Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-22
1T is 4 SHOWDOWN


W and no politics. Any American who de-
votes himself TO the service Of either in
this great crisis belongs in he'll fire and is
sure enough of getting there. Men have
lived who played politics on the brink Of
the precipice, it is true, and too often they
fell over. dragging their countries with
them; but We assume that in the titanic
tragedy now being enacted there is no re-
sponsible citizen with pettiness SO in.
grained in his character that he would
sacrifice his country and the hope Of hu-
manity to the selfish purposes Of personal
prefermept or dastardly plan of political
advancement TO the perm Of national
success
We are extremely gratifed that the
President met Senator Chamberlain's nd
dress in New York with sharp public
statement. God save us from Chief
Executive who has putty where his spine
ought to be! God save us from President
who will not hit back and hit back hard
when the essential policies of the Admins
trstioh in such a period of stress are as.
sailedl We want man in the White
House who is willing to put the issue up to
the country and who is so convinced Of
the integrity Of the organization he com
mands that he is ready to meet its critics
in the open and fight in the open. Mr.. Will
son might have rested on his dignity and
stood pat He preferred to call and. it's
showdown. He must have a hand or he
would have bluffed
But we need not accept the Presidents
declarations as termination of the con-
troyersy. Far from it, What we applaud
is his readiness 10 meet the issue squarely
now. He is unquestionably right when lie
states that the task which confronted the
War Department was one "of unparalleled
magnitude and difficulty" SO it was and
in declaring that TO assert there is "ineffl-
cheney in every department and bureau OF
the Government is to show such ignorance
of actual conditions as to make it impossi-
Bile TO attach any Importance" TO the
charge. Senator Chamberlain spoke eX.
temporaneously. His address was somewhat
misleading, for he explains that my srgu.
ment was directed TO the military estab.
lishment and not to other departments OF
.I,a Co1yarprnnntU IIa docs mt gfy.a tta
other departments a clean bill Of health. lie
has not studied them and he has studied
the War Department. lie also explains that
Secretary Bakers efforts to better his
organization have my utmost approval lie
has made much Improvement, but the in
herent weakness of his reorganization is
that nobody between the army and the
President has legal authority An imme-
dlate result of the challenge and reply,
therefore, is TO narrow the issue to feast.
Bile test That is a gain.
The abortive attack Of Senator stone
who loves to play with FIRE, commands
little respect and carries even less weight
because the Senator's policies in late
months have been painfully distasteful. 1t
has served, however, 20 clear the atmos.
phere. We may anticipate debate Of the
first magnitude, in which many whispered
charges will come TO the front, and the
country viii be able TO gather from it con-
clusions considerably more definite than
any now in vogue. We imagine that the
gentlemen attacked by the Senator from
Missouri are quite as patriotic as he ever
was or will be. We can afford TO give up
The search for hidden motives and credit all
alike with sincerity.
It would be miracle if the organization
Of this prodigious war had gone forward
perfectly. The President admits that II has
not. He asks for a nod of confidence on
the ground that mistakes are being cor.
rected as fast as they are discovered and
that no blunder is repeated. That is good
enough. but. as we pointed out the other
We must have superefticiency. war three
thousand miles across seas against power
ful enemy cannot otherwise be concluded
successfully. We are going to have TO
sake men OF power and ability. suck them
dry IN the national service ana then throw
them overheard with as little ceremony
IS II they were begsars. That is what
England has had to do, aud France, to say
nothlng OF Germany Let any mans nerves
ts wrsesed ana every ability that is in him
bi squeezed out by the pressure Of war, II