The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1918-01-25
MEN WANTED, NOT CLERKS.

house. In April we nad pointed Oul
the desirability, the necessity, of di
siding up the oppressive burdens as
eumed by the President among mcr
in whom the country had confidence
TOO long, we had suggested, has th,
President been surrounded by figure
heads. by dummies, by echoes. M
ono OF whom dared, or chose, to hav,
a mind of his own. MOuthpicco
they we're. and Me Toos. THEFT
Masters Voice was all they needed
IL suiIiced unto them. Must II there
fore everlastingly suffice unto thu
people of America! And, IL il must
we would insist that to suffice Is not
to satisfy, and that to consult only
with those whose acquiescencc is
anyways known beforehand, is not ia
consult at all.
From our correspondent at Wash
ington, Mr.. Earl Mushlitz, comes
cumulative evidence that the capital
is getting FESTIVE and that the dis
closures of these current investiga-
tions-in no single instance inquisi-
torial or partisan--is causing a great
deal of uneasiness and disturbing the
public mind. To say that Secretary
Baker is under fire is wilfully to mis-
state the position. II is the admins
tration that is being asked to give
an account of its stewardship. 1t is
the muddling and the mischief OF
which people want to see an end.
What more natural, what more JUS
tifiabe. than that they should turn
as the people of England and France
and Italy turned-to the idea of a
coalition cabinet OF men who have
done things, and have. by that much.
given hostage of their performance?
Secretary Baker has told us, in
that solemn way of his, that there
should be no Secretary of Munitions
because the job is too big for one
man. But since, in effect, be dis
that. plus all his other activities, he
does not think it is too big for him.
any more than that-and every other
war responsibility-is too much for
the untiring shoulders of Woodrow
Wilson. It's beautiful, this devo-
ton to duty. But it's foolish. 1t
may be the Judgment OF the President
and. if il is, il will be the judg-
ment of the cabinet. but public opin-
ion and accumulated experience are
all the other way.
England has taken her advisers
from every phase of political allogi-
ance. She has seen no reason to re-
gret It. In a government dominated
by Lloyd George, decidedly radical,
room has been found for Bonar Law,
House leader OF the Conservatives.
and for Arthur James Balfour for
mer premier and long their titular
chief--in positions second only To
that held by the FIRST Lord of the
Treasury. Balfour it was who head
ed the British Mission to this side.
In France government that includes
Clemenceau. Pichon. Ribot can not be
described as other than broadly rep
resentative.
The amiable gentlemen to whom
Mr.. Wilson sometimes pays the conf
plment of telling them what he has
done, rather than what he has in
mind to do. will never plead guilty
to that count of the indictments. They
are chief clerks, that is all. Ii was
not thought necessary to debate with
them that message to Russia that
startled the world. Neither were
they taken into early knowledge of (
that fuel edict any more than was the /
Senate. Both learned-of it thru the
II may be that this is the way to .
win the war Certainly il is a guar
antee against leakages. But is it n
guarantee against snap judgment, |
or undue haste, or those mistakes I
that comes to the best regulated mind !
any time that it seeks to be Omnis-
cient, all-seeking. and infalliable?
We do not believe that ever the |
President can collect around himself
such another aggregation OF willing
souls. But he might call into his
official family a Taft, a Roosevelt. a
Root, to say nothing of some Of those
Democrats whose character and claim
he has not yet succeeded in eclips-
ing. Herald.
~ ACKS CONElRMA TION or