Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1918-02-08
The Codsakers.

partment were in the front rank OF
the army of Godsakers, as H. O. Wells
calls them-the people who are for
ever raising their hands to heaven and
crying "For Gods sake do something
For Gods sake, hurry up!'
Now all the amateur Northcliffes
profess to be appalled, because in the
! process of doing something. in the pro-
cess of hurrying up, everything has
not gone "a smoothly az Fifth ave-
nue. dress parade. Ignoring and disre-
garding all the wonderful accomplish
ments of the war department. they ex-
haust the resources of invective in de-
nouncing every shortcoming of every
individual in q service of 1.500, 900 men,
and assure the American people that
we are about to lose the war because
the government is incompetent. 'f's ID
Senator Chamberlain speech was q
classical example of tina. kind of criti-
cism. The chairman of ,he senate
committee on military affairs assures
the country that he painted true PC
ture of war department failures. With
due respect to the senator he painted q
wholly false picture of the military
achievements of the United States.
Every statement of fact might have
been correct, yet the speech as whole
was false and misleading.
Take for example. two instances of
shocking neglect in camp hospitals
when Senator Chamberlain recited with
such splendid dramatic effect that many
persons in his audience were moved to
| tears. All that the senator said is un-
doubtedly true. What he refrained
from saying is supplied by the Wash
ington correspondent Of the Evening
Post; namely that 1t was more than 4
month ago. for instance. that investi-
cation was ordered of the things
brought out in yesterdays debate, and
whoever was responsible for the neg
iect of the two boys who died in the
camps mentioned is going to be court
msrtialed and punished. Senator
Chamberlain did not tell that part of
the story. Why was it suppressed?
Nor did Senator Chamberlain, in his
recital of hospital defects in the army,
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 $l4 on our
soldiers to every dollar that Germany
spends, but nothing of that will be
found in Senator Chamberlain 3 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 adoption
1T this time of the bill for universal
military training. That is Senator
Chamberlain's pet measure and it is
ardently supported by Col. Roosevelt
The moment the secretary raised
doubts as to the expediency Of this leg
islation during the war, the batteries
were opened upon him. Senator Cham
berlain came to New York and declar-
ed that the military establishment of
the United States had broken down,
that it had ''almost stopped function
ing" Col. Roosevelt went to WASH !
ington to demand that Secretary Baker
must 60 and that ''four-fifths of his
subordinates should Co." The attack is
no longer confined to the secretary of
war. Col. Roosevelt now declares that
the present chief of staff is inefficient
and 20 was his predecessor. We should
have new chief of staff. . The whole
military organization is to be wrecked.
Sanstor Chamberlain has gone even
further and has introduced bill de-
posing the president of the United
States, stripping him of his constitu-
tional powers as commander-in-chief of
the army ana navy ano vestlng the con-
duct of the war in u council Of 'three
citizens of demonstrated
ability" The coalition government for
which the Godsakers have been shrek
ing turns out to be . coalition of poll
tics and hysteria. #
If there Is any better way to con-
vince the French and British that we
lack the self-control and the discipline
necessary to see this conflict through
We do not know it. If there is any
surer way of giving encouragement to
the Germans, we do not know it. If
there is any tshorter way to lose the
war, we do not know it.-New York
World. ..--s /
Danee