Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-07-17

assured of the gratitude and patriotic
support of their fellow Iowans.
And of all the people in this great
Estate, Governor Harding seems to be
the only one who failed and still fails
to sense the spirit of patriotism which
prompted the legislatures action. No
miser, ragged. begrimed and grasping.
could guard his hoard Of gold more
jealousy than the governor is guard
ing Iowa's war chest.
He refuses to permit the expendi-
ture of any of the money for the
equipment Of southeastern Iowa's hos
pital unit because, forsooth. that unit
is not part of Iowa's military forces,
being authorized directly by the presl.
dent. It matters not, apparently, that
lit is made up entirely of Iowa men
and women, that it is financed by
Iowa men and women, and that Iowa
men and women are pledged to supply
lit with equipment during Its period of
service at the front.
He is being criticised today-and
resents it quite bitterly. too-because
none of the million is being used to
equip certain national guardsmen.
Dispatches on another page Of the
Courier detail this situation. And in
his letter to SECRETARY Toulme of the
Ottumwa Commercial club. the gov
ernor says the only expenditures from
the fund thus far have been to equip
the guardsmen.
When application was made for
money for the hospital unit represent
ing southeastern Iowa. Attorney Cen
eral Havner, from whom the governor
requested an opinion, ruled that the
disbursement would be- legal and
proper. But this failed to SATISFY the
governor, apparently. and he dissect-
ed this law which the legislature has
enacted under the spell Of patriotic
enthusiasm.
He would have been willing, 1t ap-
pears from his correspondence. to dis.
burse this money on two conditions:
if the Red Cross unit had derived its
authority to serve from the state OF
Iowa instead of from the president Of
the United States. and If he had been
certain that the state, having spent
the money would be repaid by the
federal government.
The attorney general could not re-
assure him on either point, so the
governor decided that the hospital
unit from southeastern Iowa could re-
ceive no support nor financial encour-
agement from the state 1t Is to repre-
sent.
There are few laws in the Iowa
code which are not susceptible OF d.
verse constructions under the cold
scrutiny Of lawyers determined to
read into them that which suits their
individual fancies and their individual
inclinations. There are few laws in
Iowa's code whose intent is more
clear than the one which Governor
Harding has chosen for hair-split-
ting construction.
Fortunately for Iowa and the ma
ton, the people of southeastern Iowa
are not inclined to be technical at
this time of national peril. They will
see that the hospital unit is supplied
with money and equipment. In con-
tributing to the fund for its support
they are not inquiring whether it re-
ceives it's orders from Des Moines or
from Washington: neither do they
expect the money they give it to be
paid back to them by the federal gov
eminent.
In his letter to Secretary Toulme OF
the Commercial club Governor Hard
ing makes point of the fact that the
81 0O0, 900 fund remains practically In.
tact. Had the members OF the legls-
lature known the restrictions to be
thrown about the money they provid-
ed in so patriotic spirit, they might
have made the sum a thousand. or
perhaps ten thousand dollars instead
of million.