The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-06-04
 SMALL INTEREST SHOWN IN WAR INVESTIGATIONS Republicans Not Likely to Make Criticism Part of
 Their Campaign Smelling Committees"
 Reports Are Unpopular Winning of the War Was Enough for People of
 America

Washington, June 4 - There is growing doubt that the Republican leaders will attempt to make criti- cism of conduct of the war one of the campaign issues, their hesitation be- ing due to the discovery that the country has not approved of the ac- tivities of the smelling committees" authorized by the G. o. P. Congress
 There has been very little response to the reports of these inveStiga ting committees, and even a portion of the Republican press has condemned dragnet Investigations in designed mere ly to make political capital and try to find some fraud. So far none of the smelling committees'' has named a single person guilty of fraud in connectio-- with the letting of thou millions of dollars.
 While the committees have found that war is expensive and that high prices had to be paid for many things because of the emergency of the or ders, no misrepresentation of funds nor wilful and deliberate extravaganza was found.
 The fact that America won the war is sufficient for the public, and that is believed to be the reason that the pub lie has taken so little interest in the post-mortems of the Republican in- vestigating committees. The situa ton was clearly explained recently by Representative Cordell Hull of Tennessee, one of the con servative Democrats of the House, who is an expert on taxation and
 finance. Regarding the cost of the war and the victory achieved by American brains, brawn and money, Representative Hull said:
 While the entire world app1auds
 the nations unparalleled war record of 19 months, only certain ignorant or hypocritical critics at home seek to dim the glory of our achieve ments Some Republican leaders vo- ciferously demand more than their party's share of credit for the prose- ! cution of the war, and at the same time claim exemption from any share of responsibility or criticism.
 'It is easy, now that the war is ! won, to offer ignorant, captious and | political criticism of the amount of i the war expenditures. The complete i answer to such unpatriotic efforts to l minimize 1ur war achievements is to 1 say that within a period of 9 months the combined financial and industrial | efforts of the United States were feverishly eXerted to throw it's max imum resources, including man power and supplies, into the war. The in- | evitable result was that huge plans were perfected, thousands of con- | tracts entered into, colossal programs | framed, enormous military and indus l trial structures built up upon what | the allied generals agreed was the | true assumption that the war would
 continue far into the year 1919, and | in contemplation of sending nearly | 5,OO0,OO0 soldiers, with ample equip- | ment and supplies, to France. On | this unprecedentedly broad basis the l United States was going full tilt
 when suddenly, and to the surprise of | the allied military authorities. the l armistice came about and the fighting ] part of the war ended. Carping po- ! litical critics of expenditures now say ! in effect that the government should | have ignored this best human fore | sight and restricted it's war activities
 to the narrow scope that would con
 template the sudden ending of the | war in November, 1918.
 Let us try to imagine how the l political hyenas now offering this , criticism would have yelped and | thundered against the governmen l had it failed to prosecute the war on l the great scale it did. and the war ] as result had continued into the spring and summer of 1919, it
 doubtless would have done, involving fabulous expenditures of men and | money in excess of what were actually i incurred. Speed, necessarily result
 ing in what would ordinarily be con- | sidered extravagant expenditures, is the one prime, paramount factor in | the successful prosecution of any war | The expenditures, though ever so
 high, arising where a vigorously pros T ecuted war is brought to a quick con- ] clusion are far less in the aggregate
 than a lower level of expenditures in-
 volved in a slowly conducted and con-
 sequent long-drawn out war, to say
 nothing of the increased loss of life.
 Compared with the English war debt,
 ours would be over $70,00O,0o0, ,00a
 and still greater when compared with
 those of most other nations partici- pating in the war"