ARMED FORCES: No Riders

Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson lowered the boom last week on congressional junketing in Army & Navy planes. Oklahoma’s Senator Elmer Thomas, a veteran finagler, had planned a two-month “inspection trip” overseas and he had asked Johnson to provide air transport for himself and eleven other Congressmen. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the armed services, he might have expected a soft answer, but instead he drew a crisp refusal: “. . . The services do not have aircraft to spare for trips of this sort,” wrote Johnson. “The cost . . . for such a special flight easily can exceed $25,000.” At those prices, Johnson suggested, it would be cheaper to use commercial airlines.

Said Elmer Thomas darkly: “I know Senators will not be pleased.” Then he snapped out orders for an investigation into military plane-hopping by all top Administration officials, including Secretary Johnson.