The Washington times., 1918-01-13
By w. v. BYARS.

There are no ADLER men in the Sen
ate and no better politicians in thu
country than the members of thu
Senate Committee on Military Al
fairs.
Cut OF and surrounded. attacked
from front and rear, Secretary Of
War Newton ID. Baker fought then
all, all day long yesterday. Right oil
wrong, he still fought on and fought
like q gentleman" IL other AND
more plebeian Americans in the
trenches or in politics, fight as we'll
with the same steady nerve against
the odds, they'll win.
The way Baker fought and held
his ground with all the odds against
him was really the news OF the day
at the Capitol. The news Of the IS
sues OF "nnpreparedness" last year
is last years news. already threshed
out. But the way Baker fought was
a novelty in news-unprecedented, in
its way. 1t may not have been war,
but it was magnificent.
Asked questions which involved
his political life. and once or twice
deadly insults, he would take from
the center of his mouth the long,
slim cigar he was smoking. and with
his head thrown slightly back, let
the smoke rise in a thin column
from the corner Of his mouth
thinking! Then, with his eyes
as level as his voice, he an
swered deliberately, naturally, coolly,
and as politely as II he were an
swering a lady in a drawing room.
So he answered on a question OF
veracity. When ordinarily, the an
swer to such a question might have
been that the statement 1t involved
was IAN internal lie" Baker said,
after about ten seconds elaboration:
"You and /, Senator, debated the
question of whether he meant rela-
lively none, or absolutely none. If
he said, absolutely none he must
have been in error"
Perhaps the man who said there
was no machine gun or something
else of that kind at given camp on
a given dav is relatively" as good
a man as anybody else. AS far as
Secretary of War Newton d. Baker
is concerned, with his testimony, he
may be. But that far also, though
by no means necessarily an Internal
condemned. or double-dashed liar, ne
is necessarily ain erro-."
Now, in the history of American
politics since 1850, when the records
begin to be more or less voluminous,
what would we make Of about two
hundred answers of that kind, if we
could find them?
The President has been telling
Washington lately about the new
world" he expects to leave behind
him. Will ID &c populated politically
by Newton D. Bakers? If so, what
will the rest of us do in politics,
when we 90 "gunnin"" for an Of
fetal scalp-without complete self
control and equal control of the best
dictionary English"
One of the most brutal questions
asked involved the alleged super
iority of "He-Men" to men who use
dictionary English when exasperated
instead of the profanity to which
others of us may resort in emerg-
ency. Mr.. Secretary's answer may
lead few examples of answers, not
less forcible because they were de-
livered with a "silencer" on the
muzzle-as for example:
. "If you want my opinion as to a
He-Man, whether he is better than
some other kind of a man, presum-
ably he is.
of you had an omniscient and ON
nipotent man, he would be far better
than an expert council.
There has to be a person whose
mind will function and get results.
what | have done is to centralize
five separate functions under a
single executive direction.
81 can't answer that. There are
too many people in - Eli l don't
know. -, com
my.si r." lat * .: s;'a:45 l De-