The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-02-07
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An Anomaly, Baker in
Cabinet in War Time.
By Samuel M. Williams.

inspiring motive and dominating i'm
pulse in Secretary of War Baker is
idealism.-an idealsm he strives to
work out along practical lines.
Between him and his predecessors
there is y gulf of widest theoretical
dimensions No two men could be
farther apart than Baker and Stanton,
that irascible, unsentimental and es-
sentially practical secretary who
guided tho war department through the
civil war. Nor are there to be found
many symptoms in common with the
cold Unconditional, clearly defined
traditions have assigned the pedestal
of the greatest Of secretaries"
A very commonplace type Of man
Outwardly is Mr.. Baker, who today has
the center Of the nations stage with
the spotlight of public controversy
upon him. There is nothing OF the
heroic, the grandiosc, or even the ag-
gressivc about him. On the contrary,
he is undersized physically. careless OF
oonyentionalities. easy going in meth
DDS and seemingly Indifferent to sys-
TEN or rigid routine.
In fact. Baker personifics in many
respects the exact opposite Of what Is
drilled into Observation-Disclosures, pre-
ciseness, directness of speech and ac-
ton. attention to minute details and.
above all. unalterable opposition to
sentiment and all forms of the ''uplift"
in war times.
H.. ~. ~ =
or before a committee Of congress-.
Secretary Baker Is either Indifferent to
appearances or purposely tries to be
different from the average man. He
has two favorite poses. One is to tilt
back In II swivel chair. with hands
clasped behind his head and his feet
on top of a desk. The other Is to curl
one leg up in his chair and sit on II,
dangling the other leg loosely, with
his body hunched and twisted in small
est possible space. Always he is neg
cigarette or a cigar.
In the first attitude he presents a
sort OF Bolshevik defiance to war Of
flee tradition. and in the other he cx-
emplifies a streak OF Bohemian free
dom from conventions. Washington
correspondents who called on him his
first day in office still recall their
establishment at his postures and his
carefully nurtured pansy blossom that
occupied the most prominent place on
his desk.
These are mere outward peculiaritics.
little hobbies of eccentricity, not born
OF ignorance or lack of culture. All
men have them in one form or another,
and the higher they climb into official
position and public scrutiny the more
accentuated these mannerisms appear.
But there Is another side to Mr.
Baker. the inner side that reveals an
unusual intellect, an exceptionally clear
mind and n rare ability to express ele-
waited thoughts in simple words. No one
would call him a brilliant orator like
Mr.. Bryan, nor II master stylist like
President Wilson. Rather. he has
command Of that kind of speech which
inspires, fascinates and moves audi
ences.
1t is hard for the skcptic to hold out
against him. There is no hammering OF
argument. no violent gestures, no
laundering peroration, but an insidious
appeal to reason aimed at the best
that Is in a man. n gentle touch of
humanity intermingled always with q
marshalled array of cardinal facts that
seem to he ready in mind.
In Washington there are many YER
diets on Mr.. Baker. BY some he is
called n pacifist at heart and out Of
sympathy with Sherman's view of war
and the way to end 1t. But there is
no evidence of pacifism In his revela-
ton of Americas gigantic preparation
for war that the secretary gave yester-
day on the witness stand before the
senate committee.
by other he is styled Socialist But
If there is n leaning toward Socialism
he is kin to Jaure2 and Niviani and
those other FTenchmen who modified
their theories TO practical accomplish
ments.
1t is an anomaly to have a man Of
the Baker type and temperament at the
head of the war department this time
not n soldier, not an efficiency ex-
pert, not business wizard, but an
idealist who marshals an army of more
than n million men in a few months:
a reformer who turns a free people
into conscripts: a humanitarian who
makes arms and munitions to kill and
doNastato.