davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The sun., 1918-10-15

Modern steel freight and passenger steam
ers "CNrmont" and "Onteora" leave foot Of
Christopher ST. daily. p. N: West 42d
st., $50 p. NJ; West 10Th ST.. 6:45 p. NJ
Due at Troy A. VI. Restaurant. Horses
and automobiles carried Tel la4S
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Conflicting Orders
DISCOVERED by Ciuilion

II am told that three different orders
were made out for bags for gas masks
one was for 100000, another for
1000 900, while third was for 5,00O,-
600. Fortunately, one of the civilian
committeeman outside of the depart
ment discovered the conflicting orders
and the enormous aggregate, secured q
revision and stopped the blunder
IF at the time we entered the war
we had created the position of director
Of munitions and if the President had
placed in it high class business man
Of big vision and broad experience
things would have been different. He
would have ascertained at once how
many men he had to provide for and
what each would require, and when
they gathered in the September camps
the supplies would have been ready for
them.
The President and the Secretary of
War have evidently realized the de-
feet of the existing system and have
attempted to change it without legisla-
tion. but without success
flrst, they organized the advisory
commission of the Council of National
Defence, with its many and various
committees of civilians. Still failing
to get successful results, they next or
ganiZed the General Munitions Board.
and after that board had been in oper-
alton some time they reorganized again
and created the War Industries Board
Stlii 1lndlng lneflicicncy and failure
70 get results, they then took General
Crozier out Of the ordnance depart
ment, General Sharpe from the quar-
termaster's department, and with sew
eral other officers placed them in a war
council
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
as never known anything Of.

has never known anything Of.
Participating troubles of this sort,
Congress authorized the control of
shipments, and the granting of priority
OF shipments became one of the func-
tlcns of government. How was it cx-
crclsed? 1t was so exercised that on
some OF the most important roads
priority orders for shipments were
given to 80 per cent of the freight, and,
instead of having facilitated important
shipments, priority orders became the
cause of the utmost confusion.
every department of government
apparently. from the smallest quarter
masters clerk up to the highest official,
was permitted to blue tag government
shipments and give them priority re-
Eardless of whether there was any
hurry for their transportation or not.
There was no one to coordinate, no one
to dlffcrentlate, no one to select, and
the great mass of government ship
ments was permitted to clog the chan
nels of transportation.
"Anchors for ships not yet built were
rushed to their places of destination
months before they could possibly be
used. Hundreds of carloads of piles for
construction work were rushed across
the country and allowed to remain upon
the cars for weeks because the time
lad not yet come to use them. There
was no supreme power, apparently, to
limit the enormous and dangerous con-
trol of priority shipments, and the
whole transportation system of the
country was thrown into confusion.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05

Senator as to why the Secretary of
War was SO wildly apart from the facts
In this connection. Had he not been
Informed, or did his sanguinc DISPOSE
ton and hopeful nature lead him to
predict results which the facts dia not
justify?"
II would like to attempt to explain
the motives which led the Secretary Of
War TO make such statement" replied
Senator Hitchcock. "1 consider it reck-
less; l think i. terrible thing to mis-
lead the people when the facts are
ascertainahle. My own opinion is that
the Secretary of War has not been in
touch with the Shipping Board, and
that there has been nothing to coordi-
nate the Shipping Board with the other
functions of government. and that
there has not been knowledge in high
places of what the actual facts were.
1t is a miserable thing for us to live
i'll FOOLS paradise and to think we can
do the impossible"
81 know what is the matter with the
Senator from Nebraska (Hitchcock)
and the Senator from Oregon (Cham-
berlain)," said Mr.. Williams "l ou
have both just finished an investigation.
The business of an investigating COM
mittee is to find fyspecks, and you
have found them. You are now like the
scientist who has been looking at spots
on the sun until you think it is all
specks. You have drawn circle on
your blackboard. and have put AL The
specks you have found in it, and said,
This is the SUM-"
''This bill for war cabinet is
stupid bill and is unconstitutional"
said Mr.. Williams "If the President
is fool, how are you going to give
him brains by an act of Congress ?"
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05

nearly the end Of this year and that
not over one-tenth of the new Brown
ing machine guns ON which we are to
rely can be delivered before August.
I'VE found that the first heavy artil-
iery of American make cannot be re-
ceivcd until July, and not much before
1919 can we expect to use in France
American heavy artillery in any great
quantity. What we get before this fall
we must buy from England
1--WE found that we are only now.
nine months after entering the war,
just beginning work on two great pow
der plants to cost $60,000,00O, although
1T was evident last summer that we
must have 100000 pounds day more
powder than America can now manu-
facture. We cannot get powder from
these plants before next August.
"We found that though the Medical
Department asked for hospital ships
last July they have not yet been or
dered, though sick and wounded men
arc now already beginning to come
home. and it will take three months to
equip the ships.
II do not deny that we also found
much that was creditable and satisfac-
tory. The task undertaken was a hugo
one and much of the work had been
ably done. Personally, know that
some of the War Department officials
who have been most severely criticised
have worked desperately hard. This
comment covers the Secretary of War
himself, who has had burden of de
tail which has kept him at his office
all day and far into the night most OF
the time. These considerations lead
me to hold defective organization
responsible for the shortcomings to
greater degree than any individual or
proun of jndiviIuolc
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05

Senators and from more than four hum
dred REPRESENTATIVES. Distinguished
out-of-town VISITORS, Governors Of
states, mayors OF cities, writer's OF
books and seekers for Office besiegc
him. A vast correspondence constantly
arrives at the White House The diplo-
matte representatives of other nations
take some Of his time. Legislative mat
ters often require much study and
many conferences. Thousands of COM
missions and tens Of thousands of let
ters must be signed and daily pro-
gramme of current reading followed.
This indicates the Presidential life in
times of peace.
"Suddenly the nation is plunged into
war. Congress could think of nothing
better than to vest in the President n
lot of additional powers, and he ap-
pointed the man to exercise them. So
that Eow he has the oversight net
only Of the ten executive departments
represented at the two so-callcd Cabi-
net meetings each week, but as many
additional war bureaus.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Production Pushed,
With No Ships II, Sight

"Take the matter Of contracts for
production. Obviously, in contracting
for production of supplies for Europe
some sort of regard should have been
had for the capacity of our ships to
take them. yet various bureaus have
rushed production in factories to an
enormous extent until there arc now
piled up Qn the docks of few great
harbors nearly two million tons or
more of freight awaiting shipment, and
every day adds to the mass and makes
the confusion more confounded Here
again there has been no power to CO.
ordinate between production and trans
portation across the Atlantic. Now we
must begin to curtail production.
again, IN the selection of factories
for the manufacture of goods, care
should have been exercised not to con-
gest population beyond the housing pos
sibilities, but enormous contracts have
been made which required the conccn-
tration Of tens of thousands of work
men without any one planning ahead
for housing the extra men.
again, it may be said that one Of
the inevitable results Of the war is that
manufacturing institutions engaged in
peace time occupations will find a fall
ing off in the demand, and factories
will become to some extent idle.
"Instead of supplying work to these
factories, the tendency has been to
mass the work in factories Of few
states and congest the labor population
so that to-day there are thousands Of
factories in the country with facilities
tor doing government work, or capable
o. being transformed so they can do
government work, which have lost a
large share of their occupations of
peace and are not in receipt of any
government work, so that the lines of
IDLE men are already appearing in those
Central and Western states while there
is an enormous shortage Of labor in
the congested regions. If we had had
scme power of coordinatlng the work
of various bureaus this evil would not
have resulted.
"Take the matter of the fuel admin
istration. Congress authorized the
control of the fuel of the country, and
an attempt has been made to control
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Shipping Board, Lacking
Balance, Proved "Farce"

"Take the Shipping Board. For
months 1T was more than a dismal
failure; it was farce and almost a
crime. Even since it got into more
vigorous operation it has been enor-
lmously handicapped and embarrassed
because there has been little or no CO.
ordination Of its energies and opera
tlons with the energies and operations
OF other branches.
1T has needed materials; it has
needed labor; and every effort should
have been made to get the materials
and get the labor supply in priority
over every other activity Of govern
ment. 1t is a matter Of common re-
port, however, that enormous delays
have occurred in our shipyards because
OF their failure to receive materials, as
we'll as because labor has been d.
verted in other directions.
III have been told on what I deem
reliable authority that 900 carloads of
ship plates made for the Shipping
board. loaded upon cars at the place
of manufacture. were lost in the con-
geston of freight for a month at a
time, while the shipyards waited anx-
iously for their arrival
"Production of war materials for
Europe has been rushed to completion
in factories by labor which should have
been employed in building ships and
would have been if we had war
cabinet to survey the whole field and
balance production and transportation.
Now we have the products filling every
warehouse, sidetrack and dock, without
the ships to carry them
"The present condition of our ship
building is nothing less than shocking.
The present supply of shipping is worse
than alarming. [ am afraid to go too
deeply into figures, for one might be
charged with giving information of
value to the enemy were one to tell the
truth about the present supply of ship
ping.
"All who are informed as to the
present supply of our shipping were
thunderstruck at the statements of
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05

Secretary Baker before the Military At
fairs Committee. His sanguine predic-
tions as to our ability to ship men to
Europe and to supply them when there
are exaggerations of the widest sort.
Let any Senator take pencil and
paper and figure the matter out for
himself. Under the most favorable
circumstances it takes five tons of
shipping to supply one man in France
/ mean by that that the ships must sail
regularly, cross rapidly and be loaded
and unloaded promptly. These figures
take no account of the transports
necessary to take men across the ocean.
They contemplate only the supplying of
men over there.
"It makes no allowance for sinkings,
no allowance for delays, no allowance
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
What a Director of
Munitions Could DO

If high class business man could
be made Director of Munitions and be
given power to buy all supplies needed
by the various bureaus of the War De-
partment, he would soon bring order
out Of disorder, cut red tape, stop de-
lays and furnish the army with its
supplies promptly and economically.
We would then locate and centralize
responsibility and authority. The bust
ness of supplying the department would
be run on uptod date methods of great
to come to it. France had to come to
it. We shall be compelled to come TO
it. A West Point education makes a
good soldier, but it spoils business
man, and it is q business man and not
a soldier who is needed to go into the
business world and buy for the army.
'No amount Of hard work can COM
pensate for lack of business sense and
experience. Some of the reported blum
ders almost surpass belief. l am told
that the number of shoes ordered for
the army so far amounts to 81 100000
pairs, and, as we know, thousands Of
these are too small. l am told that one
order Of iron bolts completely stunned
the commercial world. 1t specified 325
different sizes and provided exactly the
same HumDer Tor each SlZe-namely,
170,6SS. All told, they amounted to 100
carloads. Nobody ever supposed it pos
sible to devise so many different sizes,
and why no discrimination was made
between usual and unusual sizes is past
finding out. Some of the sizes would
be exhausted soon, while. the others
would last hundred yearsg
Il am told that some genius in one
OF the War Department bureaus sue
ceeded in shipping to FRANCE a carload
of sawdust, which is plentiful enough
and cheap enough there, while nearly
100000 tons of important freight have
been waiting chance to go over for
months
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Senate, of Bill for War Cabinet

prices, supply and distribution, but it
has apparently been made without any
successful effort to coordinate the work
with other functions of the govern
ment. To-day we have a fuel famine
in the country, not because we lack
productive mines, but because they
have not been permitted to operate.
Lack Of knowledge, lack Of transporta-
tion and lack Of harmony between the'
fuel administration and other functions
Of government are the causes of the
breakdown.
at started trouble last summer by
fixing prices for coal at such figures
as to make impossible the operation Of
a climax Of disaster in mdwintcr by
closing arbitrarily for moro than a
week thousands Of industries, throwing
millions Of laborers and clerks out of
work and causing the loss of millions
Of dollars.
"The Aircraft Production Board,
straining every nerve to secure air.
craft and aircraft materials, already
two months behind on its programme,
found it's production interfered with
The Allied governments, purchasing in
this country products necessary to the
war, found some of their factories en-
harrassed. The Shipping Board, wait
ing for materials from certain plants,
found their programme interfercd with.
Almost every other department of gov
crnment stood aghast at the revolu-
tlonary character Of an order that they
had no knowledge Of until it appeared
in the public press.
"1t is true that following the order
constantly increasing lists of excep-
tions were made. so as to remedy in
part the evil that had been inflicted
and the damage that had been done,
but the illustration shows the evils of
government bureaus operating without
coordination.
at is safe to say if there had been
a war cabinet to which this order could
have been submitted to the acid test of
its effect on the various branches of
government and industry it never
would have been issued in that form.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
War Must Be Run
On Business BASIS,
Declares Hitchcock
Senator Hitchcock said:

<kN HY PURPOSE is to present
wi concisely the reasons which
have led the Committee on
Military Affairs to recommend the pas
sage Of two bills. One creates the Of
flee Of director Of munitions; the other
creates q war cabinet of three persons.
In both cases, of course, the President
would make the appointments.
"The Military Affairs Committee
voted to support these bills after a
month and half of almost continuous
daily meetings. During this time it
and now in printed form, and some of
it of such q confidential nature that it
was not reduced to writing.
"By the goth Of January the commit
tee was practically a unit in reaching
the conclusion that the disclosures
called for drastic action. When l say
the committee, l mean those members
Of it who had been in regular attend
ance at the hearings and who were IA
miliar with the testimony.
THE question then arose as to what
action the committee should take.
Should it merely present the testimony
to the Senate and denounce the various
officials whose departments or bureaus
had failed to perform their work?
That might have been done, but it
would have been inadequate. 1t would
have resulted in making q few scape-
goats of individuals who are more or
less to blame, but it would have ig-
nored the greatest evil of all--the
present defective machinery of govern
ment with which we are trying to carry
on the war. And so the committee de-
cided that it would perform its highest
duty by recommending to the Senate
such a change in law as would give to
the Executive an up-to-date warmaking
organization.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05

law, because legislation is necessary to
take power from officers in the various
bureaus and give it to him. All he can
DO. as q matter of law, is to give ad
VICE In this position has bocn placed
one OF the ablest of business men, Ed
ward Stettinius, but he is there with
OUT legal power and occupying very
much the same anomalous position that
an the other advisory boards and coun-
ellis have occupied.
An OF these experimental efforts are
msdc "nen experience shows that the
simple, direct and effective method is
to change the law; to take the mower
out OF the hands Of military men and
put it in the hands of business man
who will act on business methods ia
making purchases and planning ahead
Tor purchases. So much for the director
of munitions,
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Additional Duties That
Are Piled on Wilson

"Let me mention them, or some OF
them:
/. The Board Controlling Priority
of Freight Shipments
2. The Raw Materials Board.
3. The War Industries Board
4. The Food Administration
o. The Fuel Administrations
6. The Shipping Board.
T. The Aircraft Production Board.
8. The Allies Purchasing Board.
3. The War Trade Board
10. The Director General of Rail-
roads.
"These great war bureaus should be
focused in some authority that would
harmonize them and coordinate them
mat is what is proposed in the bill
1or war cabinet of three men. At
present these bureaus are running
independently and sometimes running
"lld. Inc nearest approach to CO.
ordination is an occasional conference
of one bureau with another .r with
the President.
ut is true we made a weak attempt
at coordination and supervision. We
created the Council of National Defence
but unfortunately we placed lpon It
SIX overworked Cabinet officers. These
ousy and weary men meet only twice
a week. The only vital force in the
organization is Director Clifford, who
has rendered a great service, but who
has only had advisory functions.
Being composed of men already
overworked, the council has proved to
De merely name, without activity
without energy and without life. Re-
allzlng this fact, an effort was put forth
to make it a reality by adding to it an
..advisory commission of men from the
business world. This brought to Wash
ngton many able men who served on
various committees of the advisory
commission of the Council of National
Defence. But it added to the complica.
ton and confusion. These men found
they had IN law no power. They founC
no organization or coordination. One
by one they have gradually become dis
couraged, and many have already re.
signed and retired to private life. MANY
OF o, those sun persistng talk freely OF
the disorder and lack of system in the
war activities of the government.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
War Cabinet Based
On Allies Experience

Now let us consider the other bill
reported by the committee. known as
the war cabinet bill. This bill has
been received with a strange degree of
antagonism; yet it is based on expert
ences in Great Britain and France and
on the same weakness in our present
system or administration that devel-
oped in France and Great Britain.
we are told that it is an interfer-
ence with the powers of the President
II so, the creation of the office of Sec
retary OF Labor in recent years was an
1ntcrterence with the powers of the
presidents; or, if so the creation of the
department of Commerce, some time
ago, was an interference with the pow
ers of the President.
las matter of fact, this bill is no
dl1erent from any other bill which
creates an Office whose occupant is to
be named by the President and con-
nrmed by the Senate. The three men
ident would be his personal selections:
they would be subject to his instruc-
tlons; they would perform powers vest
ed IN him; they would be subject to re-
moval by him for cause or without
cause. He would have the power. if he
please, to appoint as his war cabinet
mr.. McAdoo, Mr.. Baker and Mr.. Dan
1els, provided they relinquished their
present duties as heads of great cx-
ecutlve departments. He could appoint
any one of them or all three of them.
A consideration of this fact demon
strates that it is not intended and
could not be intended by creation OF a
war cabinet to embarrass the President
nor to curtail his powers.
AS a matter of fact, the creation of
q war cabinet is intended to aid in
carrying on the war 1t is intended
to give to the President additional pow
erful machinery through which to act
1t is intended to strengthen his admin
istration and to coordinate government
functions that are now operating more
or less without coordination.
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Colonel Is Named for
Position Ouer Generals

'"Then director of purchases was
selected to preside over the five pur-
chasing bureaus of the War Depart
ment. Unfortunately. however. tn.
able officer placed in charge >of that
bureau and above a number of major
generals was himself only colonel.
and therefore practically incapable of
acting as an authority over major gen
erals aM. brigadier generals, who out
ranked him.
And now, since the introduction of
the bill establishing director of mu-
nltlons another step has been taken.
by administrative order the office Of
surveyor OF purchases is created, with
rather vague authority and somewhat
underlined duties. He has no power in
New-York tribune., 1918-02-05
Does Not Interfere W;fh
Presidents Pouer

at neither adds to nor subtracts
from his powers. He now has power to
coordinate all the various departments
and bureaus and boards of government
but he does not do it and cannot do it.
Neither could any other man in the
executive Office. His power TO CO.
ordinate is only theoretical and NOM
inal because he lacks the machinery
of government through which to exer-
else it.
I'VE all know that even in peace
times the Office of President is burden
some beyond the strength of the ordi-
nary man. From early morning till
bedtime he is under pressure. He has
close relations with the ten executive
heads of great departments. He is
liable to visits from nearly hundred