The Washington herald., 1918-01-26
Mr.. Baker Sees the Light.

If the Chamberlain crisis had done nothing else
than pdncture the tight-htting sef-complacency of
the War Department it would have justified ITSELF
If it had done nothing else than to take the
gliding off the halo of infallibility which OF
our war masters placed upon their heads, it
would have justified itself.
If it had done nothing else than to demonstrate
anew the Stiffness of the ostrich theory and the
idea that blunders and inefficiency be washed
off the slate and waved out of the way, simply by
august official denial of their existence it would
have justified itself
The War Department has been placed upon the
defensive now, and the letter of Secretary of War
Baker to Senator Chamberlain yesterday reveals an
almost entirely new mood for him. Gone is the
jauntness the placid, imperturbable self-esteem
Gone is the idea that the flare-up in Congress
merely routine matter" administration
official is said to have expressed it. Gone is the
idea that the public be fed upon half-truhs and
mere press agent dope" and that the War Depart
ment has the power and the cleverness to "put
over" anything it p1eases the people of the
United States.
For Senator Chamberlain gain this much is to
win half Of his battle. Only few days ago certain
spokesmen OF the administration were saying that
he and his charges would be ignored and scorned
and that the bottom would fall out of his cam
paign. Happily this mistaken policy has been aban-
doned and the result is that the War Department
Icty-will be placed in the right light before the
country.
Secretary Baker will be heard Monday in his
own defense, and no one doubts that it will be an
able defense, showing what his organization has,
done in the face OF almost unparalleled difficulties
He indicates now that he is aware of the fatuous-
ness OF his "covering-up" policy; of his highly de-
yelopcd talent for evasive noncommittal answers
which he revealed in his testimony before
tL,o IIo ha haar
because he knows that at last the people of the
country have heard another side OF the story which
his busy press agents have been actively dissem
mating for the past six months. He is anxious to
be heard, to be set right" before the public;
marked change OF attitude, indeed, for in
corrigiby self-satishcd he has been!
Senator Chamberlain with a single blast has
knocked a good deal Of the censorship nonsense
out OF the heads Of the War Department officials
but it required, indeed volcanic explosion bring
about the REFORM 1t is pity that Congress must
so to such extreme lengths before getting action"
The press has been pounding away at the same idea
for months but without making even a dent in the
sclf-esteem OF various perSonages wrapped up in
pontihcal conceptions OF their own authority. And
Congress had to reach the point where a rupture
with the administration was imminent before the
Secretary OF War would make the slightest conces
sion to a public demand that was so obviously nat
ural and logical
Did Mr.. Baker actually think that conditions in
the cantonments and IN the War Department organ
zstion all that they should be- and that there
was nothing wrong2 Had his subordinates failed
to inform him Of certain conditions existing
he aware of them and thought that the public had
no concern in them? If he ignorant of the
actual facts he ought to go out a scalp-hunting
expedition without delay. If he knew of them then
he was only himself to blame for his present dis
comfture.
However, all this is in the nature of a post
mortem. The Secretary of War is too able
not to be willing to profit by his mistakes; not
to right policy which has been proven so conclu-
sively wrong; not to be ready to turn new
leaf when all the signs of the times demand it.
Mr.. Baker is the right track, and every
true American will hope that he vndicates his de-
partment Monday.