The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1915-05-14
FIGURES WONT LIE BUT
LIARS SOMETIMES
FIGURE

L pIGQll6C-
tions of the present administration are
purely pacihst. Bryan is candidate
tor the Nobel peace prize value $4U,-
UUU); Wilson holds to passion for
humanity which torbids all thought
OF Strengthening the national defense
while Josephus Daniels, the North
Carolina Nelson, expects every man to
do his duty at the polls only.
In the closing days OF Congress the
question OF the nauonal defense came
actively to the front. Congressman
Gardner presented an astounding sum-
mary of our military and naval I'M
preparedness, eliminating in a direct
charge that the appalling loss of Sub
marine "a in Hawaiian waters was
due to the neglect of the Navy by its
nominal head. 1t is necessary thus to
quality Secretary Daniels position
tor the real he'd of the Navy Depart
ment is the Secretary of State. 1t is
well known here in Washington that
most of the futile schemes of uplitt
with which the Navy has been demon
allied during the past two years had
their origin in Mr.. BryanS fertile
mind. Some go SO far as to trace the
genesis to the famous dinner of the
Caribao Society, where this admins
tration first showed its incapacity to
withstand raillery. Following this
dinner, with its aftermath Of executive
disapproval, there was another dinner
a similar nature, but given by an
organization outside of the admins
tration; and here the Secretary OF
State and Mr.. Daniels were put on
the griddle for their asinine perform
ance over the Caribao incident. I'm
able to get back" at this organiza-
ton, Mr.. Bryan, with one of those
queer quirks which seem to have per-
manent Judgement in his brain. deter
mined to "even-up" by flank move
ment of some sort on the members of
the Caribao Society. Turning to Mr..
Daniels he suggested the silly series of
orders which have SO bewildered the
navy; and from then on Bryan and
Daniels. working in conjunction, have
done everything possible to minimize
the sea power and to let the naval
establishment run down.
This policy has not escaped critic
ism, some of it of a savage character;
but the Navy Department apparently
resolved to suffer in silence. Mr..
Daniels said nothing-nor did he saw
any wood.
But at length he has unsealed his
lips. Congressman Gardner has been
going about the country telling some
plain truths about the navy as it is
now administered; and Colonel Geo.
Harvey has devoted an issue of the
North American Review to such ter
rife joshing of JosephuS that he has
been forced to sit up and take notice.
Last week he broke out into two
newspaper columns of commissions.
Addressing himself to the President
of the Williams College, which is To-
Gated in the green depths of the Berk-
shire Hills of Massachusetts and of
which numbers a son-in-law of the
President of the United States among
its faculty, Mr.. Daniels has spurned
Congressman Gardeners allegations
and denounced the alligator. His let
ter reads like a bill of specifications
would think from reading it that Mr.
Josephus Daniels discovered the U.
S. Navy, or had invented it or at any
rate had a copyright on it. AS a
matter of fact he has hardly yet re-
covered from the shock of learning
that warships are hollow. There was
some considerable of navy long be-
fore Cleveland first appointed Jose
plus to a ine-hundred dollar clerk
ship in one of the departments-and
there will be some considerable of a
navy long after Josephus has been
"rusticated" back to Raleigh, North
Carolina.
The Daniels letter bristles with
statistics. AS Abe Martin says: Fig
gers don't lie, but they can sometimes
pose" The whole effect of the letter
is like that of film of sea battle pic
lures run off in the scenic setting of a
Bronx Park movie studio. 1t is very
picturesque. but not convincing 1t
contains nothing that is new or startl-
ing; and, except in one particular is
based upon conditions which existed
panSion under Republican legislation.
This one particular is essentially
Democratic and there is no disposition
in Washington at any rate, to deprive
the Wilson administration of the
glory of it. The Daniels letter points
out that, since he took charge of the
navy, the enlisted strength has been
recruited up to the present total OF
more than $4,000 men, and that 1924
of these-or twelve per cent-have
been taken on since March /, 1914.
1t is no secret in army and navy
circles that recruiting is always more
brisk in time of peace when there is
general unemployment. Ours is not a
pugnaciohs people and our citizens
generally prefer civil life to military
life. When there is plenty of work
ashore there is no rush TO get into the
navy. But when there are no Jobs
in the shops men are willing to go on
shipboard. The FIVE thousand enlist
ed men whom the navy has taken on
in the last year constitute five thou
sand proofs of the disastrous effects
of Democratic policies ashore; and
acute observers here wonder that
some of the alert and foxy newspaper
men who helped Josephus write his
letter. ever permitted such emphasis
to be placed on this item which is q
direct and positive admission that {
Democratic tariff law has driver
America labor from the factory &c