Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-14
CONGRESS, A DEAD PRIVATE
AND THE LOST BATTALION
That Should Speed Disabled Soldier
Relief Work In Washjnuton

dDOuI tne SOlulcr DOnuS is one tnlnR.
l. Talk about the duty of the Government
to men who returned sick or crippled from
the war is another. In his address to Con
gress President Harding did not altogether
dispose of the case between Congress and
the Federal bureaus and youthful veterans
who suffer from indecent neglect. Large
appropriations, which are not quite large
enough, have been appropriated for the care
and rehabilitation Of these men. But how Is
the money being spent?
A day or two ago, while flock Of walters
spread luncheon and distributed iced drinks
in the enticing outdoor restaurant at the
Capitol, a Senate committee appointed to
consider the merger Of Federal agencies es-
tablished for the relief Of disabled soldiers
haggled dismally.
The sages foundcred in the jungle of red
tape that has grown about the administra
tive system Of the War Risk Insurance Bu-
rcau and other departments through which
help and care are supposed to be made avail
able to the sick and injured service men.
Secretary Mellon wrote n letter to suggest
that volunteers and drafted men should be
treated alike. No one ever was or ever will
be disposed to disagree with him.
Colonel Forbes, Director of the War Risk
Bureau, made a speech.
Representative Sweet, Of Iowa, who in
troduced the merger bill, said few words.
The Senators talked and famed themselves
and adjourned to luncheon and the iced
drinks.
Some one said that some one else had said
that the merger bill would soon be ready to
be reported out. While the Washington
wire buzzed with that old familiar message
another wire from New York came to life.
1t told that the body of one of the immortals
Of the A. q. f. had just been discovered
lying unclaimed in the New York City
Morgue and that members Of the American
Legion were passing the hat to keep 1t from
Potter's Field.
This soldier, the wire from New York
continued to say, had died slowly, painfully
and obscurely in a charity hospital from
disabilities suffered in the field. He was
John J. Munson, first class private, and the
man who carried the message which brought
relief to the famous Lost Battalion in the
Argonne Wood. In the small bundle that
held all of his belongings the hospital doc
tors found the Distinguished Service Cross,
the Croix de Guerre with palm on the
ribbon and the Medaille Militaire, the deco
ration that Is reserved by the French Army
as a mark Of supreme recognition for valor
and exalted service.
Only four men in the entire A. z. F. re-
ccived the Medaile Militaire.
Few men in any army ever did or ever
will receive it.
When the dead soldier in the New York
City Morgue was identified there was
hurried search Of newspaper files for the
long citation published by Marshal Petan
when he decorated Private Munson. Petain
said that this American soldier volunteered
to go through the German lines. that he
faced almost certain death and that he de-
libcrately drew the fire of German marksmen
60 e., ott tbn
who accompanied him. Munson had been
repeatedly gassed. The almost inevitable
tuberculosis followed. IL was from Cover
nors Island that the hero of the Lost Bat
TALON found his way TO a charity cot in
Bellevue Hospital, where he died last
Friday.
Those who know most about the hardshps
and neglect suffered by mon returned
wounded or disabled from Franco and of
the failure of the Government to live up to
the letter and spirit of it's promises to them
have a habit of saying that the Republic is
ungrateful and that its memory has proved
to be tragically short.
Republics are ungratcful, but popular
ngratitude is not responsible for the suffer
ing of sick and manned soldiers of the new
army. The multitude is always absent
minded But it is certainty that the
people Of the United States would willingly
and gladly make any conceivable sacrifice
In money or service for the good of the
men who suffered injury or permanent hurt
in the service of the country.
The memory of the people is not so short
as to explain the neglect of which Repre-
sentative Sweet talks. Popular sympathy
is not so short lived as to permit the coun-
try to read current news from Washington
and New York without pang of sorrow and
a sense of bitter impatience.
The trouble Of which Legion officials are
forever talking is not with the people. 1t |
lies with Congress. which foolishly and |
cruelty extended its rule of financial econ
omy to the departments created for the |
relief of disabled soldiers; with the various |
relief bureaus that have fought the move
ment for merger and greater efficiency and !
with the eternal slowness Of Federal ad-
ministrative processes
Yet. If the preparations for war had been
as slow as the work for soldier relief has
been the Germans now would be in control
of Europe
II Congress- had been as close fisted with |
war appropriations as 1t has been with the
money necessary to give disabled soldiers
the full measure Of care and attention that
they earned we should not have won the
war. We should have lost it.
What IL needed in Washington is fash
Of the old consciousness, few hours OF our
pre- war efficiency, return to the liberal
mood Of 1918, when Congress wasn't afraid
to spend money to perform an imperative
duty. The lonely private Of the Lost Bat
talon. dying as he did, performed final
service for the other lost battalions who
await terribly needed help. Now we shall
sec whether his last message can mean as
much TO the country as his frst did to the
men who went TO Whittlesey's rescue in
the Argonne Forest.