The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-01-17
LONG DISTANCE HEROES.

LONG DISTANCE HEROES.
Charging that thousands of casualties among |
the men in the Expeditionary forces in France
We're caused by their reckless and unnecessary
exposure to German artillery and rifle fire, Con-
gresham Daniel Anthony, of Kansas, member of
the House Military Affairs Committee, seeks to
make political capital out of the war.
The contention of Mr. Anthony that men were
uselessly sacrificed, brings to mind that the great
victory at Chateau Th;erry won gaanst ire
mendous Odds all because an American officer
refused to retreat, declaring that the American
soldier did not know the meaning of that order.
It is this spirit that made victory possible it
is this spirit that actuated well Off
GERS and that has written the name of America
across the pages of history in shining letters.
Men there be, like Congressman Anthony, to
rise at every crisis to cry down great deeds and
high accomplishment and to seek to belittle and
besmirch It will always be found that the men
who make the most Disc and demand the great
est number of investigations. are the who
remained quietly at home, else took part in
the war S on-lookers rather than active partici-
pants.
It is to be doubted if the men who come back
from the front, and who were in the thick of the
fight, will sanction the stories whcih Congress
man Anthony and his ilk seem to disseminate.
War is hell-that has become an aphorsm
whcih none will dispute. No is conduct
ed like a tea party, tennis game If the men
in the forest of Argonne were sacrificed they
died in glorious and those who knows best
the valor of the American soldier will doubt that
ay complaints have come from him, and will
question the sincerity of the protest which comes
from Congress.
When the United States entered the war it
was expected that the price this country would
have to pay wuod be far greater than it was.
There who anticipated early
victory expected to find the of the
American soldier crowned with great success
"a success which astonished the world.
If there mistakes made, these were to be
expected; if there were lives to be lost, this
the debt these men paid to their forefathers, who
died before them, that might be free, and
in doing they laid upon this nation the ob-
cation to stand fast to carry on to hold high the
flag of liberty, not to drag it in the mire and be-
smirch the shield of this country with mud d-
rected at the very ones who made victory pos
sible.
If the United States army was not perfect,
neither were the other armies of the allied coun-
tries if the American officers made mistakes so
did the English and French and Italian officers.
What the people in this country and the other al
lied countries have to keep in mind is not that
there some mistakes made but that a great
victory won and that hostilities have ceased.
Congressman Anthony may be very certain of
thing-and thta is that if hostilities are re-
sumed, and some there be who contend that the
war is not yet over, that America will look to the
army to carry the flag to further victory and
greater heights of glory, and not to Congress and
such members ewho seek to fight the war
at long distance and point out the duty of all and
sundry, fromp Geenral Pershing and President
of these United States, to the rookie and the gob
with large impartialty based upon limited
experience with any weapon heavier than hot
air.