New-York tribune., 1918-07-13
illinois Senator Says "Ful-
some Praise" Is "Paid
Hogwash"
Contrasts 1t With
Attacks on Congress
Much Merriment Follows
Rereading of Description
of the Secretary
Especial Dispatch to The Tribune)

WASHINGTON. July 10. - George
rreel's eulogy of Secretary of War
peker. given out by the Committee on
Public Information. was held up to
ridicule in the Senate to-day in biting
speech by Senator Lawrence Y. Sher-
man, of Illinois.
The chair had. difficulty in restrain
mo merriment both on the floor and in
,be galleries as the lank Illinois "rail-
snlitter" dissected the article praislng
Baker.
"The latest exploit of this public
furctionary," he said, sis the feature
service article, dated July 7, 1918. From
nroof sheets we learn it was sent out
bv the Committee on Public Informa-
ton. The style and familiar nausea
remind one of over-indulgence in paw
paws. 1t identifies unmistakably the
toad eater from whence it came. The
subject is the Secretary of War. His
wearing apparel, gait, how his brain
functions, his manner of saying yes or
no of making complete tour of the
brown davenports lining the wall, Civ
Ing to each occupant a succinct judicial
answer, are minutely sketched.
Without warning the startling in
formation that he thinks clearly under
all circumstances and is never ambigu-
l-,v+ +1oI III
words fastidously, shading his mean
ing like one of the old masters mixed
his colors. The readers head buzzes
when he is told the Secretary can keep
three or four stories told him by as
many men up in his dome all at one
time. Instinctively we think of the
juggler who entranced our boyish at
tenton by keeping up gorgeous maze
Of whirlng balls with no perceptible
effort except fixed smile.
Baker-as Creel Sees Him
Suddenly he appears, mingling with
the ambassadors, the wise, the good,
iair forms and hoary seers. He turns
aside in the twinkling of an eye to
mediate, while contractors hang in
aidair and profiteers wildly clutch
heir pocketbooks in deafening silence.
Yes or no. comes with decisive
ing in his voice, and hundreds of mill
ions Of dollars gush from the Treasury
at his nod. Then the earth tempo
iarlly resumes its customary revolu-
tlons. Five stenographers then rush
N. He dictates to nearly all of them
At once. Others linger in hailing dis
lance as reserve if some, perchance,
should drop dead. Immense bundles Of
documents of state appear, in which he
mmerses himself, lost in q profound
vacuum of sublimated thought.
The shorthanders fee madly from
the incarnated human tempest, waving
;heir notebooks ominously. Now the
landscape fades away in haze of to-
oacco smoke. Gradually the scenery
reveals briar root pipe, with the Sec
retary OF War attached, curled up in a
deep, soft-armed chair, revelling in his
lheocrltuS and Juvenal or a biography
OF Iom Johnson and three-cent car
fares.
From this deep dream of peace this
00verlpe Boswell blazes film with
Bakers trip to France. We are per
lhitted to gaze upon the greatest Secrn-
tary OF War the world ever saw. Stan
ION struggles dimly into view merely
as basis of comparison to enable our
staggering mentality to gain last
iook OF Baker walking serenely on the
summit OF inaccessible grandeur before
we lapse into unconsciousness.
me peerless strategist ond LAWYER
..li''snes the moving picture by remain
in% 1our hours N the trenches AID dug
ou's IN mortal peril from BURSTING
shen and scattering shrapnel. Here
'He dazed audience dispersed.
Hun Perils Are Nothing
Alter enduring this from Creel the
selIors OF Hun invasion are consid-
eIabiy mltigated. We await our fate
W wv" calmness and fortitude Nothing
o@n De worse on either side of the
sIaVe Reason viii topple from its
chrome II other members of the Cahi
neV W are to have anatomical charts of
@ sneir cerebral cavities made. with a
hh'o'ihg picture show of their wardrobe
..Seaosear and lingual activities. And
!, I'ts published at public expense
son ~ composed by man drawing SIS. .OOO
som nsar from the government to spend
spcb VI MS lime at least compounding
nJ NoSWdSn.
In this lamentable condition Con.
fs, 1rtss IS stigmatized as 'slum' bv q
an puOale ofhcer created and appointed by
pro pm executive order and paid by an an,
dglOpl'ation gnopp, made by the body he ira.
rrse rreea. This swollen rakehell of de.
yeslaS vesLea newspaperdom regrets his re
tSan tSea.eo contempt only when asking fur.
snss appropriations to continue his in.
rntbraole sCatbasle arrogance and escapes un-
e,roa oAaoyssmal humiliation cannot 90 te
Ssrs'er Ssra depths or departmental snob,
solone rise TO such dizzy heights of in.
NO. O'ence f" IN future years Each can &c
.b;a ~ lurther in either direction. Afte1
'a is .. any deputy servile candle snuffe,
A,H az noerty to revile US at pleasure
;nnss gahgrened egotist afflicted witt
ana sa'J"lng wing conceit may spurn Congress.
with "s'l'aha INA appropriations to feed hin
nre" " lne complacent assurance thai
precedent now iustifies anvtb;no