Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-01-26
SATURDAY, JANUARY 26. 1918.
The Great Evil of Chamberlain and Roosc-
welt Criticism.

Senator Chamberlain of Oregon has
made formal reply TO the deserved ex-
coriation he received at the hands OF
President Wilson, in reply TO his astound-
nclv untrue and disloyal animadversions
upon the administration war capacity,
IN the course Of speech delivered IN
New York City. his reply was much
more moderate than his surprising dc
livtrance of last Saturday night would
cad people a. expect, but he insisted
shat H. WIS right in his criticisms, and
that tho administration had made many
failures. lie even went 10 tho extent
oi asserting that President Wilson was
IN ignorance of many facts that were oi
hIs senator Chamberlain 81 knowledge
'rhi, Is simply ridiculous
Nlr Roosevelt seeking rs is only
Natural li~ own glorihcatinn. seconded
senator Chamhcrlain's effort 10 justify
,lsc and reasonable criticism by an
tddress before the National Press Club.
il Washington, Thursday evening. For
hlm the address was surprisingly mod
rratc, but it is possible he may have been
influenced BY the weakness of Senator
Chsmbcrlain's attempted Justification,
and reluctantly made up his mind TO
avoid cxtravagant donunCiation But
even SO. nc made assertions shat viii not
stand the test ~ strict analysis and ono
that showed his ignorance.
In respcc, Of Senator Chamberlain,
it is essential to keep in mind the aStound-
ing character Of his attack upon the ad-
ministration in his New York City speech.
lIc said: The military establishment
Of America has fallen down. There is
no use to be optimistic about thing
that does not exist. II has almost stopped
functioning, my friends. Why Be-
cause Of the inetliciency in every depart
ment of the government of the United
States"
Even Roosevelt could not 90 to this
extreme He admitted that the Navy
Department had developed n commend
able efficiency But Mr. Roosevelt showed
the ignorance OF mere assumption when
be criticised the administration for not
making use of locomotives built IN this
country on orders from the former Rus
sian government, but not shipped abroad,
for obvious reasons. lie scored tho de
partmcnt heads for not using these loco
motives To relieve the railroad situation.
In sact. many of these locomotives have
been in Use for some time. some oi them
on the branch railroads Of lower Della
ware, as was printed in Every Even
lng@ state new, several days before
Mr. Roosevelt made his ignorant deliy-
or4ncc. Il IS apparent that Mr. Kooso-
rclt simply docs not know n few things
But, after all, the question which the
Great majority oi the American people
arc likely tn ask Is: What Is the use
aF such talk No nation ever ventured. .
ipon great and righteous undertaking
without making mistakes No President
of the United States who ever rose above
mediocrity avoided mistakes during his
administration. Washington made mis-
takes, both as commandcr~in-chlcf OF the
Continental forces. and rs President;
but he also nlade good Andrew jack
son made mistakes. President Lincoln
made mistakes Would it be surprising
if President Wilson has made a few
Instead OF railing against mistakes,
why not suggest remedies to those i'm
mediately interested, quietly and with
out blare Of trumpets in radical denun-
ciation ? Much better results would |
follow. Criticism, justly and right
fully advanced, cannot fail TO he beneficial. |
Senator Chamberlains astounding mis-
representation of the situation, Id his |
New York City speech, considered in |
the light Of acknowledged facts, sounds
actually reasonable Imagine the effect
III Berlin of public announcement of |
an assertion by q Senator III the Congress |
of the United States that 1.-THE military /
of America has fallen +,
down" and that the result was because |
of the lnefficiency in every bureau in |
ever, department Of the government of |
the United States What friend of |
--ornany could say more or worse
Let us hope the day for such wild, |
malicious and false statements is over.
At least LET them be confined to the enc
mnes OF our country, not INDUCED In by
Its presumed, but false, friends