The Washington herald., 1918-01-18
Coal and Confusion.

justified But panic isn't. Nor is hysteria.
Before leading the honorable Fuel Admins
traitor to the guilotine, and presenting his severed
head on silver salver to the public, let his hsrsher
critics admit that his courage is at least as great as
his vaunted incompetence and stupidity
If they can realize that desperate ills demand
desperate remedies that the poor and needy OF the
nation have been sorely in want of coal for months
that the whole nation, practically, has demanded
that Washington DO SOMETHING, and has
shown its impatience and disgust over half-meas-
ures then many of the teeth of their singing words
will be drawn
What the country has demanded, it has got
ten-an heroic effort to end the fuel chaos. But
today there is an almost universal belief that it
will only mean confusion worse confounded.
Senator Philander c. Knox, of Pennsylvania,
declares that 100000 Prussian Boches running
amuck in the United States could not do the dam
age that this order will do He strikes respon-
sve chord in the breasts not only of business men,
but of all classes and conditions of the population,
most of whom would rather be heatless than work
less, and cold rather than WAGELESS!
1t was brilliantly naive OF DR.. Garfield to aver
that the employers OF the country would bear the
loss OF the fourteen days lay-of, and would pay
their employees for the time lost. Even childs
knowledge of the methods of modern industry
would have saved him from statement like that
a
Ford. Let him study few reports of the De-
partment of Labor or the Pittsburgh survey.
The poor man pays the piper in this as in
practically all the restrictive measures, and
any attempt by the administration to conceal this
fact will be hypocritical and silly. The price is
estimated by Senator Reed to be less than
81 soooooooo in wages. That is a wild guess, but
the total loss undoubtedly will up into the
billions, and it is uncovered by any form OF insur-
All this violent wrenching of the industrial It's
sue-this enormous loss to labor and capital alike
--for what? For a government experiment, an
audacious experiment! There is not the slightest
assurance that the experiment will be successful
Mr.. McAdoo believes it will, to be sure; but
his wand has been known to fail, and he is merely
taking a gambling chance that he will be able to
clear up intoIerable railroad congestion by load
ing an unparalleled and intoIerabe loss upon the
American public.
II we KNEW beyond peradventure that this
unheard-of sacrifice would absolutely the dis
ease from which the country is suffering, we might
face it in a lighter spirit But Mr.. McAdoo is
merely sitting into poker game with Fate, and
he knows it. He doesn't hold any impressive hand
at that.
What will the President do? Will he have the
courage OF his Judgment, and face the concentrat-
cd clanor OF Congress and the country? Or will
extent that DR.. Garfield will reflect upon that an
cicnt proverb about its being a wise parent that
knows its own child
The President, McAdoo, Garfield and their
satellites playing lone hand in this matter.
The bitterest criticism OF all comes from their own
thick-and-thn supporters, including the New York
World. Even the administration spokesmen in
the House and Senate either mum" or "off
the reservation" yesterday. And while some of the
extreme criticism visited upon Mr.. Garfield is un-
deserved, since he is merely the buffer between
the public and a higher force in this matter it was
a faithful transcription OF what the public really
thinks about it all. The overwhelming majority
for the Hitchcock resolution shows that
The cynical will read into the situation that
the McAdoo crisis has at last arrived, and will
rejoice thereby. The point is whether the Secre-
tary OF the Treasury is merely Director General
OF the railroads Director General of the nation
Has he the right to unload his huge transportation
problem on the country? 1t was given to him to
solve, and he solved it by "shootng-up" industry
and setting the country by the ears. A Graeco-
Roman method surely
Let there be no panic hysteria. The order
in its original naked form will not be carried out
That much is certain