The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1919-01-09

own big guns, without its own alrplaneS,
without its own ammunition. 1t got there,
but it paid the toll, and any American
who views the accomplishment and is
satisfied that the results were good, sat
isfactory and convincing, is poor friend
of the soldier who suffered from mis-
takes.
The citizen at home did not have to
nav. He may be satisfied The soldier
in France did have to pay. He may not
be satisfied The American soldiers paid
in heavy casualties, in wounded and
manned, because the American govern
ment had not organized itself, in the
abundant time given for organization,
for the work that had to be done. q
It waited Until we were caught up in
the war before it did anything to make
& IL possible St6f ~ ght a war The American
nation permitted. this. 1t permitted it
because it was influenced by pacifists and
illusionists who told it that the way to
avoid war was to be incapable of'fight-
ing one. ';sNS''e-
. Under such influences the American
! eagle became an ostrich, and the nation
was satisfied if it exposed its body to
dangers and only buried its head so as
not to see them.
What of the responsibility of the men
who took extraordinary measures to
blind and delude the American nation?
They did not pay, but the soldiers who
went to do the work did pay.
Inefficiency was in the government
departments conducting the war because
up to the last minute no government
agency by one effective act of provision
had recognized that there might be war.
What else could there be in a govern
ment which had maintained a policy of
Indifference up to the very minute that
the cyclone broke? Administrators who
had been prejudiced against efficiency in
preparation also would naturally be pre-
JUDGED against efficiency in action, and
inefficiency did govern and the Anieri-
can troops paid. i-
s 1t is a responsibility upon the people
who did what they could to bring the sit
uation about, upon the officials who were
impervious to sound counsel even when
their previos mistakes were made plain,
even when pay day did come and realities
were upon us.
1t is responsibility upon such a man
, as Henry Ford. Who devoted much mon
ey to publicity to delude the nation into
thinking that ammunition makers were
trying to hoodwink and rob the taxpay-
er. Was it Mr.. Ford? Who spent his
money trying to persuade the American
people that war could not reach them If
they remained in a condition of military
weakness. Was it Mr.. Ford?
Who bought pages in American news
papers to tel 1.-The people that their jour-
nalists and their war profiteers and their
imilhonaires could not bring about the
war they wanted to bring about if the
American people simply would not pre-
pare themselves? Was it Mr.. Ford?
What responsibility must such IRA
tionalists and illusionists, who played up
on popular emotions and prejudices, used
their money and their influence against
public welfare bear when the story for
the American army in France is fully
told?
1t is one which no man open to reali-
cation and appreciation of facts would
willingly face. Are they to continue to
have influence in the United States? Is
the United States to continue, in dealing
with its immediate problems of doing be-
lated justice to the soldier, in dealing with
its problems of reconstruction, in dealing
with its security in the future, to be treat
ed again to the inefficiency which pre-
vailed as the result of such ideas?
II so, the responsibility must be upon
the American people, and their soldiers
may look upon them with contempt for