The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1917-09-18
THE ADVERTISERS SEM.wEEKLY
The Court Jester

.IOSEPHUS DANIELS silly spitework agains
y the Navy League, and especially his carrying
the matter SO far as to make his prohibitions ex
tend to HONOLULU has brought down upon him tn
contemptuous laughter of the nation as voicet
widely in the mainland press, Below are two O
the recent bits of comment, one originating on thu
Pacific Coast the other on the Atlantic. The frs
is from the San Francisco Chronicle, which saws
While the versatility of Josephus Daniels in making
a goose of himself may be picturesque, it does
that he ought he allowed to make the United
States government ridiculous in the face of mankind
The president of the Navy League, having had
official with Secretary Daniels, that funetionary
thought he got by refusing, stated to permit
any member Of the naval force TO receive any comfort
provided by the Navy League.
Which will not tend to increase the affection of
val to the Secretary, their loyalty to the
government Of their country.
But Josephus did not stop here. According to an
uneensored despatch from Honolulu, former Governor
Carter of that ik when he sought to make social call
on a friend at the Pearl Harbor naval station, was
Informed by his friend that the proposed visit could
not be made because the Secretary of the Navy had
ordered member of the Navy League should be
permitted to set foot GU any naval reservation.
With the purpose of the Navy League to create and
permanently maintain a prodigous Navy The Chroni.
Gle has never had any sympathy. We hope and trust
that the time will when the navies of the
world be mostly strapped, and our own with the
rest of them. .... +. 49,.
But the members of the league have the right to
their opinion, and it would unthinkable that the
President of the United States should permit of his
Cabinet to discred his government and make it ride
ulous by venting his wrath at single individual upon
every member of large organization and upon the
whole naval establishment of the country.
Golfers believes that the latest Daniels perform
ance only adds to the general reputation the secre
tary has gained blooming ass. Calling it "The
Revenge of Josephus," Golfers says:
"The president OF the Navy League criticizes the
secretary of the navy for failing to publish some
thing he thinks the public ought to know. The
secretary of the navy retorts by ordering the navy
to refuse gifts from the Navy League You'll
criticize my administration, will you? Then you
shan't send mufhers and mittens and wooden socks
10 the sailors. III larn yer
eve suspect that this neat, if not manly revenge
may not be appreciated by the sailorman when
winter sets in on the North Sea. 1t is spirited
hut 1t leaves the sailor cold.
The wrath Of Josephus undoubtedly will con-
sumo the Navy League. And yet it is the simple
ruth that, while Josephus was doing his narrow
est best in combination with Tavenner Bailey, and
his other friends in congress to cripple the navy
The Navy League worked increasingly and ably to
arouse public interest in the need of strengthen
ing our sea defenses.
But there is sense in growing serious over
Josephus wondering why the President chooses
to keep in the cabinet secretary who has brought
so much derision on the administration. Mr.. Viii
son possesses an almost exaggerated sense OF
humor, and it is too much to ask him to separate
himself from an official companion whose antics
must be an unfailing source of gayety to a man
5urdened by the cares of office He must watch
The secretary of the navy with the same expecta-
ion that glows on the faces of an audience who
follow Marcelline as he wanders across the stage
certain that he will stub his toe or fall over some
hing but never quite where and how the
accident will occur. In fact, Josephus must be
'egarded one OF the greatest Of our comic assets
SO Josephus now in fact will become first legend
md then mirthful fable. His official deeds will
awaken merriment thousand years hence and
people will fix the Wilson administration in his
DRY by the fact that it was the administration in
which Josephus Daniels added to the gayety of
'ations."