New-York tribune., 1918-05-07
CyeeL Camouflaqe
(From The Kansas CitY Starr

(Fro,n The Kansas City Starr
Of course, George Creels declaration Of
pride in Americas failure to prepare for
war before war came was simply a decars
tion of incredible folly. If America was
right in refusing to take ordinary precau
tions because it depended on Germanys
word, then the Russian Bolsheviki were
right in disbanding the army on Germanys
promise not to conquer Russian territor.
To-day the whole cause fighting for
is in peril because we failed to make the
preparations that the situation evidently
called for. Every mother whose son is in
France knows that he is assuming addM
risk because we have not been in posi-
ton to back him up with large army fully
equipped.
But leaving all this to one side, the SAINT
quality of mind that caused Mr. Creel to
persist in defending position which it is
now apparent could lead only to disaster
has virtually destroyed the usefulness Of
an important part Of the activities of the
committee over which he presides.
The Committee on Public Information
has become the official covering up" de-
partment in Washington. 1t has assumed
to defend every department of the govern
ment The result has been to dscredit its
reliability.
1t is unnecessary to recall the rewriting
of the dispatch about the attack on the
first transports that arrived in France or
the recent sending out of false information
about aircraft. The whole tendency is in
this direction.
''The Independent" of New York. for in
stance. is printing a weekly message"
the American people from the government
delivered by George Creel April 13 the
message was headed, "Rotting at the
Core: The Amazing Facts of Germanys
Internal Breakdown" The article is based
chiefly on an article published in an OBJ
scure German newspaper the "Volksbiats,
OF bochum. While in the last sentence
the Creel message" admits that the army
is as strong as ever and must be defeated
the tendency of the article is to create
false impression of Germany's weakness.
again. last week the message" deals
with Making Good on Guns" From this
message" the American people would
learn, If they read it. that the ordnance
bureau has been a model. Even the delays
In the manufacture of the French 75s arc
excused on the ground that new machinery
had to be made. 'In short" says the art'
Gle, all the accusations against the ORD.
nance bureau are accusations that are based
P>"Ao'NSS, uot OH eViUeUCe.
The Senate Committee on Military Al.
fa'rs, which investigated the delays in the
production of the 75s, ard which caused
the complete reorganization of the bureau
VIII read this defence with amazement. On
the Creel statement there should have been
no reorganization of the ordnance bureau
General Crozier should still be at its head
Yet every we'll informed person knows tnas
the mlsmanagement of ordnance productioh
which was revealed by the Senate commit
tee, is one of the chief sources of weakness
IN our preparations to-day -
1t is not to be expected chat the Commit
tee on Public Information should undertake
to exploit failures in the departments
Neither is it to be expected that the com,
mlttee should go out Of its way to misieae
the public by covering up failures.
Unfortunately, under its present chair
man the committee has created the impfes'
sion of attempting to hide defcieneiss
under veil of camoufiage. The puo,s
has learned to distrust it so compleSs
that its usefulness in giving out currep'
information is gone