New-York tribune., 1918-01-25

In the first six months after this war
opened tho Navy Department showed
poor work. very poor work, owing to
lndecision and dclay-work SO poor
that ii we he'd been ptted against any
formidable enemy able to keep the seas
we would have paid in disaster for it.
Dating from about October ! there has
come a remarkable change in the Navy
Department. From that date to this,
on the whole, the Navy Department.
work has been we'll done.
81 want to make one small reserva-
ton. wish the Secretary Of the Navy
would no longer punish the men In the
navy by refusing to allow hundreds Of
thousands of good women to give them
sweaters and knitted mufflers and
everything like that except by indircc
ton, because he has had a quarrel with
some man. Let him punish that man
in any way he chooses, but do not pun
ish the sailors and do not make it un-
pleasant for the hundreds Of thousands,
certainly the scores Of thousands, Of
women who are patriotically cndcavor-
ing to be of service.
81 am we'll aware that no change in
scheme of government can accomplish
anything unless the right men .re put
in, and if. after having a war board,
incompetent men are put at its head or
their powers are narrowly or loosely
defined, and there is conflict among
them. trouble will come in the future,
Just as trouble has come in the past.
But the proposal means that at least
a proper scheme Of administration will
be adopted by the government. At
least we will get a proper scheme Of
administration. At least we will rec
ognizc certain vital facts.
Need of Hurry
cone is the need Of hurry. Nine
tenths Of wisdom is being wise in time.
Nine -tenths Of efficiency is being eff
cicnt so quickly that the time for eff
cheney will not have passed before it
becomes evident. 1t Is cruel thing,
it is a wrong to US and a bitter wrong
to our allies, to delay needlcssly one
day, let alone SIX months or a year,
are, with the blood of their best and
their bravest, fighting the battle to
which, by every consideration of
honor, we should now be sending our
fighting men by the million.
Second only in Importance to it is
the need Of organization here. In Wash
ngton you have had good many star
players. but mighty little team work.
Take, for instance. matter that was
authoritatively called TO my attention
just recently.
"You all know the coal shortage. You
know it has been due largely to an in
sufliciency in the number Of locomo-
tives, and you know that ships needed
to carry food to our troops in France
have been at the docks for weeks be-
cause they could not load on account of
the failure in locomotives. There are
here 200 locomotives built for Russia.
built for the Russian-I should say the
government there moves back; l have
forgotten they were built for the Rus
sian government and now there is no
way of getting them to Russia and no
assurance that the Russian government
will receive them, and, with the assem-
Of the Russian Minister here, as l am
informed if necessary, if the ques-
tion is quericd, I will give my inform
ants names--the Russian Minister as
sented to two months ago. and for eight
weeks we have been leisurely discussing
as to whether we could, under the cir
cumstances, take these 200 locomotives
and use them
Discussion lnching Along
"l understand that the discussion Is
inching along to a favorable conclu-
sion, and that in few days, or a week
or two we will have the 200 locomo
tivcs. But it will be two months after
we ought to have had them. What l
think, of course, in my views of tho
proper governmental policy, should have
been done, was to take the 200 locono-
tives and then discuss.
THAT was the course that l fol-
lowed. and to which l have ever since
looked back with impenitent satisfac
ton, in reference to the Panama Canal.
If you remember, Panama declared it.
self independent and wanted to COM
plete the Panama Canal, and opened
negotiations with us.
81 had two courses open. l might
have taken the matter under advise
ment and put it before the Senate,
in which case we should have had a