New-York tribune., 1917-07-28
MIR. Mann's Latest Break

If the Republicans of the House OF hep
resentatives have any sense of the fitness
of things they will at once dispense with
Mr.. Mann's services as their leader. he
is leader without any talents for leader
ship. He progresses from one fiasco to an
other. His capacity for sensing the wrong
trail and following it is ineXhaustibe and
incurable.
Mr.. Mann has no vision. He cannot In
terpret public sentiment. lie lays MS
course solely according to his own prepos-
sessions and prejudices. A few days ago
he announced that he was going to force
separate vote in the House on the Senate
amendment to the food control bill Great
ing a Joint Committee Of Congress on Ex-
penditures In Connection with the Conduct
of the War. President Wilson had just
written q letter to Chairman Lever OF the
House Committee on Agriculture strongly
obiecting to the creation of such a commit
tee. Mr.. Mann's move, made without
sufficient consultation with his colleagues,
had the effect of committing the Republl-
can party in the House to piece of legis-
lation which the President had publicly op-
posed on the ground that its passage would
be equivalent to vote of lack OF conn.,
dence in him.
This procedure was the reverse OF judi
cious. The Republicans in Congress have
nothing to gain by exhibiting a spirit of
captious opposition to the President. They
are in a minority In each branch. If Con-
gress feels that it ought to keep IN close
touch with the uses made of the money
which it votes for war purposes, If it feels
that it ought to defend its prerogative to
inquire fully into all Executive expendi-
tures-that is a matter in which the men,
bers of both parties are equally interested.
The action taken should be non-partisan. 1t
is not the minority's business to take the
lead is asserting against the Executive
privileges which are not just as highly
valued by the majority.
We are not much impressed by President
Wilson's assertion that the proposed JOINT
Committee on Expenditures would neces-
sarily hamper the prosecution OF the war
Nor can we find any sound authority for
the statement that the Committee on the
Conduct Of the War created during Presi'
dent Lincoln's first administration was "a
cause of constant and distressing harass-
ment" to him and rendered his task "all
but impossible"
C,,,I Nor nrnif
meddle in a small way with the military
conduct Of the war. But in that era every
I civil functionary considered himself COM
petent to direct strategy. 1t is impossible
TO shift the failure of Northern military
policy up to 1864 to the shoulders of any
Congressional committee. Mr.. Lincoln,
| Mr.. Stanton and their fgurehead military
adviser, Major General Halleck, were the
chief authors of that failure. They
botched the military conduct of the war
completely. No outside civilian body ever
had a real chance to make matters worse.
It was not until Lincoln, seeing the truth
at last, brought Grant to the East and
wrote to him, "The particulars of your
plans | neither know nor seek to know
that the Norths military policy became
rational and fruitful.
If Congress wants to appoint commit
tee to examine into war expenditure, it is
entirely within its right in doing so. But
such committee, to be effective, must rep
resent a united Congress. The Democratic
majority must want it as well as the Re-
publican minority. Mr.. Mann could not
understand this, and his Republican asso-
ciates have been obliged to overrule his
programme of making a party fight on
the issue
The gentleman from Illinois was impul-
sively mistaken, as usual. How long will
the Republican party in the House put up
with such leadership?