The Butler weekly times and the Bates County record. (Butler, Mo.) 1918-1950, 1919-03-20
GOV. ALLEN LOOKING
THROUGH CRACK AT
BATTLE OF ARGONNE?'
Y. M. c. A. Worker Says Worst
Supply Shortage Was From
Governors Storehouse.

4. M. u. "A. WORKER Bays WO1Ss
Supply Shortage Was From
Governors Storehouse.
St. Joseph, Mo-, March II.-"Ihe
American people are too satisfied
with the great victory in the Argonne
to be misled by the maniacal rawlings,
of Gov. Henry J. Allen of Kansas:
This was the reply of Lewis T..
Gabbert, veteran St. Joseph attorney.
and orator, to the repeated charges OF
Governor Allen that the 35th divis.
ion missouri and Kansas National
Guard) had suffered unnecessar. ly
heavy losses in that titanic battle be-
cause of highly organized ineffi-
cheney" Gabbert, Red Triangle
worker, was with the 35th in the Ar
COME.
You never hear boy who has
been in the front lines make such
silly complaints, said Mr. Gabbert.
II do not know whether Allen was
ever at the front or not. All that
know is that | never saw him near
the firing line and have yet to find
the man who did
Attorney Gabbert, as y. NJ. c. a.
field secretary, looked after about g.
600 men, the Ist battalion of the I3oth
infantry being under his supervision
II He was abroad about seven months,
spending four and half months at
the front under fire. He saw much
of the doughboys in the front line
trenches and frequently in emergency
acted as stretcher bearer. Mr.. Gab-
bert said:
"Mr. Allen was divisional secretary
for the 35th division for the Y. NJ. &.
A., and was one Of the secretaries
of his staff Of IL, In all, he had
| supervision over about IS men, in
GLIDING the truck fellows, and be ieve
me, he showed no conscientious
scruples against keeping us constant
ly in the thick of the fighting. While
we all heartily welcomed the oppor
tunity to be at the front with our I'M
conquerable doughboys, it neverthe
less was apparent to all of us that he
must have different feelings III tie
matter.
Allen had charge of warehouse
which he was supposed to keep filled
with supplies, fully 10 miles back OF
the fighting zone on September IS.
the day before the great d i've
opened. | LETT with the troops tor
the front All the other secretaries
left at the same time. Where wa
Alien: | left him IN the warehouse
looking through crack.
The shortage which our Sanmes
felt the keenest was the Y. M. c. \.
Tags and other supplies which for
some reason or other were not forth
|
the day the drive opened in Septen-
Der until it ended with the signing of
the armistice on November II. the
only supplies got for our heroic
boys was six small packages OF Gig
arets.
The drive over. | walked all the
way back to the y. NJ. warehouse,
now many miles in the rear, for Allen
had stubbornly refused to move his
depot nearer the front as the troops
pushed their line further toward Ger
many. The first thing | saw on en-
tering the Red Triangle division
headquarters was the governor still
standing there looking through the
crack"
Mr. Gabbert frankly admitted that
the conditions were not always the
best, but said this was not due to the
officers in charge, but to the opera
ton under way at the time.
IF the sacrifice of few lives mean
the ultimate saving of many times
more. why. it was SIMPLY business to
make that sacrifice Suppose. for in
stance, that after our boys had swept
on beyond range of our guns they
had stopped and waited for arti lery
support. 1t would simply have G iven
the Huns time to dig in again and
postponed the victory indefinitely.
Report of lack of equipment and
supplies were utterly uniounded.
While the artillery response was not
as great the first few days as might
-hape-beef desired ed, it it was llaFggels-be-
cause the doughboys simply couldn't
be stopped to wait for artillery sup
port
American soldiers were not muir
dered. Their bravery, their impetu-
osity and their self sacrifice caused
autocracy's last hope to die. There
was not one of them at the front
but knew that the heavy casualties
were caused by the most terrific fire
ever turned loose on an army. In
fact. the officers OF the 55th ex-
pressed themselves to me after the
battle that the casualties were too
light to adequately tell the story of
the stupendous defense put up by the
Germans, and can only know OF but
one plausible reason that the 35th
division was not decimated, and that
reason is that the cool bravery of
every man kept them always in open
formation and in perfect order SO
that the Huns never once had pot |
shot in their ranks. Il
~ do not take Governor Allen to
task because want to criticize. {
part in this war was so |
huge, SO glorious and SO perfect :
withal, that none but a narrow mind ,
could see aught to criticize. But {
just want the families of the men t
who went away with the 3sth to
know that while Mr.. Allen is UNDER
taking to see the mote in the eye OF
the army, he should discover the