New Britain herald., 1918-01-30

fenSe of the war Administration and
they were certainly to the point, and
should be practiced by everyone who
calls himself, or herself, an American.
This editorial should open the eyes
Of e1ervone. who reads it, to just whv
senator chamberlain, also Teddy.
st,ood their different fault-fndings
with the War Administration.
Yours very truly,
ROBERT HURD.
Nine months ago the hysterical
critics who are calling down inpre-
cations upon all the deficiencies Of the
War Department were in the fronk
rank of the army of Godsakers as H.
G.. Wells calls them-the people who
are forever raising their hands to
heaven and crying For Gods sake,
do something! For Gods sake,
hurry upt''
Now all the amateur Northcliffes
profess to be appalled, because in the
process Of doing something, in the
process of hurrying up, everything has
not gone as smoothly as Fifth ave-
nue. dress parade. ignoring and dis
regarding all the wonderful accom-
plishments Of the war department..
they exhaust the resources Of lnVec-
tive in denouncing every shortening
Of every individual in a service Of
10000 900 men, and assure the Amer
lean people that we are about to loss
the war because the government is in
competent.
Senator Cham berlaln's speech was
classical example Of that kind Of criti-
cism. The chairman Of the senate
committee on military affairs assures
the country that he painted true
picture of War Department failures.
With due respect to the senator he
painted a wholly false picture Of the
military achievements of the United
States Every statement of fact
might have been correct, vet the
speech as a whole was false and mis-
leading.
Take for example. two instances Of
shocking neglect in camp hospitals
which Senator Chamberlain recited
with such splendid dramatic effect
that many persons in his audience
were moved to tears, All that the
senator said is undoubtedly true. What
he refrained from saying is supplied
by the Washington correspondent of
the Evening Post; namely, that st
was more than a month ago, for in
stance, that investigation was ordered
of the things brought out in yester
days debat tie, and whoever was respon-
sible for the neglect of the two boys
who died in the camps mentioned is
going to be court martialed and pun
ished.' Senator Cham berlain did not
tell that part of the story. Why was
It suppressed?
Nor did Senator Cham berlain, in his
and the death of hundreds and thou
sands Of men, ever refer to the fact
that the death rate among American
troops is below the average of men
of the same age in civil life, as shown
by life insurance tables. In other
words, the losses thus far in the army
are less than they would have been
if we had had no army at all. We
have the healthiest and the best
cared-for army in the world. We
spend $14 on our soldiers to every
dollar that Germany spends, but moth
ing of that will be found in Senator
hamberlain's speech.
1t is an interesting circumstance
that there was no severe criticism Of
the secretary of war until Mr.. Baker
in his annual report opposed the adop-
ton at this time Of the bill for uni
versal military training. That is Sen
ator Cham berlain's pet measure and
it is ardently supported by Col Roose- |
welt The moment the secretary
raised doubts as to the expediency of
this legislation during the war, the
batteries were opened upon him. Sen
ator Chamberlain came to New York
and declared that the military estab-
1ishment of the United States had
broken down, that it had almost
stopped functioning" Col. Roose-
welt went to Washington to demand
that Secretary Baker must go and
that "four-ffths of his subordinafes
should 60" The attack is no longer
confined to the secretary of war. Col.
Roosevelt now declares that the
present chief Of staff is inefficient and
so was his predecessor. We should
have new chief Of staff" The
whole military organization is to be
wrecked.
Senator Cham herlain has gone even
further and has introduced q bill de-
posing the president Of the United
States, stripping him Of his constitu-
tionaI powers as ommander-ln-c chief
of the Army and Navy and vesting the
conduct Of the war in a council of
three distinguished citizens of dem |
onstrated ability" The coalition gov
eminent for which the Godsakers have |
been shrielSing turns out to be coaft- |
ton of Politics and Hysteria. |
IT there is any better way to con-
vince the French and British that we |
lack the self control and the d1sci- |
pine necessary to see this conflict |
through we do not know it. If there |
is any surer way Of giving encourage
ment to the Germans, we do not know /
it. If there IS any shorter way to lose |
the war. we do not know it.
Place in the Shadow