The copper era and Morenci leader., 1917-12-28
NO TIME FOR HYSTERIA

that goes hysterical or by country that goes hvsterical That Is the first thing to remem- per in connection wl,h all the inv 'stigations that are now under way in Washington The senate is investigating the war de- partment the food administration and the coal administration, and has ordered an inquiry ln- to the shipping board and the railroads. The house is investigating the navy. Sen- ator Gallinger is in an acute state of excite ment over the salary paid to George Greet and has introduced resolution to investigate It. Representative Gillett, the substitute repubh- can leader of the house, is equally excited over the money that the treasury department spent in floating the Second Liberty Loan. Although it was the French government which insisted that the United States should use French artillery. Representative McCor- mick rushes home to say that the French have no artillery to spare and that must make 25,00Q- cannon at once
 Secretary Baker has had to stop his work to explain to the senate that military distinc- tions in rank are not necessarily social distin- 1 tions. Every day we are assured that no politics
 has entered into these investigations and that | no personal considerations involved. Even Senator Reed, who tried to defeat the food administration act, who bitterly assailed Mr:e Hoover and tried to prevent his appointment, insists that he is seeking only to uncover the facts although he has refused to permit Mir. Hoover to testify Senator Harding, in offer ing his resolution for an investigation of the shipping board, practically apologized for be- ling republican, and Senator Frelnghuy- sens ceivable blunders'' committed was ac- companied by disclaimer of political
 tives
 Be that as it may, what has happened in
 Washington is that Congress has suddenly dis
 covered that we engaged in a great war,
 and that war is not quite so simple or placid AS peace When the comparatively modest ordnance department of the United States army has to be expanded almost overnight to German proportions, there is confusion of counsel and delay in reaching a condition of 100 per cent efficiency. When the commissary . department of the little regular army IS forced | to become the greatest industrial and mercan l tile establishment in the country, greater than the Steel Trust of the Standard Oil, mistakes are made in adjusting it to its new demands and it fails at the outset to function proper ly.
 The blunders of delays no greater per
 haps than those of haste, and blunders there
 are bound to be- The unsatisfactory sanitary ' condition of certain camps, as revealed by
 Major General Gorgas is due to the haste of
 getting the troops into training yet if the war
 department had waited until every camp fully equipped, the net results would have been far worse. Nobody has yet devised a way
 to take all the hardship and privation out of war; nobody will.
 Congressional investigations are institu-
 ted for the purpose of disclosing what has
 been done badly, not what has been done well,
 and the country is now getting glimpse of
 the seamy side of a wonderful achievement.
 It is just as well that it should, provided the
 American people keep their heads and refuse
 to allow every recorded mistake to shake their
 nerves.
 It has been said apropos of military blum
 ders that while the Germans wash their dirty
 Timer in the cellar the French and British
 wash theirs in the city hall square. That is
 our way too But not merely
 by washing dirty linen by magnifying fail
 ures and shortcomings They won by con-
 fdence and courage and resolution. The American people may be that congress
 will not investigate the German army out ot
 it's trenches and that Prussian autocracy will
 never be o7erthrown by Congressional nag
 be muddling but who at least muddling il