New-York tribune., 1918-01-23
"leH Your Americans to
Come Quickly'- Clemencea1,

J"iiJ as Vic caSleSC anu mOhC agree
able plan OF approach.
Inc newspaper correspondents in
France, hungry for material and denied
all save the inconsequential by mar
w-vlsloned and unintelligently organ
lzcd censorship, extemporize ornately
upon the slightest trife and glorify
our boys" on the smallest exhibit o.
routine duty, or, for lack Of established
TACT, grow eloquent over the monu-
mental figures of formulated pans'
sent out every now and again by the
bureaucrats.
Ihus 1T is that people, instead of
being brought up standing, aroused to
their peril and ready to take care of
themselves, arc lulled to false security
ny rosy reports of exaggerated accom-
plishment
High Compiacency
With all due respect to his no doubt
worthy intent, I none the less state
as my deliberate opinion that the
periodic publication which comes out
Oh washington as from Secretary of
war Baker is the most iIlustrious and
therefore the most emasculating infiu.
ence in this direction. 1t was printed
IN this news sheet" not long ago that
all Europe was "heartened and ready
to tight on to victory" or words to that
erect, by "Amcrican troops being in
the fighting line," an announcement to
stir recollections of Fourth of July
oeGiama n, loh- but misleading.
,,dnts ine french were heartened six
marched through Paris, but that wave
OF exultation has passed, due to the
unreadiness of which the Secretary has
recently given amply corroborative tcs-
timony
Moreover, our troops are not within
mules of the first line, and haven't
been, except in comparative and occa-
slonal details for training.
Another issue of the sheet about
January declared in referring to the
forthcoming German attack that "the
French and British armies may be rc
lied on to withstand the shock" TO dis.
miss so casually and so confidently
what just now is contributing to make
the immediate outlook veYW serious
one is, beg to submit, not good jour
nallsm. rot wise policy and not the
suitable role of government officer
who should know that. because of our
failure to be on the fighting line now
through the indefensible delays in his
department, the time is not one in
which to cozen people, already too COM
Portable in their mental attitude toward
the war, into a feeling of there being
TO need for ,rropf haS{c
Mr.. Bakers Measure
Naturally the mass of people accept
the commen. Of this sheet as authorita-
tive, whereas it Is a question if it has
deeper sources Of information than the
press generally or opportunities OF
study equal to those of the great news
papers, with trained observers con-
stantly on the gound. ] am moved alone
by patriotic impulse, and certainly with
no wish to criticise the Secretary S
journalistic ambition or qualifications
when l seriously maintain that it is
neither dignitied nor fitting, nor help
full to our success, that the Secretary
of War of the United States at such a
time should assume the public spor
acter, with its insidious and narcotic
doses. And as to Mr.. Bakers editorial
discernment, let his explanation to the
Senate Investigating Committee fos
failures to order rifles, ETC., speaking of
time afte~ the sinking of the Luai
tania, bear witness: "The war was not
on us. 1t was three thousand miles
away in Europe!"
And there we have the measure
authoritative and convincing!
The First Need
We need to take stock Of ourselves
as we stand before this crisis. Ours
is the mania to put new regulation
on the statute books-and then forget
it; to turn the country upside down ir
fury Of reform legislation-and then
let nature take her course; to raise
millions for new roads, which aftel
building are allowed, for want Of up.
keep, to go to pot, that we may set ir
motion other "whirwind campaigns
for other millions to build other roads
that in their turn also 60 to pot. We
dismiss as accomplished whatever Con
gress provides for by appropriation
need of which the world is all but
standing still, the average of us has
only detached sense of responsi
bility. Subconsciously we feel that
Congress. having set apart money fol
their construction, promising commit
tees been appointed, the fleets are as
good as made, while in fact their build
ing is neither a one-man nor one.
committee job, but job for the entire
United States, which cannot be carried
through successfully unless every one
of US does his part through self -denia
and intelligent cooperation. We have
supported Loyalty the Liberty loans oil
our government, indorsed the enor
nous appropriations by Congress fol
war measures and given generously tc
the Red Cross and the Y. M. C. A.
Thus Far
Thus far we average citizens Of tn.
U. s. A. have thought money and vica
rious denial to embrace our full duty
but there is call now for kind of de
nial new to us-self- denial, that spell.
food conservation and abandonment O.
luXuries, and the intelligent coopera
tion in the use of material and laboI
and funds, denial-for those O.
n-military age-fully as patriotic a.
carrying a rifle and as vital to tn,
winning of this war through beating
the Boche, in whose world domination
scheme we are "next"-as wei
| learned OurinO NV vnar'S roIJo,, bo