New-York tribune., 1921-02-03

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cleaned the slate, and Congress TODAY
Still has pending CLAIMS that date haei,
20 the revolutionary War. 1T was a
oig JOB and we are proud Of Ii. In And
Ing fault and hunting responsibility
you don't have far to 60. pershing was
the commander in chief, and his shoul-
GERS are big enough, thank God, to
Mr.. Bland questioned Mr.. Dawes
ABOUT excessive prices paid for equip
ment and material.
Sure We paid" ne said. eve didn't
dicker. Why, man alive, we had to win
the war. 1t was a mans Job. We
would have paid horse prices for sheep
II the sheep could have pulled artillery
to the front. The men, like Johnson,
there. ne said, turning to the chair
man of the committee, were standing
at the front to be shot at. We had to
get them food and ammunition. Oh, it's
all right now to say we bought too
much vinegar and too many cold
chisels, but we saved the civilization Of
the world"
Stands Up for England
Quite lot Of the questioning related
to Great Britain.
81 am no more ashamed to stand up
here for England than for the United
States" said Mr.. Dawes, jumping from
his chair and racing around the little
committee room. "It seems to be fash
ionable in American politics to attack
England. I am not in politics and am
not going to be. And thank God that
In a crisis like we had there were no
chickering's between the English-speak-
ing peoples. England took over 40 per
W nf %yann pov
gave them five divisions, but it had to
be done to save the A,Ned line"
The line of questioning shifted con-
stantly, but all the time it came back
to prices and vast stores on hand when
the armistice was signed. Then diplo-
mats we're mentioned.
"The diplomtic system Of appointing
men with pink-tea experiences in war
tirne," said Mr.. Dawes, twas rotten
failure. Sharp was all right, but the
rest Of them we're utter failures. 1t
was all due to the appointment of soci-
ETY. -pink-tea fellows. Why, we
couldn't get anywhere. We had George
McFadden over there, and he did in
three days what the diplomats couldn't
do in three months"
Mr.. Dawes also paid his respects to
open diplomacy.
"Let me illustrate" he said. eve
needed $4,000 artillery horses. They
were in the fields, and it was harvest
time in France, and everybody said
there would be revolution if we at
tempted to take them. II was my job
to get them, and it was my argument
that we could not get our men to the
front. Unless we got them the Ger
mans would break through. We didn't
talk prices--we just pulled them out of
the field. Of course, that sort of stuff
couldn't be printed"
"Same Trouble Here
"What did you get for the horses
when they were resold to France?" he
was asked.
81 don't know" he replied, "but the
price was low. Of course it was The,
horses were taken from the field. It's
easy to find fault, easy to say we
should have struck better bargain.
But put yourselves over there, and l.
think your viewpoint would be differ
ent."N
Before the supply service was CO.
ordinated everybody, Mr.. Dawes said,
was pulling in different directions.
"We have got the same trouble
here" he added, with ten Cabinet
officers each trying to get everything
for himself, regardless Of the com
mon welfare. The President ought tc
stop it.
"There have been complaints that
our surplus in France was sold too
soon. 1t would have kept 100000 men
there trying to guard it,. while we
peddled it in small lots. The men
were brought home, and the best bar
gain of the war was in the sale OF
that stuff to France.
"Now hers is how we sold it. Mem
bers Of our commission including
Judge Parker, sat down at table
with the French, we laid our cards
down. told our friends that some OF
US had suggested different prices, that
this bird Parker was hard boiled
egg and was standing out for $3.50 600,
000e said that I thought S400, 100000
was fair and we traded"
Mr.. Dawes agreed to remain over
for another session tomorrow, Chair
man Johnson announcing that his ex-
animation would require about three
hours,