The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-02-25
M'ADOO-HOOVER
TILT REGRETTED
Less Talk in Lime|ight, Morf
Personal Conferences on Is
sues Will Win War. I
FOOD PROBLEM CRITICAL.
Whole : Hearted Go Operation
Alone Can Save Situation.
Open Letter a Mistake.
FOOD PROBLEM CRITICAL
lRy David Lawrence.l

tCOpsTiSnts lSlo, Dy view IoTk EVEN
ing Post Coz
/, Washington, Feb. 23. - Herbs
Hoover, William G. MeAdoo, admins
traitors respectively OF food and trans
portation, do not seem to be getting
along we'll together.
Whenever officials in charge of i'm
portant departments in Washington
begin to write letters placing on one
another the blame for expected catas-
trophies or catastrophes already past
and the aforesaid letters are given to
the press as soon as written, the affair
has all the earmarks Of smouldering
controversy.
Mr.. Hoover is worried about the
movement of fod supplies. The allies
have called upon him to give them
large quantities of food. A real crisis
is at hand.
Over in Europe they think a great
deal of Herbert Hoover, and the latter
naturally would not want to have Eu-
rope or the people of this country for
that matter, think he is at fault. So
he calls attention very promptly to
the condition of American railroads.
William G. MeAdoo is another man
with reputation for doing things, and
he doesn't know all the many reasons
why farmers are not sending their
food. to market, if indeed they are
holding il back on the expectation that
Senator Cores bill or other measures
might give them a higher price for
wheat than originally liked, but he
L~- L>k L. L.
the locomotives and that he has au-
he doesn't move passengers.
Storms and blzzdrds might inter-
fere, but certainly no act of omission
on the part of the railroad administra-
ton. Public statements are exchanged
to that effect, and each side feels a
little bit as if the other is unnecessar-
lily sensitive. Those things never make
for CO. operation in Washington.
Efforts to make a l-cord' for ones
self or to place the responsibility for
an unexpected delay, even before the
delay occurs, usually betray more at
tention to the effect of an accident to
ones personal fortunes than the pub
lie veal.
The things for the food administra-
tion to have done was to have placed
itself on record as requesting specif1-
cally the movement of certain sup
plies; if the breakdown occurs, which
has been predicted, a simple revelation
of the requests of the food administra-
ton on the railroad directorate would
satisfy the public curiosity as to
where the. culpability should be
placed.
AS it is the food administration has
called attention in general terms to
the need for railroad transporta-
ton to get food to the seaboard. and
the office of the director general of
railroads says that priority orders
were issued promptly.
Now, the food administration has
again called attention to the situation,
this time in public, and still the rail-
road officials want to know what par
ticular shipments are destined for the
allies. and should be given priority
over all other supplies.
Until McAdoo has specific informa-
tion, he says, he cannot locate exactly
the consignments which must be has
tened to seaboard. He presumes that
Mr.. Hoover, as head of the allied pur-
chasing board, knows where these /
supplies are located.
The simpler process would have !
been fc Messrs. McAdoo and Hoover |
to have worked out this in a personal !
or by letters privately ex- |
Giving publicity to transactions |
even before they are consummated, ,
and allowing inferences of incompe-
.ency to be drawn therefrom, Is dan |
yerous business. In the first place,
many agencies besides railroads are
charged with a legal and moral re-
'ponsibility to get production and
of food.
II all are to be given the cue to
,Iame the railroads, the public never
will know how much the difficulty is
lue to transportation, how much to
BOARDING and how much to loading
lelays at seaboard. II Mr.. Hoover and
Mr.. MeAdoo could not agree, and there
s no evidence to show that they have
wen been in consultation, President
wilson would be bound to take a
and.
The effect of the published corre-
pondence, judging from the sharp re-
binders made privately by friends of
he two principals concerned, was to
i've an impression of discord that
an only breed dissension unless the
len on top get together.
Open letters in the press from
one department to -Inother are
symptomatic Of bad feeling, and a
lack of cooperation and tend to-
ward disruption Of morale. Too
much thought Of ones reputation
has caused many an official to pass
blame for situations that are the
joint responsibility of an admins
tration, rather than any particular
part of il.
Washington is full of persons inter-
tied in exploiting themselves for po-