The Cordova daily times., 1920-06-18
HOW SECRETARY OF WAR BAKER
 GETS AWAY WITH IT

A veteran Democratic editor of pro- minence, not entirely satisfied with the drift of things in his own party recently wrote the editor of The Ma tional Republican asking how Secre- tary Baker "gets away with it?" He says:
 Enough has been disclosed a hun dred times over, of waste and inefif- ciency, not to use shorter and uglier names, in the management of the war department in a time of grave nation al emergency, to justify the impeach- ment of Secretary Baker at the bar of congress- Conditions revealed at congressional investigations, some of which were notorious before congress prObed into them, are simply stag gering; unbelievable. If a deliberate effort had been made to dissipate the resources of the American people at a time when their conservation was absolutely essential to the national safety, the job could not have been more thoroughly done If the war had lasted two years longer at the rate of waste going on, the nation would have been bankrupted. While the people were being urged to save anl sacrifice, it is now known that an orgy of wicked waste of money and materials was going on that seems absolutely inconsistent with any de sire to protect the interests Of the American people. Either there was imbecility or absolute faithlessness in the management of war department affairs. When the war department deliberately encouraged waste through cost plus contracts given to private individuals and organizations, though the army supposedly possessed a corps of engineers and contractors fitted for the very work which was thus given out under conditions fos- tering wicked dissipation of resources and a loss of man power, it seems impossible to make it's course cOnsis- country or to win the war Why hasn't congress taken this utterly in competent or faithless official by the nap of the neck and the seat of the pants and kicker him out of the place he encumbers and discredits? ?"
 That seems a fair question: The only conceivable answer is that con- gress doubtless thought the game was not worth the candle. The damage had been done. If Baker were re- moved, another Baker would surely take his place. Impeachment pro- ceedings would have been assailed by every partisan Democrat and indepen- dent journal in the country as delay ing business by playing politics. Im- portant legislation, necessary to the good to the country would have been delayed by struggle in which every rubber stamp Democrat in congress would have rallied to the rescue of the secretary of war. The country will be given chance to impeach Baker in November. And, after all that will be the most satisfactory kind of impeachment.
 At any other time in our history the Bergdoll incident alone would have aroused a general popular de- mand for the impeachment of the official responsible under the law for the management of the affairs of the war department. Here is the case of a rich stacker one who deliberate- ly ran away from home in order to, escape military duty, who escapes after being sentenced, while absent with somebody's permission on wild goose chase to his own home. This incident is no more scandaIous than the circumstances surrounding the escape of some other rich and power ful men from military duty, in some cases through direct intervention of the war department and of President Wilson himself. It is not more scan-. dalous than the preferential treat ment given to political objectors to