber. Throughout those
difficult years of struggle, I was indeed grate-
ful to have Lord Louis' support. I am happy
to say that during that time there developed
between us a real friendship, of which Lord
Louis gave ample-proof during a temporary
period which was for me personally a dark
and critical one. Only a few months ago
we met again, in happier circumstances, in
Switzerland, when now Admiral Viscount
Mountbatten of Burma had to interrupt his
skiing holiday to obey the order he had just
received to assume the difficult task of being
the last Viceroy of India.
When America entered the war, little Rhody
was ready for Uncle Sam, and was able to
shift its Oerlikon cannon production for the
British Admiralty to the United States Navy.
The Oerlikon cannon was immediately adopt-
ed as, America's best defense against dive-
bombers and Kamikazes. Everything afloat
in the Allied navies-from the humblest fish-
erman's boat to the mighty Queen Elizabeth
(which carried 80 Oerlikons) -had to be
equipped with 20-millimeter Oerlikon AA
cannons. My Rhode Island organization, the
American Oerlikon Gazda Corp., whose mass
production was by then in full swing, also
had to help to tool up the General Motors
and the United States Navy Hudson plants, as
well as numerous subcontractors for the
speediest manufacture of Oerlikon cannons
for the United States Navy.
Now it may be reve?lcd that over 460,030
men and women were employed in making
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this 20-millimeter, rapid-firing, anti-aircraft
cannon in the United States during the war,
and on this Oerlikon program alone the
United States Government spent over $2,800;
000,000. Rhode Island itself produced $187,-
000,000 worth of Oerlikon cannons.
These figures show, not only how vital to
the war effort this Oerlikon cannon proved
to be, but also what an important contribu-
tion to that effort was made by Rhode Island
industry.
I believe I am not wrong in saying that
some of the gentlemen here tonight have con-
tributed a significant share to the production
of this cannon in Rhode Island.
As industry is so obviously dependent on
invention, and as many new industrial ideas
first saw the light in New England, I should
like to say a little about inventions.
Everyone realizes that it is to American
inventive genius that the prosperity of this
great country is so largely due; the names of
some of great American inventors-Edison,
Steinmetz, the Wright brothers, Henry Ford,
and others-are a proof of this. The Amer-
ican mode of living, economically and so-
cially, is and always will be-influenced by the
achievements of inventors and scientists;
indeed, the course of the whole world's pro-
gress - will-depend-upon-the-achivements-of-
such men. Unfortunately, those responsible
for guiding the world's destiny do not always
recognize this. For example, when the San
Francisco Conference tried to shape the post-
war world-a world of peace-they came to
the anachronistic conclusion that the key
to a peace guaranty would be a strong air
force. In so doing they neglected to take the
scientists into account, and it was not long
afterward that they were shocked into real-
ization of the power of the scientists. The
atomic bomb was released, demonstrating a
force whose significance had been entirely
disregarded by the United Nations repre-
sentatives at San Francisco, and on which
the nations of the world have still been un-
able to agree. A new problem has been posed,
and its solution will unquestionably be a
major factor in the shaping of the world's
future, whether for peace or for war.
We know that inventions contribute to
progress, and lead to the creation of new
employment opportunities, but for an in-
ventor to be successful, those three great
characteristics-intelligence, courage, and
determination are indispensable, as from idea
to production is a long and thorny path, and
not every inventor has lived to see his brain
child materialize.
756411-22112
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
As an inventor first of all looks for pro-
tection of his invention by a patent, it may
be of interest to recall how the early Ameri-
can inventor was protected.
It was under President George Washington
that Congress passed an act, in 1790, for the
granting of patents to inventors. The Secre-
tary of State in those days was authorized by
the President to perform this office, and it is
known that, during the George Washington
administration, Thomas Jefferson, in his
capacity as Secretary of State, personally
examined and granted many of the petitions
for patents. At that time petitions for pat-
ents were accompanied by a model of the
invention, and not merely by a drawing and
a description, as is the case today.
So it was in the year 1790 that the Ameri-
can inventor was first protected by a United
States patent. With the granting of patents,
American inventive genius was encouraged.
The year 1790, so important for the Ameri-
can inventor, was also important for the in-
dustrialization of America, in which New
,England has played such a noteworthy part.
It was in that year that Samuel Slater started
to run his first spinning machine in the
Slater Mill in Pawtucket, and by so doing
he laid the foundation for the now gigantic
American-textile-industry- in-this-smallest-
State of the Union.
Only 4 years later Jefferson issued a patent
for the cotton gin, the machine for separat-
ing the seeds from raw cotton, which, in the
truest-sense of the world, revolutionized the
United States.
American industry is still in search of new
ideas for production, and before the end of
the war, as recently stated by the Commis-
sioner of Patents, industry checked over
two and one-half million inventions, pat-
ented since 1790.
Some of these inventions, so ingeniously,
painstakingly, and precisely contrived, have
been fated to lie dormant for a long time,
to be hailed as something new.and startling
when rediscovered years later. Our old pat-
ent for the zipper, for instance, granted in
1893, remained practically unknown to the
general public until comparatively recently,
and the same is true of many ideas which
have contributed to the smooth running of
American life and industry.
The helicopters, jets, rockets, and other
sensational developments, which have revo-
lutionized their spheres in the twentieth
century, were invented long, long ago.
Rockets were successfully used by the an-
cient Chinese thousands of years ago. Jet
propulsion, a sensation in the field of modern
aviation, was invented by the Alexandrian
philosopher, Hero, in the pre-Christian era,
and was again demonstrated, in the seven-
teenth century, by the English mathema-
tician, Sir Isaac Newton.
The helicopter was invented by the great
Italian artist and inventor, Leonardo da
Vinci, who designed and even built a model
of a helicopter 400 years ago. That versatile
genius- was responsible for originating more
devices than he could launch in his lifetime,
and which we now take for granted as part
of our everyday existence.
It's the same old story-there's nothing
new under the sun, but a new application
of an old idea will awaken people to the
value of that idea.
Two or three years ago I was thrilled to
learn that there was to be an auction in New
York of 20,000 early American patent models,
and for a number of reasons I was keenly
interested. In the first place, having myself
trod the thorny path of the inventor for over
30 years, I thought I could appreciate what
a story of enthusiasm, hope, and often bit-
ter disappointment those records could tell.
Secondly, I saw in those models contribu7
tions of that American inventive genius to
which-the-prosperity-of this-great country- -
owes so much.
Having a profound admiration for these
models, I tried to obtain some of them. My
interest was intensified when I learned that
the models to be auctioned included some
from early inventors of New England, and
particularly Rhode Island. Therefore, I was
anxious to bring them back, if possible,
where they belonged-that is to say, to the
State of Rhode Island. Fortunately I was
able to secure 35 of these early patent mod-
els, all of them invented by Rhode Islanders.
Eight of these models, apart from their his-
torical value, are of particular industrial
interest to the State of Rhode Island, being
closely identified with the great American
textile industry, the cradle of which is
Rhode Island. .I brought these models to
Rhode Island, repaired them, put them into
working order, and awaited a suitable occa-
sion for presenting them to their native
State. I found such an occasion when, on
December 13, 1944, the United States Alien
Property Custodian exhibited alien patents
in the Providence Public Library. At that -
time I had the honor of presenting to the
State of Rhode Island these 35 historical
models of early Rhode Island inventors, and
they were graciously accepted by Gov. J.
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
Howard McGrath. They were placed on
permanent exhibit, as an incentive to pres
ent and future Rhode Island inventors to
contribute further to the progress of New
England Industry.
As I said a little while ago, almost all in-
ventions have to suffer obscurity for a time
and experience a rebirth before their value
is .recognized. I am certain, however, that
this will not discourage inventors from con-
tinuing to strive for improvements in Amer-
ican industry. and especially for progress in
New England. No amount of discouragement
or disappointment-material or spiritual-
can quench the spark when an inventor has
faith and inner conviction in his idea--when
he feels that he has something to offer which,
in one way or another, will prove to be an
advance in our civilization. Indeed, with the
all-round acceleration which we, in our gen-
eration, have witnessed-especially in the last
756411-22112
decade-inventors of today can surely -hope
that their aspirations will be reached much
sooner than those of their predecessors.
Whilst the pioneer spirit of New England is
necessarily tempered with wise caution, there
is today a keener desire than ever, on the
part of industry, to find new, forward-looking
ideas. It is the men of vision who always
have and always will form the real backbone
of any nation's progress, and when that vision
is supported by specialized training and the
keen business sense for which New England
is famous, satisfying- rewards may be con-
fidently expected.
The end of the war found New England
eager to induce new, out-of-State industries
to replace the mushroom growth of heavy
war industries, and in Rhode Island the in-
dustrial commission made tremendous ef-
forts to bring such industries to us here.
Such plants, however, although the loca-
tion on the waterfront and waterways may
look attractive for transportation and ex-
port, do not appear to me as suitable for New
England. This region has no steel mills, nor
coal mines, nor any of the basic requirements
necessary to support a mass production pro-
gram in competition with other, more favor-
ably endowed regions.
I do see New England's successful future
guaranteed by its traditional specialization
in quality and skill, as proved so well in pre-
cision tooling, textile machinery, jewelry,
and similar industries. Adhering to this
principle, New England industry will solve
the difficult problem of successful competi-
tion with other industrial States in the.
Union.
Thank you.
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