The Alaska daily empire., 1917-09-15
tncompetency and a Lack of Harmony Exists in Department; Heads
 Must Drop. BAKER GIVEN WARNING Friends Are Urging Him to Make a Complete Change from Top
 to Bottom.
(By RYLEY GRANNON)

ISIOLlCl lOHuly llud6iAO thdt lCN pooh-hoos on their party will sats fy Congress and prevent an up heaval in the War Department. The shake-up, as matter of fact, is ov erdue. That it will come is certain The best that Secretary Baker and his bureau heads can do is to ob tain period of peace.
 l The removal of important men in the department by enforced resig nation or transfer and the injection of new blood is a process that Sec retary Baker cannot prevent. Some of his good friends, seeing what is coming are already advising him to save himself by taking leadership in the overhauling of the depart ment
 do not deem it my duty to reveal some of the indisputable facts which requires sweeping changes in the War Department. These facts are known to Senators and Representa- tives, although Secretary Baker seems to be ignorant of them. As for army officers, not one in the regular army is unaware of the true state of affairs
 Lest this statement might give rise to a suspicion of wilful wrong doing, I hasten to state that no in formation placed in my possession affects the honor of any man in the United States army. No facts in possession of the legislators, so far as I am aware, carry any imputation of turpitude. Nevertheless there are times when a blunder is morse than crime, and the blunders of have reached the point where they injuriously affect the fighting effic- iency of the army.
 The forces under Pershing, the regulars the National Guard in this country, and the National army now assembling, are suffering handicaps which are not necessary, and the country is being misled about pre- preparations.
 The military power of the United States is not developing with the dispatch, the certainty, the harmony tion has a right to expect.
 When orders are given, cancelled, reissued, cancelled again and finally re-issued, affecting contracts run ming into millions of dollars and de- moralizing the labor of thousands of ,rho hon de nf ,ad men are subjected to useless travel because of blunders higher up; when manufacturers receive word to Ego ahead" and after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, are notified that they need expect nothing; when vessels bound for France when men arrive at cantonments only to find no water, toilet or other facilities; when gross errors are made in cal culating the necessities of certain branches of the service, resulting in loss of time and impairment of strength in a field where the public has been led to believe that marvel ous progress was being made; when huge consignments of supplies in tended for one place turn up in. an other place thousands of miles dis tant; when such things happen it does not seem to me than an over hauling is very far away.
 Much of the confusion is due to the tremendous increase of work. Some of the blunders. however, can not be excused on such grounds.
 Incompetency is responsible in part. Some of the bureaus of the War Department are musty with an tiquity. Red tape and delay are the rule
 l Secretary Baker can testify to this fact. He knows how hard he has tried to remedy the condition without success.
 The practices and habits of the Civil War prevail in some places No other department of the Govern ment is quite so rigid in it's refusal to expedite business or modernize its methods.
 | Army officers feel sorry for MT. Baker They know what he has to contend with He works hard, and all his bureau chiefs are faithful and incessant workers.
 Some of them add greatly to the damage they do by their industry l Congress has been aware of the condition in the War Department through personal contact and com plaints from constituents, but the hope has been indulged that Secre- tary Baker would find a way to gal vanize his department without the embarrassment of Congressional ac- tion.
 This hope is still entertained by some legislators. Others fear that MT. Baker counts upon the inertia of the established order of things and the impregnability of red tape