New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1919-02-18
4rasty's Paris Dispatch to


ew Y ork Times.)
ee who understand the prac-
Nations under which war is
a1ly carried on, and who pos
Xetailed information concerning
american record in the great Eu-
nm struggle, must regret the in
kxuction of a congressional meas
calling for an investigation of
losses sustained by the 35th di-
sion This was a body of troops Of
ER1oln | saw something and in whom
took a deep personal interest. They
were mainly Missouri and Kansas
Emen In that region of America, as
|l know from my residence there, is
produced one of tho very best Amer
lean types.
7 visited the 35th division when it
first arrived in B'rance last spring,
and it seemed to me that [ had never
before seen men SO perfect for the
purpose of dealing with the boche
Their then commander, Major Gen.
William Wright than whom no one
could speak of soldiers with better
author ity. said to me that he had
never had finer troops under him at
the same stage Of training. This di-
vision dumped off, with the rest In
the Argonne- Meuse battle on the 26th
of Septem Dor. It is not my purpose
to discuss the performance or losses
of this body, but to call attention to
some general consid erations bearing
upon the question of congressional
1nNeSti ga tiOn of this and other mill
tarN matters which will no doubt be
pressed from time to time by sincere
but misguided persons.
If such questions as that of the
handling of a unit on the field are
once taken up in congress- the thing
will be endless, fatuous, and disil-
lusioning. The record in gross of the
Am erica,n army has been incompar-
able. The efficient service rendered
by it was indisputably necessary to
the winning of the war And vet if
this record were ripped open and
exposed to q technically uniformed
public, nearly every individual men,
Der of which had suffered in some
degree or other a loss, the inevitable
defects disclosed would create an i'm
preston that might dim the glory of
our army. And if the ripping were
carried far enough, and in a spirit
bad enough. every mother or sweet
heart could be made to feel that her
dear one was, or at least might nave
! been, needlessly sacrificed.
Let us call attention broadly to the
conditions under which war must be
waged as compared to those pertain
ing to ordinary undertakings. In any
large private business there is time for
organization and development. Per-
sonnet can be selected, trained, and
put together at leisure. Experim enta-
ton can be made without heavy sac
rifice and the element of time can
| be freely used to mature efficiency.
! Under these favora BILE conditions every
experienced business man knows how
Snip POSSIBLE it is to attain a, point of
approximate perfection where there
are not daily and hourly mistakes.
! Now, war as recently carried on in
| Europe was a business on a colossal
| scale. Never before was it attempted
| to organize so large and complex a
| piece of human endeaVor as was
| suddenly made necessary, first by the
| French and British, and then by the
| Americans.A In our case we literally
started with a shoestring SO far as
cerned. And yet we built mag
! nificent machine that gave the exist
! ing allied armies the help they needed
and had to have.
! The difference that matters most
between the private business and the
! business of war, in both of which
/ there are Inevitable mistakes, is that