OCR Text |
Show f: Criticism Is Not Disloyalty Senator Chamberlain Lets In .Light. Women Wept and' Grey Haired Senators Bowed ;','- Their Heads. ; jr -. i , v , Washington, Jan. 24. All ot be ??t, fury ot accumulated criticism was V-.v, let loose here today and tonight fV-N,. AgalnBt the administration's conduct 2?' of thewar. V' ; Senator George E. Chamberlain of IV-' Oregon, before an audience which packed .the floor andUhe galleries of t the Senate chamber, spoke for three , ; hours In answer to the charge ot i"J President Wilson that his previous - criticisms 'of the military establish- ' Juent has constituted an "absolute distortion of the truth." ; , i In the" assembly room of the Na- ,'., tional Press Club tonight Colonel W; v Theodore Roosevelt, former Presl- $-- deflt ot the United' States, , assailed the war policy of the government In ft terms of bitter reproach. C Advisers of the President declared $ unhesitatingly tonight that he would hT1 not make a reply. Partisan politics they insist, is at the bottom ot the attacks with Colonel Roosevelt, thoy ?'" ' claim, as the prime inspiration. fyl'- A similar attitude Is taken by the , Administration leaders in Congress, Y : who point to the silence of men like lodge and others as evidence that jfc ven the Republicans are not all in j sympathy with the onslaughts. Secretary of War Baker, upon t;', whose head was heaped the severest 1M&. blows ot the critics tonight la an gL' interview admitted I the truth of Jp- .Die of, the charges mode, but de- "vv elared unhesitatingly that the mis takes have been remedied. j. ' Tomorrow the Senate military at- " J. fairs committee will resume Its in- jjm V resdgatisM into the affairs ot tks Vv Wr?ftmen wltk Major General 'r.ijil' . - WllUaia JC.'Oprgas, surgeon. general J"0$ of the army, summoned to explain Ji v, v the sickness and deaths at cantor- jk; ments and training camps. It Meanwhile the fate of the war Wfs'" cabinet legislation remains in doubt, M&, ' though the chances of its passage lij, are slim. Prospects of a ministry UP -i of munitions is somewhat brighter h with the Republicans under party Miu caucus agreement to support It. JftK,. v Senator Chamberlain spoke simply. MJtm He is no orator. His voice lacks jSrfi eloquence and his gestures are very l' awkward. , L.."' But strong men wept and women BaK& in the galleries sobbed audibly when IJ&' from a mass of evidence and testl- flV ' mony tending to prove incompeten- St cy, In the affairs ot the war depart- Isf" ' V1?nt' Senator Chamberlain selected .sP" and read a letter telling of the death '$ ot a soldier at an army cantonment. Is The signature on the letter the t senator refused to disclose. It was ... from the boy's, father. ST - Seldom has a more gruesomestory IbV,' been spread upon the records of the IEp, Senate. It was a case of cerebro- S? '' spinal meningitis, the letter alleged. iLLu Tne fam"y was not notified. The rPr' father, going to the camp, found that his son had been isolated in a contagious ward, to which he was iff directed. Rushing to the room he ll;' was horrified when the door as it JBy swung inward struck the head of &' ' his son, lying naked on the floor. Bvftf! A halt suppressed moan swept l't.. through the paoked galleries as the H l'' reading of the letter was completed. j-' Women who sat and knitted on sol-B sol-B ' v diers sweaters during the earlier H' parts of the speech, dropped their Hv needles In their laps and sobbed con-H con-H '. vulsively. Gray haired senators, , - some with boys and grandsons "over m there" bowed their heads. f Every .effort of Senator Chamberlain Chamber-lain was directed to proving that the l fault ot the Inefficiency he alleged H..I against the war machinery of the ',-'' government did not lie with the Hi President, but was due in part to the - inability of the President to get tho ' truth from the men upon whom he H' " relies. Mff-t' . He Justified his speech not atone By on the ground that his reputation Mi j bad been assailed, but, he declared, S" on tne Dader ground that tho Bafe-Ip Bafe-Ip ty of the nation la imperilod. f" ' "lt tne8 delays are permitted to B W continue," he declared. '"If we delay B too long getting our boys over there, I ' w jfchjjj it may be too late." '"I speak as an American. 'I want to let In the sunlight," cried Senator Chamberlain. He was making his answer to the President's charge that he had un Justifiably distorted the truth In hla New York speech. "I'll never become a rubber stamp, he thundered. I would rather sacrifice sacri-fice my political lire. I would rather rath-er go home to my people and say to them, "I tried to wake the nation but they listened rather to those higher In authority and my voice was as one crying In the wilderness." wilder-ness." The Oregonlan spoke for t hrce hours. Men and women who had watted for two hours to hear him remained the three additional hours so they. could listen to every word. It was estimated by doorkeepers that fully 6000 persons tried to jam lu their way Into the galleries. Practically Practic-ally all the members of the House ot Representatives lined the walls of the Senate chamber. For the most part Senator Chamberlain Cham-berlain confined himself to relating testimony which had been given te the Senate military affairs commit tees, ot which he Is 'chairman. The shortage In ordnance, the' lack of clothing and equipment! the disease In training camps were all dwelt upon. "I could not touch bottom If I continued months," said Senator Chamberlain. Secretary of War, Baker, tonight ardtrw aa immediate Investigate Intojthjf case of the soldier .whoOs allegede have'dledf atan army' cantonment can-tonment without notice being given his family, and whose naked body Is said to have been found by the soldier's father on the floor of a hospital ward. Secretary Baker said: "This is not a singular case, I may say. There have been other similar cases reported to me. In each case there has been a prompt investigation. 'Of course', lt has bean Impossible to gather over a. million men without incidents ot this kind. "It has been impossible to securo trained medical attendants," he continued. con-tinued. "Had these been taken ill while at home, they would have been cared for In most cases by their mothers sisters or wives. Taken ill at the camps, 'they had, of course, to be taken care of by employes. "This must be remembered In judging these Incidents; that the army had to get the nurses and the hospital attendants without stripping strip-ping the regular hospitals of the country- It has been difficult for even the regular Institutions to get help. But In each case where there has been obvious neglect of patients there Will be, as thero has been, rigid investigation." Mr. Baker refused to comment di? rcctly upon Senator Chamberlain's speech except In tho one Instance. He said that he Is to go before tho House military affairs committee on Saturday and will there make a full detailed statement and submit himself him-self to any questions that might be asked. He Insisted that lt was not proper for him al .this time to answer an-swer or comment upon a speech mado by a senator on the floor. It was made clear to the secretary however, just what impressions of tho Chamberlain speech were going forth and he consented to discuss the conditions revealed without refer ence 10 tne tact mat tney had been told on the floor ot the Senate. Clothing shortages, he indicated, has been entirely made up In many instances. Producing a paper from his desk ho said: "I am sending tonight to the Senate Sen-ate military affairs committee tor Insertion in Its records, tho 'following 'follow-ing table. "This tablo," Mr. Baker explained "refers to conditions today. The table which Chamberlain read was proparod after telegraph communl- cations with the camp commanders on December 28. It referred to conditions con-ditions ot January 1," |