The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1918-05-10
WHAT is TALKED ABOUT IN THE
NATIONS CAPITOL.
Narrowing Mariners.

corrective of gross abuses in the eX-
ecutiYe departments has been very
convincingly illustrated in several
recent instances. Of course, every
one is familiar with the stimulating
effect of criticism of the dallying
policies in war preparations, even
after war was declared. Those were
matters of large Importance and at
tracted the attention of the whole
country. But there have been numer-
Gus other instances, of less import
ance to the country as a whole but of
great importance to large numbers
of individuals, which have escaped
public notice.
Representative Madden, of Illinois,
called attention a few days ago, to
an instance of gross neglect of boy
who had enlisted in the navy. Ac-
cording to the statement made by Mr..
Madden on the floor of the house,
this boy had been accepted as a fit
recruit for service in the navy, but
had been discharged thousand miles
from home, sick, refused admissen to
the hospital, and without a cent to
pay his way home. Madden tried to
have him admitted to a government
hospital but was told that since the
boy had been dismissed as unfit, he
could not be given admission. Said
Mr.. Madden, "He was dismissed not
because of his character, not that his
character was not good, not that he
was not moral, not that he was not
an American, not that he was not
clean, not that he was not everything
that a young man ought to be, but
that for some reason his health had
failed and he was unfit for service in
the navy"
81 do not know who may be respon-
sible for the injustice that was meted
out to this young man, but do know
that there should be some remedy ap-
piled, and that remedy should be ap-
piled at once. / know that the
government of the United States can
not afford to turn the young men who
go into the army or navy onto the
streets and compel them to depend
upon charity when they are turned
out of the service. This young man
should be cared for, cared for by the
government, and cared for until he
is nursed back to health; and de-
mand that that branch of the govern
ment under the direction of Secretary
of the Navy shall see to it that the
commanding officers of ships in the
future shall so conduct themselves
that no complaint can be made by
the mother of any boy"
In the course of his remarks on
that case, Mr.. Madden made refer
ence to another case which had pre-
viously been called to the attention
of the House by Representative john
son, of Washington. In that case,
boy who had enlisted on the Pacific
coast became ill during the trip down
the coast and into the Caribbean Sea,
and, unable to perform his duties, the
commanding officer discharged him,
turning him out on foreign soil, in
a strange land where he could not
speak the language of the country,
without dollar in his pocket, and he
was compelled to find his way back
to those who could care for him.
Both Representatives Johnson and
Madden recognized these as probably
isolted cases of neglect, and were re-
luctant to place the facts before COLI
gress, Tut felt, and apparently with
good reason, that the only way to
assure reform in such practices was
to expose the conditions which make
such injustices possible. They want
the rules so changed that it will be
impossible to turn any enlisted man
out without making provision to
transport him to his former home, I'M
less he has committed some act which
results in his being court-martialed
and dismissed as punishment.
L0quacious Lewis.
Senator James Hamilton Lewis is
reported to have stated in a recent
public address, that Germany would
sue for peace and the war would
cease by July of this year. Such
statements are exasperating, mische-
vious, and if coming from the lips of
almost any other man they would
promptly create the belief that
the speaker was irresponsible. But
Senator Lewis boasts that he is the
spokesman of the President, and on
the Floor of the Senathe he is ac-
corded that distinction by the De-
mocratic side at least. Newspapers,
men of affairs, men who have been
at the front, have repeatedly caution
ed against the emittance or the ac-
ceptance to create relaxation on the
part of the uniformed, and which are
promptly seized upon by German
propagandists, translated, and spread
broadcast to subserve enemy ends. If
there is no way to convince Senator