Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-14
BoLsHEv1ZED PUBLIC SERVICE
A New Question That Mr.. McAdoo and
Col. George Harvey May Crapple
With in Cold Weather

try mas endured Wltnln tne last teH
days, is dangerous in more ways than
one 1t enfevers the blood of statesmen
and publicists, thinkers and near-think-
ers, and causes them to say wild and
silly things.
We have Colonel George Harvey, for
instance, snarling charges of treason at
Henry Ford and demanding in shrill
prose to know what President Wilson is
going to do about it. Harsh suggestions
of the Tower, of slow music, Of firing
squad for the gentle Henry are in
Colonel Harvey's article.
Mr.. McAdoo wants all the railroads in
the country electrified at the earliest
possible moment. We have it on the
word of the Navy Department that a
submarine off the Carolina coast belched
mustard gas at the coast guard.
Obviously Colonel Harvey stuck to his
desk in New York when the thermometer
went to 1O2 last week. Mr. McAdoo also
refused to guard against the heat. He re-
turned to his post and let it do its worst.
It is surprising to learn that the hot
wave was severe enough at sea to upset
the reason of U-boat captain. One
cannot be sure whether it was touch of
the sun that caused the gas attack on the
Atlantic coast or whether the time has
arrived when the Kaiser must establish
half-mile dry zone around every sub
marine.
We are disposed to the latter conclu-
sion.
Now. Mr.. Ford was assaled and bitten
| long ago by the bug of internationaism.
| He was what the doctors in the army
speak of as a mild casualty. He may, as
Colonel Harvey says, have said some
thing about the questionable use to which
some national flags have been put in
time of peace. He ma. have even said
that patriotism wasn't the end of wis
DOM Henry, too, is susceptible to the
heat. His peace ship went abroad in the
summer And he always has been a
hasty talker. Yet Mr.. Ford has been of
extraordinary service to the Government
since the war began for the United
States. He has done more than any other
man ito insure quantity production of
the Liberty motor. He is turning out
submarine chasers in clouds. He even
offered all his money to the Government.
This isn't pacifi3m and it isn't treason.
When Colonel Harvey can do half as well
as Henry has done we shall be disposed
to take him more seriously.
Had it not been for the heat Mr.. Nc
Adoo might have realized that there are
things that the railroads of the country
need far more than immediate electrified
ton. They need less plush and cinders
and more civilized ideal Of service. If
Mr.. McAdoo ever rode on any American
railroad in pair of white flannel
trousers he will perceive the truth of this
analysis. Were he to establish a new
train to be known as the Cinderless and
Plushless Limited people would ride on
it-wherever it went. Were he to at
tempt some of the humane reforms in
railroad operation that we have always
lacked, something of the fnesse that
characterizes English or Continental
railway service, he would be benefactol
of his kind. American railroad men have
never had the time for that sort of thing
They were fascinated by the "big" side
of railroading. Our system certainly
needs reinement-a humaniZing in.
f1uence Electrifcation will require ter
years at least. Reforms quite as neces.
sary might easily be instituted in year
What any observant man must per
ceive when he looks at the railroad:
nowadays, or at any other public utility
is the increasing discomforts and diff.
culties for the ultimate consumer. Thus
Mr.. McAdoo and Colonel Harvey anc
Secretary Daniels and Mr.. Redfield anc
Mr. Bureson and all the others, insteac
of peeling far into the future, might more
properly agitate for new office in the
Cabinet. They might use drums anc
cymbals and the factory whistles anc
their own voices restlessly for the ap
pointment of a Secretary for Depart
ment to Let the Average Ununionizec
Citizen Know Where He Gets Off. o.
they might declaim the need for bu
q reau, at least, established to Maintain
the Mental Balance of All People, Higl
and Low.
For something is going grievousl,
wrong in all sorts of public service
Some singular contagior has crept int
the United States from abroad. Wha
the public services need more than for
malzation and electrifcation-and MI
McAdoo is duller than we supposed if h
; doesn't perceive it's relief from tn
men who are doing their utmost t.
lenine or, at least, to trotsky them.
1t is plain that we have conscious an
| ,nnnnrnions Rnlrhauili all nhn,,A ,,s