New-York tribune., 1918-01-15
Augustus P. Gardner

Augustus P. Gardner should not have
mad an opportunity to see service at the
front. Such service would have crowned
his record of ardent devotion to the cause
of national defence. Few men have sought
more earnestly or modestly than he did to
i've up, when war came, to the ideas and
theories which he had championed while
war was still ahead of US. As Repre-
sentative in Congress he had said that it
was the duty of the United States to
enter the war on the side of the Allies
he had urged real preparation for war
When Congress and the government were
content with nothing but sham prepara-
tlon He had done what he could to get
the country ready to fight, because he
believed that it ought to fight. And he
wanted to be in the fighting himself. if
that was possible
lie resigned his seat in the House of
Representatives., offered his services to the
war Department and was appointed a
colonel in the adjutant generals depart
ment. Subsequently, seeing no chance of
gettlng to the front as member of tho
adJutant generals corps, he asked for
denotion in rank and a transfer to the
infantry. His ambition to get into the
trenches was on the way toward realiza-
ton. But he fell i'll of pneumonia and died
in camp hospital.
Mr. Gardner was man Of positive
ideas. He hated shams He was not
afraid to denounce happy-go-lucky meth
DDS IN government. He realized earlier
than most other men in Congress that
Americans generally were living in fools
paradise. so far as confidence in this coun-
try's ability to resist foreign attack was
concerned. He became a big navy and
big army man at time when pacifsm
was rampant, as well as eminentlv re-
spectacle and popular, and when to ex
press doubts as to the suffcencv of our
military preparedness exposed the doubter
to the charge of being calamity howler.
He was not deferred by the scorn Of the
vehement anti-militarists or the inertia Of
the public. He set about mastering the
details OF our naval and military defcicn-
cles, and session after session he exnosed
on the floor Of the House the ma]eshifts
IN the way of preparation which the ADJ
rnlnlstratlon was fathering and which it's
mouthpleces in Congress were defendlnr
as meeting the necessities of the situation.
"A lew years ago Mr.. Gardner lifted the
lid OH pompous institution known AS
TIE reserve of the regular army. He in
vited all the members of the rcsorvo to
dine with him in Washington and thu,
rubbed IN on the country the fact that
there were only about twenty names on
the entire reserve list. He fought tho
Daniels policy of curtailing increases of
the navy. He was one Of the most effcc-
tive critics of the Hay army reorganiza.
tion farce comedy. He was a pioneer in
the field of military reconstruction; and
though he could accomplish little in the
way of overcoming lethargy and ignor-
ance in Congress, he helped greatly 70
create an intelligent minority in the coun-
try, alive to the dangers of mock prepara-
tion and eager to combat the snug preten-
slons of the anti-militarists and pacifists.
The event has signally vindicatcd Mr..
Gardners position. He had seen the truth
which had escaped the great majority Of
the politicians. But he was not content
to stay behind in politics and make capital
out of that vindication. Simply and mod
estly he sought place in the military
establishment which he had tried to i'm
prove, but which had remained stagnant
IN spite of him. This will also be remem-
bered to his credit. He was a true patriot
as we'll as fearless agitator and critic.
he did an admirable work at time when
a work OF that sort was most needed in
washington. That work alone entities
him to recognition among the constructive
public men of his period.