Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-06-15
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POOR JosEPhUS.

One way or anOIhef. poor JOSephus
Daniels has been in hot water most OF
the time since he entered the cabinet.
Much of the criticism which has been
levelled at him has been brought on
by himself, some Of 1t by his rather
senseless rules and rulings and all OF
1t. perhaps, because the job Of secre-
tary OF the navy, even in peace times,
is a bigger job than he can fill prop
erly.
One or two magazines and a few
newspapers have singled Josephus out
for castigation rather frequently, and
when he has attempted to frame re-
plies he somehow has failed to hit the
nan on the head So the score stands
considerably in favor of the Journal
lists.
But the secretary. an editor himself
down in his sleepy little Carolina
town. blames the whole fraternity OF
editors because a few have criticised
him rather roughly. and recently he
has fallen into the habit Of accusing
editors as class OF misrepresenting
himself and his department.
It is unfortunate for Josephus that
the war came upon us while he was IN
ONCE. The chances are that II peace
had continued to bless the country
throughout his term OF service, ne
would have been able to get by without
permitting the whole country to realize
his deficiencies. AS 1t is, he finds HIM
self rafting about in a Job which calls
for the best there Is in the very best
kind OF an executive. a job that should
~ h,, wit
mend him than a career as editor OF
southern newspaper Of rather mediocre
qualities.
1t does seem that life, with Josephus.
is just one bad break after another,
His latest bobble-or at any rate the
latest one to come to public notice
occurred Monday. when he flew into
rage over the letters an anonymous
correspondent had sent to Senator Ere
linghuysen, revealing some secrets OF
the navy's ordnance department which
the secretary had imagined were
known to only select few.
Obviously, as Senator Frelinghuysen
pointed out. the man who wrote the
letters was trying to acquafnt the SEN
ate's naval committee with facts ex-
plafning the imperfections in shells
which have been used on merchant
ships for protection against submar-
ines. He was trying to weed out In
efficiency 60 1t might be replaced with
efficiency. Since the navy department
had suppressed information of impor-
lance to the investigators, Senator Ere
linghuysen thought his unnamed cor
respondent was doing the nation a
service by acquainting the investiga.
tors with the facts.
Josephus declared the man who
wrote the letters was either spy or
a traitor and Senator Frelinghuysen
proved his training as politician and
his ability to take all the breaks. az
they say in baseball by throwing out
his chest. dlating on his informant S
desire to save his country's Red Cross
nurses from death on the high seas,
and borrowing from the late lamented
Patrick Henry, the ringing dare: 'If
this be treason. make the most of it.
It really was an unfair advantage to
take Of poor Josephus this going back
so far into history and resurrecting
the fiery Virginian's brand Of oratory
II left the secretary without verbal
comeback, and the incident goes down
as one more point against him
Perhaps. instead of criticising Presi.
dent Wilson for having appointed Jose.