The sun., 1919-09-08
John j. Pershing, n Brave, Loyal
and Able American.

and Able American.
General PERsHING will set foot on
/, the soil of his native land to-day, and
he will be greeted by the highest mill
tary and naval officers and civil off,
!, Gals Of the nation with the ceremonies
I due to his high rank and by the public
with the popular acclaim his services
as Commander in Chief Of the Ameri-
! can Expeditionary Forces make appro-
: pirate. No other American soldier has
9 ever commanded an army as large as
/, that which obeyed General PERsHING
i when Germany capitulated on Novem-
. Der IL, 1918. America had never IN
{. dertaken a task so stupendous as that
which the nation carried to successful
completion with him as the leader of
Its hastily gathered battalions on the
battlefelds of France. Never has any
! enterprise of patriotic devotion or ma
tional self-preservation been carried
4 out more worthily. There have been
9 few men 10 America since the thirteen
colonies declared their Independence
who better deserved the applause OF
their fellow countrymen than does
= General JOHN ]. PERsHINo.
e His name Is now written on the roll
of those who by their acts have won
their country's gratitude. Whether it
will eventually be written in that
shorter list of the supremely great
Time alone can decide. Its final place
will only be fixed after competent and
disinterested critics have examined
the full record of General PERsHING's
performance. which is not now avail
able. No gentle tribunal Is needed In
Z General PERsHINa's case; but as he
/ should be judged according to lofty
standard, 50 he should be judged with
out the Intervention Of personal spite
growing out Of real or fancied injus-
!, tees to individuals and organizations
resulting from his official acts.
We say this because there has been
i some criticism Of General PERsHING
= based on the disappointments suffered
by officers and units Of the army
Il whose wishes were not fulfilled as to
Z assignments, release from the SER
Z vice and the like. We do not doubt
Z that some of these complaints are
, well grounded. We do not look on
: General PERsHINa as a man incapable
of error. We shall not say that he
is without weaknesses. But the in
cidents cited in the past to impugn
his conduct have seemed to be of a
kind inescapable as long as man re-
mains an imperfect creature.
Y A fair example of the criticism to
d which we refer is that which Is ex-
= pressed In the charge that General
PERsHINo encouraged what is called
"the West Point Trust" to the detri-
ment, in promotion and assignment
of officers who did not have the ad-
vantage of a West Point education.
We confess we are not surprised
II one West Pointer is inclined to
favor another West Pointer; II one
professional soldier favors another
professional soldier over a soldier
= whose service is presumably to be
temporary and for an emergency only /;
, II old friendships, old ties, old as
soclations play part In determining
the conduct of even a man who wears
four stars on his shoulder. We shall
u not denounce General PERsHING II
he has occasionally given way to a
O partially every circumstance of his
career would encourage.
= The fact of capital Importance Is
that when the United States had
K war thrust upon 1t and necessity COM
PEELED country wholly given over to
peace to create a monster army, trans
port 1t to Europe, train the indiyid-
y uals in 1t in military command and
D military obedience, construct them
to make war under new and difficult
conditions, coordinate that army's
movements with the movements of
y the veteran armies of a dozen
nations, maintain 1t In an ex-
hausted and bitterly suffering coun-
try. and finally TO send it into bat
tie fit for the work 1t had to do,
General PERsHINa was called on to
y overcome difficulties no human being
could then comprehend. He did over
:. come them. He directed the Gre
alton of stupendous Industrial and
military machine with all of its essen
10 ti1l qualifications. No doubt In this
great war he made mistakes. But de-
spite every obstacle he built the ma
chine that enabled the fSrOss q owl
4