Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1918-01-25
FRIDAY, JAN. 25, 1918.
BROOMSTICK BRIGADES

A DEMONSTRATION officials are greatly pre-
turbed over utterances made by Col. Roosevelt
and Republican senators and representatives in
Congress which reflect upon our ptiabe state of
unpreparedness, which are branded as disloyal and
unpatrotc. While i'm general way any criticism
of the administration in drastic times like these
may add to the burdens of those having to admin
lister the affairs of government and certain there
should be no divisions or discussions, at the same
time the officials of the dominant party should not
entirely forget that for more than thirty years
the leaders of their Chem minority, were 60
ing up and down the land from one end to the
other attacking and critcisng every act and policy
Of their opponents in power and that one of the
essentials of good democratic government is to
have two or more parties that there may be
someone to criticise and watch the men in power
to prevent carelessness, fraud and graft. We be-
lieve it should be the part of every good citizen
to stand by his government in times of peril and
do what he to assist it, but on the other hand
men In Office should remember that they have no
claim on such offices except in far as they have
the confidence and support of their constituents,
and upon their success or failure in the perform
of the duties of those offices should rest their
chance of being perpetuated.
Some of the republican senators charge that
there has been wholesale graft in connection with
the administration of the affairs of the war. Col.
Roosevelt in a recent issue of the Kansas City
Star and possibly in other papers Of the country,
published the following signed article:
Last fall | saw thousands of men drilling with
broomsticks. have such broomstick before me
Last fall saw thousands of men drilling with
rudely Whitfield wooden guns | have such be-
fore me now | them drilling with wooden ma
chine guns as late as the beginning of December.
saw barrels mounted on sticks ON which jealous cap
tans endeavoring to teach their how to ride
horse ! saw in the national army camps in Illinois
and Ohio scores of wooden cannon. Doubtless any
man can see them now if he goes there"
Commenting upon the foregoing article by Mr.
Roosevelt the Beaver County Weekly Press re-
marks:
The disclosure of such information does not set
well with sound thinking citizens We Americans are
proud people and continually pirate of our capacity
for doing big things in a big way. That eight months
after the declaration of war our soldiers were still
using wooden guns and riding wooden horses does
not conform to cherished ideas of national pride
and prowess But it is good be assured by the crit
ca Colonel that these preposterous conditions are
being rapidly remeded and he gives the hope that
by spring sufficient equipment will be on hand to train
soldiers as soldiers should be trained
1t is also noteworthy that Col Roosevelt, in his ar
ticle does not charge the department with being
responsible for the sorry condition, He chooses rath-
er to take the more rational position that in view of
uetr state OF unpreparedness the outset of the
war, nothing else was to be expected. He prefers to
fix the blame where it rightfuy belongs-on those re-
sponsible for peace at any price and too proud
TO fight" policies before the war. lie sums up the
situation as follows
President Wilson'S message of December, 1914,
in which he rdicued those who advocated prepared
ness part of the His presidential campaign
on the He Kept us Out of War" issue was part of
the cause. We paid the price later with broomstick
rifles, ogWood cannon soldiers without shoes and ep-
idemics of pneumonia in the camps. We are paying
the price now"
Whatever the state of ones politics or patriotism,
no one can question the consistency of the Colonels
attitude. Had the administration needed his advice
in times past there is doubt that it would now