Evening journal., 1917-12-26

We are making public confession of
our sins IN the way Of unpreparedness.
At Washington many Of our war-mak-
ing agencies are under FIRE The o d.
nance Bureau and the Quartz masters
Corps Of the army and the Shipping
Board are being subjected TO critical
nquiry and shortcomings in manage
ment and delays on urgent military
work are being exposed The food and
'uel admlnist alton is also being in
vestigated. But the one agency Of the
COVE nment which has failed most
cOnspicuously has so far escaped the
critical attention which IL deserves.
That agency is the Interstate Com
nerce Comm ssion It's responsibility
for the condition Of unpreparedness in
which our transportation system found
tself when war was declared cannot
be shifted or dsavOwed The bureau
'hiefs OF the War Depa tment worked
under two masters. One was the Sec
rciary OF War; the other was Con-
. ess. General Crozier and General
sharpe can excuse themselves in a
measure because they had. after ALL
to conform to policy Of uon-expan-
sion laid down by the War Department
nd to limltat ons on appropriations i'm
posed by Congress Neither Cong ess
or the Adm.nisti alton favored even a
moderate programme Of military prep
"atOn. SO If War Department under
'hiefs We're content TO go on ravellng
and unravelling red tape and subst tu-
ting indec SION for decision they had
at least a pa tial alib when war
caught them with engines unhitched
and no steam up.
The Interstate Commerce Commits
sion on the other hand. was an indie
pendent, semi-julicial body. Il was not
under the control Of a Cabinet officer
and was not hampered in its work by
Interference from Congress. Congress
gave II a free hand and has always
gladly devolved new responsibilities on
10. When the House and Senate wanted
TO dodge an embarrassing issue like
the adjustment of railroad mail pay
it passed the decision along to the
commission That boly possessed am
pie power TO put the railroads in a
condition to meet the demands Of war
TO a reasonable extent.
But it never dreamed Of such a con-
tingency as war Even when the war
in Europe broke out It refused TO re-
cognize the enormous change in the
relations of the railroads and the pub
lie which war would bring. on the
day when Germany declared war on
Russia the commission handed down a
ate decision which ignored, almost
contemptuously that event. which was
destined, more than any other since
the commission was created, to affect
that the status Of our railroads and
TO demonstrate to a hitherto skeptical
public the enormous value of a highly
organized, efficient and prosperous
abroad system as means Of national
defence.
The commission lacked breadth Of view
md Imagination So did all the other
-overnment agencies at Washington.
But its authority was more unhamp-
red than that Of any other admlnistra-
tive body. It could have helped the
ailrOads TO improve their facilities, TO
sustain their credit and TO lay up re-
serves Of supplies against a day Of
need II could even have Influenced
them TO make a more efficient use of
the facilities they then had It could
short have pursued a constructive
policy, building for the future to a de-
rec which was not then possible fol