Show T ra I 1 1 1 1 I r C 3 L or r f M I 1 fal washington A routine war department order crime came through tile the other day which said crap thunder ti cally over hagood by direction of the president 4 maj gen johnson hagood IIa good U S A Is relieved from assignment to the command of the eighth corps area and further furth er duty at fort sam houston texas major general hagood will proceed to his home and await ot orders each day there comes from the war department anywhere from two or three to a couple of dozen orders by which army officers are transferred from one post to another from one assignment to another or given new instructions it Is not unusual at all that is why I 1 said at the outset of this item that the order respecting respects general hagood was routine du but it was routine only in tile the language that was used otherwise it was significant just jest how bow significant it will prove to be remains as a secret to be unfold unfolded d ed by the future suffice to say that seldom has one minor incident of government administration created su such ch a storm as this army order because it has become a political issue general hagood Is the third ranking officer in tho the united states army lie ile has been in the service something like forty years ills his record Is generally regarded as distinguished but at tile the same time he has never been a pussyfoot lie ile has spoken boldly sometimes too boldly and sometimes out of turn yet I 1 think it Is generally agreed that general bagood Is sincere bua but to go back of the routine army order by which he was summarily relieved rell eved of ills his command at the important army post of fort sam houston no uston we find a record of general hagoodd hagoods na Ha goods testimony before an appropriations committee in the house of representatives in that testimony general hagood spoke with his usual bluntness lie he apparently offended somebody when he did it ills destt testimony has been criticized and cam commended the war department and secretary pern dern have been attacked and defended and even president roosevelt has been dragged into the controversy because somewhere some tow bow new deal opposition has become convinced that president roose vel Tel tand secretary dern punished general eral by removing him from his post because he dared to point out flukes and flaws and ridiculous aspects in new deal policies of handling taxpayers money G general was called before the appropriations committee by its chairman and told speaks to express his can caa freely did d sentiments his honest convictions and any constructive suggestions he night might have respecting improvement of the united states army the general somewhat blusteringly related to the committee that the army must have additional housing facilities lie related conditions lo in many army posts arid and asserted that many persons on relief were accorded better places to live than uncle sams soldiers that part aroused no particular controversy tro versy but when general hagood told the committee of the difficulty the responsible ie army authorities have in getting money with which to provide better housing for the soldiers he be stepped on administration toes by saying that it was more difficult to get fire cents for a penell pencil than a thousand dollars with which to teach civilian conservation corps boys new hobbles or boon boondoggling dogg 1 I I 1 ng ue he said lie he could get a hundred dollars to build a gravel walk and a rose garden but could not get ten dollars with which to repair a broken steam pipe in nn an army barracks the next outburst by the general brought forth hla his description that money being handled by mellef administrator hopkins was stage singe money that nothing worth while or of a permanent character was being done with that money and the explanation that he called it stage money because it Is being handed banded around and you can do nothing with it in tile the end ills his plen pica was that some of if these funds which he be said were being otherwise wasted should be employed to build structures of concrete and steel that can be shown to our grandchildren BO 50 years from now in hearing bearing general IIa lIn goods testimony the committee understood that the war department hat had given him permission to speak fi freely leely indeed such assurance had been passed along to the committee from the war department part ment but apparently the war dopart department part ment did not know what bat general alagood had on his big chest it if it had known it certainly could have expected exactly such expressions because general hagood never tins pulled his 1119 punches lie has said each time what he be thought by saying baying what lie he thought however he undoubtedly moved across the line hue of discretion army ott leers roust must guard their speech they are under disciplinary regulations it has to bo be so 60 otherwise we would see frequent outa outbursts arsts by army officers in tion to established policies rules and regulations and it takes no stretch of 0 the imagination to see what a disordered mess mesa would result 0 0 on the other hand Cen general erril alagood was certainly privileged to belleve believe that his observations were then the being made only for storm broke tile c committee of congress before which ho be appeared the doors to the committee room were closed and locked and only committee members were in attendance it happened however that subsequently the stenographic record of tile the committee hearings was made public and when that happened the storm broke almost simultaneously with the removal of the bond of secrecy on the committee record the war department order de horning general hagood was written when that happened the politicians literally blew up they shouted charges chames of censorship terrorism by the resident Nes president ident and secretary dern dictatorship political I 1 punishment and halt half a dozen other vicious accusations A few of the administration spokesmen in congress defended the war department part ment action almost in the same breath these administration spokesmen sought conferences with secretary dern and others in an attempt to persuade the president and the war secretary to soften the punishment but those moves wore were futile and representative blanton texas democrat shouted on the floor of the house that tile the ila punishment would cost tile the democratic party a million votes totes unless jt it were withdrawn As a part of the defense of the war department action gen malin craig chief of stair staff of the army made public his memorandum to the secretary of war respecting general hagoodd hagoods IIa Ha goods attitude and his testimony before the congress congressional lonal committee in the course of this 2000 word memorandum general craig described general alagood as a wisecracker wise cracker and he was probably correct in so far as general ila ha goods remarks about stage money were concerned yet I 1 have found very few among the washington observers whose opinions are worth while who saw in the craig memorandum any real justification for the severe punishment meted out to general hagood IIa good the order still stands general hagood Is going to his home bome in charleston S C to await orders no one familiar with the army procedure expects that general alagood ever again will be given an army assignment ile he will be sixty four years old next year and at that time automatically retires from active duty so there Is hardly any question but that general alagood has held his bis last command the whole situation suddenly come to be known ns as the hagood case la Is bound to be multiplied and mirrored it will figure in the coming political campaign because however justified the war department action may have been in the interest of discipline and good army administration there are thousands of individuals who never will be convinced that the hagood removal was for any purpose other than as punishment because he be criticized new deal spending policies 0 0 0 although there Is and can be no connection between the two it was the basis for a really hu US at reaction that dallas fair during the time when tile the controversy raged over general hagoodd hagoods na Ha goods removal from ills his texas army post a federal government committee was busily engaged in making plans for federal participation in the texas centennial exposition which opens at dallas june 6 uncle sam Is spending the largest surn sum congress ever lias has authorized for federal participation in such a show so that twenty odd government agencies can display to exposition visitors what chat the government has done with its billions since the cards were shuffled for the new deal the agriculture department as usual will be represented by the largest of 0 ILI all federal exhibits the commerce department and the lie state war navy treasury justice post office interior and labor departments will have haie their booths or buildings the federal housing administration adminis n and the farm credit administration n will bo be there with displays of their wares and the public P bubli C health 11 balth service will attempt to further the cause of health in its usual splendid fashion one unusual feature of the govern merits participation will be a negro building in which it will tell the story of the negro ro race and its progress since the first slaves were brought into america plans call for tile the use of negro labor in the construction of this exhibit build building log g and as far as gossh kae ne negroes hoeq will prepare the exhibits 0 western newspaper News union |