Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-02-06
NO TEAM WORK
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! he laid upon any individual Criticism
| should be directed against our system,
| or rather the lack Of cohesive system. 2
Recounting difficulties arising
! through indiscriminate priority orders
ard competition in the purchase Of
supplies. delays on account of depart
/ mental red tape and the absence of
! power in the Council of National De-
! fence. the Senator continued:
The plain fact is that we have no
agency in or government today.
! charged with the duty of pro iecting its
| vision far into the future. anticipatjrts
the emergencies which may arise and
laying the plans by which we can meet
ana overcome them.
NO one in his senses would nro,,ose
that any other office be created to
take away from the President the now
,, efS the constitution confides to him.
II cannot be done. It is unthinkable.
But there Is no place in Washington
! where the needs of the situation and
pans 10 meet them can be brought
together. CO. ordinated and settled
upon.
feailZe that some NAV contend
( that the President can make all these
ueclSlonS ana therefore, there is no
need Tor any additional element in our
wartime machinery. Ny contention is
that ne he ever 50 able no President
no human belng-can perform such
IA TASK. II is utterly impossible for
one man to examine into all these in
trlcate questions. The days and nights
are not long enough.
Referring to the committees war
inquiry, Senator Wadsworth said:
IN both the ordnance and quarter
masters departments we discovered q
distressing state Of affairs. Those who
ATTENDED every dan became deeply i'm
pressed with the conviction that p,lr-
chase and production and initial dis
tribution of the vast amount of SIM
pies must be essentially an industrial
operation and that military men with
rare exceptions. are incapable of bring
ing about the best results"
Lack of preparedness before the war.
the Senator said, was costing many.
many lives and millions Of dollars" he
sides prolonging the wal.
He called attention to the existing
vast number of official. semi official
ana purely advisory agencies, bureaus
and other bodies which. he asserted.
were not co-ordinated consulting or
harmonizins
Criticizes Transportation MANAGEMENT
On the railroads. the Senator de-
clared. goods with blue tagged priority
orders had exceeded normal shipments
and in the east Sc per cent, Of all
freight was so tagged
What has been the result" he asked
"A hopeless jam and congestion OF our
railway transportation facilities. A MIL
lion. three hundred thousand tons of am.
munition and supplies are piled up on the
docks along our Atlantic coast billed to
France ana Italy alone. Some are dete-
riorating rapidly In some places loco
motive boilers and great piles Of shells
aud other important materials have been
dumped out upon the ground and lie rust
ing in winter weather
Reviewing the governments handling
of the coal industry, the senator said:
LAS a result of lack of planning we
nave great communities starving for
coal and an order issued by the fuel adj
lpinistration closing down thousands Of
factories and throwing out OF work hun
dreds OF thousands of men and women,
costing millions OF dollars in wages and
delayed product, and Gripping for the
time being those very activities upon