Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-02-04
.yr lad TO WIN THE WAR;

1--WE LAD TO WIN THE WAR
The Repubiicans who are in tho ma
,eritv on the House war invesusa a.'ns
committee made blunder when lnes
per,nitted Generak Charles o. baTes oi
rhi,avo. former chief of supply pro-
g,,,cv,,en. for the American Army IN
France. 10 testify Regarding the naw-
aa,ion OF our Army accounts ABROAD
ofter the misunderstanding. Perhaps
they were powerless TO prevent INC
doughty General from appearing as NC
lad been summoned by tho DenlocraIic
.omn,ittcernen: but for their own "ei-
rare II is a pity that they did not pos
sese eone ecnirs lamp, the rubbing OF
,,.hich would have caused the Generai
% have disappeared temporarily.
Judging by tho reports which EVERY
Evening published. that session nuS'
have been ono of the livest ones ID the
history Of Congress. II was presufneu'
n course. that being a member OF the
,-..,d old party of high moral ioeass
,h., General Dawes would give tes'i-
,.,,v which would aid the Republicans
Il fheir contention that the condoct el
I'D otherwise He forgot that there
was such thing as po1iticai par
,rd testified as plain American oe-
sirous OF keeping the honor Of his TEL
sol5,ers untarnished. His speech
,vas nungcnt, sharp. biting, and at
times extremely sarcastic. witness
this quotation;
ro,r after THE committee is dead
and conc the accomplishments OF
Tho American army viii stand as
a, everlasting blaze OF glory You
49,, .r,as 20 make n mountain out
20 ,nole hill. but thank God the
Army was American. not hepuoh-
can nor Democratic.
Certain Republicans had attempted
70 prpve that the army agents pur-
chased goods AZ prices higher than
normal. and that therefore wnen the
surplus was offered for sale after nos
tli,ies ceased a smaller price was oo-
,.trcd causing the government 10 lose
money General Dawes willingly con-
coded that such was true. OF course
:, was. why man alive we had 70
utu the war" he shouted To drive
rs point home no explained;
The man like Johnson there
vas standing at the front TO be
shot AZ. we had TO get him food
md ammunition. Oh. it's all
right 10 say that we bought too
much vinegar and too many cold
cb,sels hut we saved the civili-
zstion OF the world
To further enlighten the committee
.or,e members OF which seemed TO have
forgot thAf the prices OF all goods rist
,,.ben The demand increases, he told
,h,,, how he procured artillery horses
tn France. our army had TO hav'
them. The French farmers said ina
,br. needed all the available horses fol
,heir crors. Dawes took the horses
when the time carne for settlement th'
mice was high: higher than usual. II
fact. When they were sold back TO tn
r,repch. after the demand had 1e-
creased. the price was not SO high
ant we mad 20 win the war" and thos'
borses were necessary. high prices o
10 hi~h prices.
4-ar some time IL has been popula
ar,onr critics OF the Administration q
saw that England and France handles
,,.ir war problems in a better n1anne
fhan we did ours. General Dawes wa
asRed his opinion, and he gladly volun
tecred the following:
Considering everything, the
record Of accomplishment Of the
War Department in getting ready
for war was a greater accom-
plishment than that Of France
and Great britain in the same
period Of time. j don't believe
that you can pick flaws there.
and ! am not speaking as a
Democrat.
That's the pity Of it-Dawes wa
speaking as a Republican. as & ma
who has been prominently rnenuone
FOR the post Of Secretary of the Treas
tir-v in Hardings cabinet. What sham
that a good Republican should so Ia
forget himself as 10 say q kind wor
about that man Baker. of the War De
partmeut. whom everyone knows
AZ least whom ell Republicans know
did not conduct the War Department
the right manner.
What q sad DAY II was Wnen 'ehefS
Dawes, Republican, was permitted
uplinber his guns before that CON
mittee,
The. ma sses. composed Of Democrat
and Republicans, know that the wa
vas won by American men. supporte
bv a United American people at hom
They know furthermore that man
problerns had TO be solved by those
authority. and many difficulties had
be surmounted. They know that M
only is war Hell with q capital II, b
that Il Is the most expensive thing c
earth. II certainly is not tea part
conducted on a pay-as-you-enter' basi
The bills continue TO come in for year
But when victory has been accomplish
ed. the end justifies' the means.
The testimony of General Dawes.
Republican high in the ranks or h
marty. and a man having the coniiden'
az the President-elect, should serve
nut an end to the pop-g1n shootir
which some Republicans in Congre
Ia General DaAi