New-York tribune., 1918-05-29
From Whom the
Offence Cometh
To the Editor of The Tribune

sir: call to your attention that In the
same issue of The Tribune in which appears
your editorial Earlier Estimates" con-
demning the War Department in a vein of
pickering and faultfnding, there appears
the following from one Of your reporters,
who has evidently come in contact with
some of the war work:
Another mpediment to successful
manufacture of Liberty motors, to which
little attention has been paid, now is as
suming large proportions. 1t is that of
impaired morale of workers and execu-
tives, due to the continual iteration and
reteration of charges that the Liberty
motor is failure.
"Mcn who have given the best that Is
in them for months and months have in
some cases given UP under the strain of
suspicion and lack Of appreciation.
patriotic workers in some of the
plants, convinced by what they have read
that their work is not contributing to
the successful issue of the war; have
quit and gone into other industries. The
fine spirit of industrial adventure and
patriotic enthusiasm, which has accom-
plished wonders, has been all but wiped
out by the atmosphere of suspicion and
condemnation"
The chief fault you seem to find with
Baker is that he promises more than can
be performed, and the particulars you give
in this editorial have to do with the Brown
ing gun, and the inference that casual read
would draw from your editorial is that
the production Of Browning guns has COM
pletely fallen down. I call your atten-
ton to the annual report of the Westing-
house Electric and Manufacturing Company
Zone of the largest producers of the Brown
ing gum, of March 81, 1918, in which the
president of this company states to his
stockholders: "Our deliveries of Browning
guns are in advance of the schedule fixed
by the contract"
1t is undoubtedly true, as your reporter
found at Detroit, that the morale Of the
country is seriously injured by the eternal
pickering and faultfnding, and "the fine
spirit of industrial adventure and patriotic
enthusiasm, which has accomplished Won
dcrs, has been all but wiped out by the
atmosphere of suspicion and condemna-
ton"
There are some men whose motive in
seeking out the Administrations shortcom-
ings is to find an opportunity for them
selves. But analyze and you will see what
it is proper to call course the natural
result Of which is to impair the country's
morale, thereby impeding our progress in
the war, which is taken for anybody's po-
litical advantage.
say this as a Republican, and fully alive
to the fact that, generally speaking, the
course of the Republican party mas been
admirable during the war.
Very possibly Baker has lots of faults
and shortcomings-most men have. But
submit for your consideration that the
country knows perfectly we'll that some
body in the War Department has done
good job, for in less than eleven months
after the War Department was clothed with
power (the selective draft) we have an
army of 100000, trained better than any
men were ever trained in the same length
of tlme-actually better equipped than the
army of any of the great belligerents, and
protected in health and morals as no armv
was ever protected in the history of the
world OTIS SMITH
New York, May 27, 1918.
The Tribune is one of the few papers
that have never attacked those in charge
of the aircraft programme, and wher
the War Department itself gave out Gut.
zon Borglum's confidential report to the
President, violently accusing the aircraft
ers of pro-Germanism and graft, The
Tribune protested that they were being
lynched in public opinion without a
hearing.l