Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-01-29
Chamberlain s Charge.

iustify his reckless attack on the Administrations
conduct of the war that of well-meaning
man gone woefully wrong. Having been betrayed
by impulse into accusations which absurd
as unfair and having been called sharply to ac-
count by the President, the Oregon Senator pro-
ceeded to make matters worse, for himself at
least by a TRADE of which, do him the credit
to believe he will be heartily ashamed when his
sense of balance and perspective returns.
The only parts of his speech that were above
the level of irresponsible anger and pique had to
do with shortcomings of which, for the most part,
the public has long been aware and which the War
Department has readily admitted. No oneswould
deny that in the mobilization and. care of upwards
of one and a half million men, there have not
been errors and inefficiencies, sometimes of most
Iamentable nature. Not every official and every
army ofIeer of the thousands in service has come
fully up to requirements Not every detail of the
myriad tasks that have pressed for performance
since last spring have been properly executed.
anyone bent upon picking flaws and making trou-
bic could rake masses of mistakes from the Amer
lean army as from any army that was ever mus
tered from the days of Caesar to Joffre. But the
utmost that Senator Chamberlain and other de-
structive critics can adduce in the way of facts
does not come justifying his statement that
the military establishment of America has fallen
down" That remark would be appropriate enough
in the mouth Of the German Emperor seeking to
assure his uneasy subjects that the United States
is not to be taken seriously in the war; but it
comes strangely indeed from men of responsible
position in this cOuntrys affairs.
A fair sample of the Oregon Senator's mode of
reasoning appears in his holding Secretary Baker
to blame for the deaths that have occurred in the
training camps. He could consistently hold the
Mayor of Atlanta the Governor of Georgia to
blame. He dweIls upon the hundreds and thou
sands who have died at the environments, and
every true American heart will enshrine those gal
liant boys as heroes. But il Senator Chamberlain
will turn the other side of the shield, he will
that the armys death rate has averaged only seven
and fve-tenths per thousand-far less than the
average for civilians of military age-and, exclu-
sive of measles and its complications, only about
two per thousand. That shortage of clothing and
inadequate hospital facilities have contributed in
some instances to illness and death will not be
denied; and wherever such deficiencies due
to remssness in duty, the responsibility should be
fixed and unsparingly paid. But how unfair and
unusise and really unpatriotic it is to ignore the
excellent average, and on the narrow basis of ex-
ceptionaI conditions shout to the world that ''the
military establishment of America has fallen
down."
That is the Chamberlain method throughout
and the method of others who attacking the
Administration from personal animus party
bias or greedy desire to get control of the Gov
srnment's war machinery for the profits they could
pluck from it for their particular interests sec
lions. They bawI about errors of detail but are
churIishly silent the magnificent of achieve
ment They are offended because some pet scheme
of their own has not been favored, but SEEM
ingy ignorant of the mastery policies the Govern
ment has conceived and the sweep of activities
in which il is successfully engaged. These are the
men and the interests that urging the estab-
Iishment OF a so-called War Cabinet to be COM
strated ability and to have almost absolute con-
troll over the conduct Of the war. The country
we'll may question the motives the judgment OF
men who at this crucial juncture when the far
reaching preparation of the last ten months is
Just beginning to tell. propose to take the man
agementkOf the war out Of the experienced hands
in which It Constitutonally belongs and to trans
fer il to q suddenly devised triumvirate of out
siders. The fact that such plan is contrary to
the entire method and spirit which the Constitu-
ton provides for the prosecution of should
suffice to condemn it. On what grounds of reason
or expediency. let alone law, should the President
be reduced from his legal and rightful position as
Commander in Chief OF the Army a mere super
visor or reviewer of the acts of Independent
War Cabinet?" On what grounds of efficiency
could the present war organization, built up
through months of ceaseless effort and invaluable
experiment, be sent to the junk heap to make
place for three distinguished citzens?" The in
evitabIe result would be lost time, lost motion,
confusion, pickering delay, monstrous inefficiency
coupled with disgracefuI politics and consequent
disaster if irretreivable defeat in the We
cannot believe that the rank and file of Congress
will entertain so foolish and perilous a PROPOSE
ton. and feel that the rank and file of the
American people already denounce it in their sober
and patriotic judgment.
Starting a is thing, stopping it is quite