Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1919-02-14
inspected And Condemned"

Washington. Feb. 10.-The Republic
can Association. through its President,
Hon. Jonathan Bourne, IT., today gave
out the following statement from its
Washington headquarters
Has it ever occurred to you that
practically every endeavor of the Am
erican people in the war resulted in the
most every instance the efforts of the
Administration ended III dismal fail
ure?
Our soldiers, themselves, suddenly
called from peaceful pursuits, briefly
trained, poorly equipped, put up fight
the like Of which Europe has never
witnessed The Liberty Loans were
az rule highly oyer-subscribed the
war savings and war thrift stamps
we're bought to the limit: a people
whose prodigality with food had once
been notorious performed marvels in
self-denial and conservation. Contri-
buttons to the Red Cross, the Y. NJ G..
A.. the V NJ. H. A., the X. c., war
chests, tobacco and literature funds,
and countless other activities to
amelOrate the soldiers lot were hand
somely responded to. and generally
boosted far over the limits set Every
one Of these war organizations rem
dered splendid and amazingly effective
service Producers of war equipment,
from the manufacturer of trucks to the
knitter OF socks, came through i'll fine
shape That the end of the war found
the government storage spaces glutted
with billions of dollars worth of ma
terial was no fault of the makers, but
must be blamed to the dilatOry, Mr..
Baker.
THE failures of the Administration
in the conduct of the war are Well-lllgh
numbcrless. They began with the OBJ
Stinate refusal for two and "a half
years to make ready, and where they
will end no man can say. 1t IS almost
impossible to cite an instance OF where
an Administration effort really sue
cceded. The soldiers were started in
training with wooden guns and odd-lot
uniforms. drilling in mud and sleeping
IN insanitary camps. They are re-
turning without funds, many of the
wounded without proper hospital ac-
commodations, and their families have
vet to receive their allOtments. We
have had the airplane breakdown, the
ordnance breakdown, and the ship
building breakdown. The country is
Strcwn with war material of every de-
scription which the government bought
with prodigality beyond reason and
never delivered, and the great gas out
put ended in dumpage at sea because
it was realized too late. But two Of
F0rd's Eagles ever flew, so that al
most the sole exception to the general
success of American individual enter
prise is to be found in the factories of
pacifst and presidential favOrite.
Our troops were transported in for
eign vessels. or foreign-built vessels
operating under the American flag, and
Great Britain and France equipped
them with afrplanes. guns and partly
with clothing.
where pressure of public opinion
compelled Administration reforms and
able men were eventually drafted to
carry on war-WOrk, results at once be-
gan to appear. as for example, when
Charles SchWab took over the building
of ships. Stettinils became our Quar-
termaster-in-fact, and Ryan began on
the airplane program. But these re-
forms were adopted too late to be of
effective war service.
Comparison of successful American
enterprise and eXasperating admins
tratiOn failures presents the most
damning Indictment of partisan, sec
tional. narrOw-minded inefficient bu-
reaucracy to be found in all the pages
of history. But it has it's bright side.
1t indicates that the people themselves
are there with the goods that it is the
Administration which they were be-
guiled into supporting on the plea, he
kept us out of war that is rotten to
the core And in 1920 the American
people. selecting the branding iron of
the Inspector Generals Department.
should burn into the hide of the Demo-
cratic Donkey, i. c., meaning In
spected and Condemned.