The L'Anse sentinel., 1919-01-24


partment. A special effort is being
made in some quarters to forestall
this investigation by the propaganda
through certain publications and thru
the Division of Films of the Commit
te of Public Information, which propa-
ganda will purport to show that the
work of the Ordnance Department was
of the highest character and was suf-
fcient and efficient.
Congress- is also going to be asked
to make thorough inquiry into the
action of the War Department in
handling conscientious objectors. 1t
is alleged that evidence is in existence
that officials of the War Department
have practically upheld conscientious
objectors, even goinng so far as to
write letters to certain of them at
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, consoling
them and assuring them that the gov
ernment would do everything in their
behalf that public opinion would stand
for.
Soldiers Mail Undelivered.
The most recent development of the
breakdown of the War Department
was furnished the Senate POST Office
Committee on January 9th by Second
Assistant Postmaster General Otto
Praeger. He informed the committee
"that thousands and probably millions
of letters" addressed to men overseas
had never been delivered to them, and
that there are at present in France
from eight to ten carloads of first
class mail for American soldiers that
are undclivered and that this mail will
be returned to this country and sent to
the dead letter office. Mr.. Praeger
specifically stated that this trouble
was due to the inefficiency of the War
Department. He said that the War
Department had no system of keep
ing names[ and that the same ineffic-
iency which had brought about this
condition with the soldiers mail, was
also responsible for the War Depart
ment's delay in sending out allot-
ments to soldiers and their families,
and in reporting casualties.
The question of allotments to SOL
diers' families and pay to the soldiers
themselves is another problem which
the War Department has not met, and
which is causing such storm of pro-
test to come from practically every
section of the country and from sol
diers themselves, as to warrant an in
vestigation of that phase of the War
Departments work.
On top of all this, the New York
World, an administration paper, has
issued sensational expose of what it
terms a breakdown of the shipping
board. 1t charges that our entire
shipbuilding organization has failed
to function, ard that the output of the
shipbuilding Y ards of the United
States in the year 1918 was less than
one-half of the output that was sched-
uled for 1918, despite the fact that the
expense on these various yards ex-
ceeded by many millions of dollars
the estimate.
Ford's Eagle Boat" Plant.
In this connection, Senator Lodge of
Massachusetts, had placed in the Con-
gressional Record of January End, re-
prints Of articles appearing in "The
Daily Iron Trade" technical trade
paper issued at Cleveland, Ohio, in
which it was alleged that the Henry
Ford "eagle boat" plant, which had
been the "show" plant of the Navy
Department, has been failure from
the standpoint Of its output, despite
the fact that it has been amply fin
anced
In the joint statement which former
Presidents Roosevelt and Taft issued
to the country, just prior to the last
Congressional elections appealing for
the election of a Republican Congress,
occurs the following
"The debts which have been
created by this war the people
will be paying to the third and
fourth generation. They have
right to know how these enor-
nous sums have been expended.
Only Republican Congress will
have the courage to exact de-
tailed and accurate story of that
stewardship"
The response Of the American people
to this appeal commissioned the Re-
publicans in Congress ITO exact de-
tailed and accurate story" of the
Democratic stewardship. All Of these
investigations and activities which are
now going on would indicate that the
day has arrived when the present Ad-
ministration will have to render an
accounting to the American people
for its management Of the war.