Life — January 31, 1918 — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

better than he gets credit for but has had a run of bad luck, so much the more reason to make common cause with him in averting calamity and winning the war. It is evident that the strength of our democracy is not in the efficiency of improvised captains, It must be, then, in the patience and cheerfulness and endurance of those under orders. Ours is not the first wagon to be stuck in the mud, and it will not be the last to get out. oe & eo ers 9 UR war-machine is not doing a perfect job. The freight jam is only one thing that shows that. Thou- sands of the best and ablest men of the country are working on the war, and a great many of them are working in- effectually, and even at cross purposes, because of the lamentable imperfections of the system in which they struggle. There is quite a strong disposition to fire Mr. Baker. Oh, well. Mr. Baker is an able man, an agreeable man, a good lawyer, and in investigations a good witness—per- haps a little too good—for himself. All the patriots who wish to save the BETTER CHEW THAT FOOT OFF country over the heads, or in the teeth, of the present Democratic administra- tion seem to feel that Mr. Baker ought to go. He has made mistakes. He has not excelled in foresight. The war for him was three thousand miles away, until it dropped into his lap. Since that happened undoubtedly he has done his best to handle it. The job has been enormous. Credit him with having spent excellent abilities to their limit in the struggle to put it over. He has done very much; he has left undone a good deal, and he has done some things wrong. He should not be put out of office as a punishment, for he deserves no punishment. But things are not going as well as they should. The question is not one of his deserts and what is due him, but whether he is the man the country needs as Secretary of War. If he is, keep him! If he is not, bounce him! If there is a better man, ready made, for the job, get him! What should not be done is to throw Mr. Baker out in a fit of useless public impatience. What he has learned should not be lost because he took time to learn it. Not for his sake, but for the country’s sake, he should have a fair deal. Senator Chamberlain is a man who has deserved well of the country. He is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs. He said in New York on January 4th that our military establishment had broken down, that there was no use to be optimistic about a thing that did not exist, that there is inefficiency in every branch and depart- ment of our government. The senator can’t see the forest for the trees. He is so near our military establishment that he only sees its de- formities. It limps, but it has not broken down. It does exist, and it does a heap of work. He knows, no doubt, how many troops we have sent to France; how many go every weck. They are not as well trained or as well equipped as they should be, but they are going and will keep on going. No doubt our government is inefficient in divers particulars, but it has done an enormous job of work since last March, and we are keeping up to the schedule of our engagements. Mr. Baker has done much good work. Undoubtedly he has learned many things. If any man ought to know the faults of the appar- atus he has worked with, it is Mr. Baker. Unless he is worked out, it may be he can mend them better than some other man who would be new to the job. comicbooks.com