Evening star., 1921-05-18
Editorial Digest
The Stacker Lists,

| $50" 'eii' LII most cases the paper ,
explain that it is not SO much fear
OF loel as unwillingness to "smirch"
the names of men who served their
country, with the full consent but ap
Parehtly without the official knowl-
eoge OF the War Department. A few
p1pers support the contention OF the
WaT department, which declares that
puoiicatlon gives every man who may
De wrongly classified a chance to
ciear MS record and thus save his
oescehoantS from suffering from a
ea1umny later difficult to disprove
ms view is reflected by the New
beoiord standard (republican). which
says: For man who went to
france and fought in the trenches to
nnd himself catalogued draft evader
Is dlsagreeable, but at this time when
SO many know the facts and there is
such readiness to proclaim them the
mistake does not seriously iniure a
mans reputation. Thirty years after
ward had it gone undetected it would
De harder to disprove, and the indi-
viduai claim that he was not a Stacker
would probably be greeted with
That's what they all say"
NO such man will "be injured" the
Phiiadelphia I;a"'rd independent
democraticl believes. for the publi-
"ation of the record as it stands will
! bring to his attention the fact that
there is record at Washington that
ought to be changed" and the Provi-
denre Tribune (republican) feels that
! this is the only way the real slack
ers can be separated from the men
unJustly accused" and the publication
will outweigh the harm The New
! Orleans Times Picayune independent
| democratic) thinks that the govern
ment is acting 'wisely' and mistakes
| in the list will mot offset the ad
vantage" of the publicity gained. The
| D1Ef News (dcy,nrrati,.l D1pa6S for
the greatest possible charity for the
officials and reminds its readers that
mistakes will happen even in the best
ordered governments
| This attitude has little support from
the majority of writers, however, and
the Hartford Times (democratic) de-
clares that "if efforts were made" to
| get the facts about the accused they
were mighty poor ones" The plea
| of the adjutant general that If the
names of men were placed unjustly
on the list of draft evaders the men
themselves were to blame is attacked
by the Richmond Tim mes-Dispatch
tdemocratic). for. it says. the men.
as they thought properly" had "a
right to expect that the record of
their service would be properly kept
Following this line of reasoning. the
Akron BeaconJournal Tepublican)
mentions IAN army of 10000 clerks
who have been holding down jobs
! given them during the war" and asks
If it was not possible for them to
check the Stacker list for errors.
The Baltimore Sun Gndependent
democratic) remarks that the War
Department was either very ineffi
cient in compiling these records or
that it has very inadequate facilities
! for the purpose" and the Charleston
News and Courier fdemocratic) finds
! it "indefensible' that unchecked lists
should be either issued or preserved.
What is the matter" asks the Albany
Knicke kerbock cr-Press republican)
with a government department that
has had billions of dollars expended
! upon it that cannot issue correct
/ list of names?"
! Some writer's complain about the
method of publication as a whole.
! The Grand Rapids Herald (republi-
) CAM. for instance. calls the post
mortem chase after unknown and un-
! located slackers" rather petty sop
to American fidelities" while the
"Kine-pin". Bergdoll. is loose.
| Says the Tulsa Tribune (demo-
cratic): Much better would 1T be
| were the War Department TO follow
I the traditions and practice of our
courts and suppose the accused to be
innocent until proved guilty. The
heaviest penalty meted out to con-
victed slackers could be hardly more
difficult to bear than public infamy.
| Yet public infamy is promised to all
Of them. from deserter to volunteer.
| who fail to make their excuses in
time"
| Among the many pa"ers who an
nouncc that t.oy will rot publish
the let" is the Minneapolis Tribune
| (rc?ublican). which is widely quoted
. inderendenO rrints the former
editorial in full and MANY others
quote the following paragraph as rep
resanting their own opinions:
The Tribune will not publish the
! list Its reasons for refraining from
doing so are not alone that il does
not regard tt" matter as privileged,
but chiefly and sufficiently because It
| has rea son to believe and in fact
knows. that the list is not accurate
! The St. Paul PioneerPress inde-
pendent) feels the same way. declar-
1 ing that it cannot be party to any
proceeding which will uniustly stig-
n,atize the war record of any man
| who did his duty in 1s17-1s. The
Lafayette Journal and Courier Gnhe-
pendent republican, believes that
many newspaper publishers Will
giving publicity to the list" since. it
frankly adds. IAN error would al
most certainly invite damage suit.
end the liability of the newspaper
| that published it would be established
i without much difficulty"
| It is far better SAYS the Roanoke
| World News (democratc). 'to let few
\ guilty slackers escape than to drag
| the honorable record of thousands OF
SoIdiers into the mud" and the Du-
! luth Herald independently is mot in
terested enough in helping to pillory
the towards to run the risk Of be-
i coming a party to inflicting the terri
BILE ;riustire upon brave men, for. as
the Port Huron Times Herald Gnde-
ipendent) puts it. every newspaper
publisher realizes how difficult it is
to offset the effect of an erroneous
! publication. even through denial
| The Boston Transcript independ-
cnt republican, is among those who
believe that the burden Of proving.
| II not of proof lies with the War De-
rartment, which 'can hardly expect
( the newspapers of the land to do its
! .&,euthing' for it," Indeed. to those
/ editors who are willing to print the
| list, the Pittsburgh Leader tprogress
i've republican, makes the suggestion
that they re-read some of their own
statements outlining what should be
| the fate of any man whose hand
turned ever 90 lightly against the gal
! liant soldiers under the starry flag"
! Wonder what the women folks who
used to be anti-suffrage pickets do for
pastime Observation-Disclosures Tele-
gram.
| The reason a cold bath makes you
| feel so good is because anything
| feels good when 1t stops hurting
Fresno Republican.
! Ever milk a COW in fytime? Well.
If you have had that experience YOU IL II
know how the earth feels when 1t is
! .witc cbed nv a comets tail. Toledo