The Washington herald., 1918-09-28

There are lot OF useless things be-
ing done in this city-by departments
coming in contact with all sections OF
the country-which should not be
done.
We utter this In the spirit OF con-
structiye criticism.
The statement is not aimed at the
administration or any party for 1t
hits men who are republicans, demo-
Gratis and standpatters and progress
sives of those two parties.
For instance-reports In detail are
being asked for by departments OF our
government which reports will never
be perused In the history of the coun-
try in all probability.
Let us repeat the statement OF
far wesern business man of great
patriotism and leader, incidentally, OF
his state in the three liberty loan
drives which have already taken
place.
"Our concern" said he was asked
for certain reports which nearly took
our breath away. For we inquired that
to compile them would take five men
working for two months. And this
came at a time when we needed men
more than we have at any time In
the history OF our business-and when
our country, too, 1t might be ADDED
needed men badly.
II decided to protest the matter. But
1 could do no good by wire. So
took the first train to Washington
and after five days spent hero per-
~ ~ that con-
Germ really needed to furnish no more
matter than could be compiled by
couple of men working three or four
days. The information these men
could compile was all they had use
for in other words.
THE trip to Washington and my
stay here consumed eleven days and
cost $500 in actual expenses. l MAIN
tain that with little thought on the
part of the officials here the matter
could have been settled easily with
out all this trouble.
II know what happened to other
concerns generally, interested In our
line of business. One or two concerns
1 know of. however, compiled all this
Information and It will probably
never be used"
This Is a just complaint, uttered by
a man whose heart is in this war in
more ways than one. In our Judg-
rnent il should be read by every Of
fetal in this city whose duty II Is 20
gather information and data from the
business concerns and individuals OF
the nation.
Naturally enough not all errors can
be kept out of our huge task, But
great care should be given TO the
Dreparation Of all blanks having TO
do with the collection of data and
information. First of all only such
information should be asked for as
will be uscd-and then only in such
shane as I'll take the least number
of men to gather.
There are reasons galore why this
course should be followed. First. II
will save manpower. Second. IT will
save filing space; and third, 1t will
save paper. All of these are at
premium at this time, and depart
mental statisticians should bear this
I'm mind every time they take up
task of this nature.
A newspaper man OF broad expert
cuce in our National Capital and in
Europe as well makes this pertinent
suggestion:
'.There is one infexibls rule which
NAV be followed in the publication
of news from foreign countries, par
ticularly Russia and Japan, from
which news is so hard to obtain.
IF the news is only surmise or
lies-which lies can be shown to be
ia fabrications-it has the power and
effect of German propaganda. II the
news is true-and all news should
be this, of course-the writer may
rest assured that il will benefit the
allied cause, and will eventually work
to Germanys disadvantage"
A very accurate statement, We
think. Certainly the people of this
country are anxious to have the
truth For only in the truth can
they battle to a successful conclu-
sion. Lies. on the other hand. only
help the enemy.
Requests Of the French. italian,
Spanish and Portuguese nations for
consideration in the matter of wine
exports from their countries to ours.
under the provisions of the agricuI-
ture appropriation bill. received
scant attention by the House.
The step may not have been un-
wisely taken, either. The desire OF
the House was to legislate in this
distinctly internal question and the
countries mentioned would hardly
venture to say that their interests
should be seriously considered in
this connection. We are already do
ing all we can in a financial ana
physical way to contribute to the
success of the allied. warfare-it
would be going too far to ask us
to disrupt our internal program in
order to do more. And probably no
one recognizes the justice Of this
position better than the four coun-
tries themselves.