Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1918-04-02

majestic, perhaps, OuL LneSe are tIy
Ing days for royalty all over the
world. Consider, for instance, Nfcho
las Romanoff. ESQ.,, of Siberia.
cENsoRINa THE CENSOR
(F'rom Saturdays Daily
Senator Thomas, In yesterdays de-
bate on the airplane situation, optned
that the Creel information bureau
needs censor. This agrees with the
view which practical newspaper men
have shared for months, although It
has developed that Mr.. Creel himself
Is less the autocrat he seemed than q
helpless victim Of wrong system.
His title as chairman of the commit
tee on public information only makes
him the scapegoat for the execution
Of orders from higher up"
The information bureau has incurred
the displeasure of some senators BY
distributing photographs Of airplanes
and airplane parts, bearing captions
to indicate that the United States 10
shipping fighting and bombing ma
chimes to Europe at marvellous rate.
The truth, as 1t was brought out In
the senate yesterday. is that two air
planes have been sent over and that
fifty-four machines have been built
in France by Americans, from Amert-
can materials. Instead of $4,000 ma
chimes which were to be In France
July according to the aircraft boards
orfGlnal program, the senate has been
told there will be NO more than thirty
seven In addition to those which have
been built there. Sometime next fall,
It is said now, there will be In Europe.
not the 10000 Of the first plan. but
1000 American-built fighting planes.
This does not square with the am
bilious assertions the aircraft board
and the committee on public infcFma-
ton have announced. Nor does Sen.
ator Overman's declaration that Ger.
man spies built imperfections into
some airplanes serve as an excuse for
the collapse Of the entire program. In
fact, there is no excuse that Will an
swer at this stage. for the period OF
experimentation Is 1t an end. Amer
lea must have results from Its war
administration rather than explana'
tfons of failure, II America herself Is
to count for anything but failure In
the war.
Last winter, when the aFcraft pro-
gram was announced, newspapers and
magazines fairly glowed with the stor-
les OF fleets Of planes which, this sum-
mer, would be nuttering over Ger
many in such numbers that they
would almost exclude the sunlight
from the empire. General Persh1ng 1t
was who sent back word to substitute
performance for promise He had
learned that the Germans. warned OF
the coming invasion, had speeded up
their own airplane manufacture and
were building machines With great
rapidly.
Now we have no machines while
Germany has many. Certainly 1t 10
no comfort for the American soldiers
in the trenches to know just what cog
slipped and just why there are no,
American aviators to protect the In!
fantry and artillery positions from Ger
man bomb raiders and observers.
Secretary Bakers promise that
there would BE- SOC, 900 American sol
diers in France early this year" may
have been redeemed BY nov, and It il
possible that the additional 100000
he promised BY January l, 1919, viii
be there then. On these points there
IL . notable silence in Washington.
doubtless because An announcement
would give valuable information to
the enemy"
The idea which seems to have pre-
vailed in Washington among those Of
ficials who direct the committee on
publtc information Is that Americans
must be given only good news regard
ing the war and that any other sort
would not only comfort Germany but
would break down the American NOR
ale at home, discourage the people and
increase the pacifist crop.
Senator Overman voiced this thought
in the senate's debate early this
week when he rebuked Senator New
for revealing the collapse OF the air
craft program, saying the news would
discourage the public.
The theory. apparently, is that 1t u
better to tell the country optimistic
untruths than to tell facts which prove
that thus far America has fallen tar b.
hind the schedule Of performances
made months ago by the present war
administration, on which not only
Americans but our allies depended
with implicit confidence.
Never was a theory more absurd.
The revelation Of our failure to keep
up with the war program ID q shock
to Americans, to be sure, but It Is the
sort Of shock many Americans have
needed to waken them to the serlouS-
ness of the nations crisis. Complac-
ency in the face of peril invites dtsas-
ter. A knowledge Of tho peril routes
complacency. but 1t substitutes deter
mination and a fighting spirit which, II
It had existed in America year ago
to the extent that 1t exists today.
would have wrought great and bene-
ficial change in affairs.
America needs q supreme war coun-
ell and coordination Of her war-mak-
ing powers and activities under that
aonnci Amarica naeda a aaCretAfY OF