UNCLE SAM'S WAR METHODS

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2641, 22 September 1919, Page 6

UNCLE SAM'S WAR METHODS

♦ SAVAGK CRITICISM OF MILITARISM. ,\N" UGLY "iNDICTMKNT. Conscientious objectors, numbering 133, were given honorable discharges from the Army by order of Secretary of War Baker, and "allowed to go free from the military prison at Tort -Leavenworth. Kansas, whero they were confined. In addition, they were "given free mileage to the various points of their induction into the service, and were also handed out new suits of civilian clothes and monev amounting in some cases to between £BO and £IOO as Mieir back pay. Two of the objectors even then refused to leave the prison, declaring that it, " would not be for the glory ot God." None refused the money, however. Kansas authorities are much incensed oyer the action of the Government in giving these objectors their freedom, and a resolution demanding a congressional investigation of the delinquency of the War Department has been passed by the Lower House of the State Legislature. shortly before adjourning fc- the summer recess Congress passed a Bill amending the Articles of War. so as to authorise commanding officers to mitigate or remit sentences imposed by courts martial. Hitherto this power has been exclusively exercised bv the President. Testifying before the Senate's Military Affairs 'Committee, General Ansell. then acting judge-advocate genera! of the army, declared that, by adhering to an obsolete and faultv red tape system, the militate authorities had deal't with American soldiers in the most "shocking and intolerable manner." Among the instances of extreme penalties that he cited were the following:—A soldier who pleaded guilty to a charge of refusing to drill, but insisted that ho was sick and physically unable to obey, was sentenced to death by a court martial. His life was saved only by executive clemency. Another soldier "left a military camp in America without leave to visit "his father, who was dying. He returned to camp immediately after his father died, and a court martial ordered that he be punished by death. Only an order from Washington saved him from death. A soldier who absented himself without leave was sentenced to be dishonorably discharged, to forfeit his pay. and spend 40 years in prison ! The prison term was later reduced to 10 years. Another was given a 10-year prison term and sentenced to dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of pay because he had a fan in his possession ! This sentence was afterwards shortened to three years. A private who left camp without leave in order to see his wife and sick baby was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, but thi= was later reduced to three years. A voting soldier who had been detailed for kitchen duty smoked a cigarette, which is forbidden* while performing such work. The second lieutenant, who caught him smoking, ordered him to surrender his an tiro pack of cigarettes, and for refusing to do so a court "martial sentenced him to 40 years in prison. On the recital, of the last-mentioned case Senator Thomas (Colorado'', who was a. member of the investigating committee, denounced a system that would permit such a thing as that as absolutely unAmerican, and well calculated to make Bolsheviks of the soldiers' relatives. He declared that the officer concerned was •• u . fool.'' It was such eases that explained why it was so hard to keep tho ormv up to its proper strength in peace time.

General Ansel! also told the committee about two men in France who had been on duty all night for five consecutive nights. ' They were unable to sleep in the daytime, because wood was being chopped in the dugout for the commanding officer, and as a vcsult they fell asleep at the po-t of duty. A court martial sentenced them to death. Instructions sent from Wash ington caved them by the narrowest of margins. becaiUi? the military authorities in France insisted on the sentence being carried out. In some cases. General An-.-ell declared, men were executed without being given any chance of an appeal for clemency. Senator Borah (Idaho) cited a case of a

soldier who was ordered to peel potatoes, ;:nd for his refusal to do so was sentenced to 20 years in the penitentiary. He declared that the man who would impose such n sentence was a menace to society, fur he would commit murder if given half it chance. Senator Mann (Illinois) declared that Genera! Ansell's disclosures showed the necessity of instituting sweeping reforms in the court martial system, The idiocy of some of the court martial judgments was beyond belief Of two men charged with similar offences in the same camp, one might l>e severely reprimanded, while the other might be "given from 20 to 40 years in a penitentiary! Secretary Baker, in older to reassure the families of army men, next asked General Ansel] to supply him with a complete statement relative to the administration of military justice, declaring that h-j did not believe the conditions complained of had ever existed. General (.Yonder, Chief of Staff, replied in a lengthy in*mo., explaining that Ansell, without consulting the War Secretary, had had himself appointed acting judge-advocate-general. Ansell insisted that existing statutes gave him authority to review courts martial sentences, and, if necessary, ovei tinning them. But lie (Crowder) held to the contrary, and had been sustained by the War Secretary. Congress had been asked tu pass a. law specially providing for the exercise of such power, hut refused to do so. Ansell had since been discharged from lis war commission as judge-advo-citte-generdl and returned to his regular army status—viz., that of lieutenant-colo-nel. Secretary Baker thereupon announced that, despite- this demotion, Ansell would he continued as chairman of the Clemency Board, to review court martial proceed ings and tecammend commutation of sentences. In some quarters this action on the part of the War Department was stigmatised as * a deliberately-adopted method of punishing the acting judge advoeatcgeneval, whose sole offence was against a powerful 'and self-centrod clique in the VVav Department."

Presidenl Wil.-on commuted death sentences in several cases. In one of these a conscientious objector had been sentenced t'> death for refusal to obey a command of his superior officer. At the President's order the sentence was finally commuted to 15 years' imprisonment. Similar action was taken in the case of auvthcr man who had refused to obey ,i command and had been sentenced to death. In a third case a sentence of death hud been passed on a soldier who had refused to fall in with his command for embarkation overseas. The President reduced the sentence to 10 years in prison. The Judge Advocate-General found 19 iL'gro soldiers, accused of attacking a woman, had been deprived ojf fundamental lights, 'because they were hastily tried ..! the eve of their departure for France. President Wilson set aside the courtmartial sentences, and ordered new trials before new, unprejudiced courts. The court martial had ordered eight men punished by death, and five by life imprisonment, had declared one insane, and had acquitted five.

Cases of persons convicted of violating lite Espionage Act are also being reviewed, md unduly harsh sentences are to be commuted. Altogether there are about 2CO such prisoners, exclusive of I.W.W. agitators convicted under various statutes. Clemency has already been granted a number of Socialists. I.W.W. agitators, religious pacifists, etc. Frederick Krafft. secretary of the Socialist party ot New .Jersey, convicted for seditions speech. ivas given a full pardon. The sentence of a former Socialist member of tho Cleveland, 0.. Hoard of ftdticntio'b was

i educed from 10 lo 5 years. The 10-year sentence of Theodore Bues:.,q. a ('i)imcclii ut CSci'inau Lutheran preacher, was cut down so that it will expire the Ist April. Flora Foicnau, a Texas school teacher, convicted on hj charge of having advised soldiers to shoot their officer.-. had her sentence reduced to two years. A Califoruian, named Goldstein, found guilty mi a charge of pi'"--noting moving pictures purporting to show massacres by Ibitish soldiers in the revolution, try war, a.od s,;id I" be financed by German money, had his sentence shortened to three years, with »<■■ mission of fines.

The military authorities' lenient treatment of conscientious objectors was the cause of a great d-al of dissatisfaction and complaint. Senator Krelinghuyscii. of X.J., speaking before the Senate Military Affairs Committee, deplored the War Department's policy of meting out severe punishment to men in the army for minor a* well as major <ffimces, while showing the greatest kindness and consideration to conscientious objectors, who refused to fight. He. had received numerous letters from soldiers, he said, complaining that these objectors were being dealt with gently, and were being dismissed and allowed to return home with a '* new suit of clothes and a b.Miquet in their buttonhole."

In the House Representative Chandler, of Xew York, criticised the War Department for giving released conscientious objectors back pay. amounting in ■some cases to 600 dollars, while thousands of men. some of wlmm fought in France, were being held in disciplinary prisons for slight offences. Giving back pay to objectors, he declared, amounts to handing them a reward for law-breaking, and is an insult to the soldiers who offered their lives in France or put on the uniform of the army.

Chairman Chamberlain read into tin record of the Military Committee a confidential order sent by Secretary Baker to all camp commanders in the United States, directing them to segregate conscientious objectors, and to see that they ire handled with " tact and consideration." also that their questions were "answered fully and freely." The order stipulated that these men were not to be treated as violators of military laws, and that their attitude in this respect was to he "quietly ignored." Officers were instructed to' report on results obtained by following this policy, and advised that these reports would be considered in deckling on the department's future course relative to conscientious objectors. " Under no circumstances." the order directed, " are the instructions contained in the foregoing to be given to the newspapers." Avmv medical experts who studied the mental condition of 3,000 men held in disciplinary barracks at Leavenworth. Kans.. most of whom called themselves conscientious objectors, found about twothirds of them to be men of eccentric personality, inordinately vain or eclf-willed and with' an exaggerated notion of their own importance and their own intelligence. The other third was ma.de up of men of unusual "emotional stability" and others of subnormal intelligence. There has been an enormous volume of complaint concerning conditions at embarkation camp;; and so-called recreation centres overseas. Reports of unsanitary conditions in t'bec-e places, lack of adequate housing facilities and various other conditions, alleged to be due to indifference and incompetence on the part of military authorities, aroused much indignation among members of the House and Senate.

Senator Lodge, of read before the .Senate a telegram setting forth that hundreds of vetumeng wounded soldiers had complained bitterly of sanitary and other conditions existing at the American army classification camp at St. Aignan (France). They reported that the camp hud been designed to accommodate 8.000 men, but that more than twice that number were kept there. They hud to stand in mess lines for hours in mud and water above the tops of their hoots, they -paid, and in some eases wounded men dropped dead in line. The hardships and sufferings were so great that the men dubbed the place •" Camp .Agony." Senator Frelinghuy-sen, of S.J asserted that American soldiers had been brought home from France > lad like tramps and without a dollar in their pockets. Representative M'Ciillorh. of Ohio, made public a letter reciting complain.s of l.diiu soldiers stationed at Cuttaro, Dahnatia. 'these members asserted that they had !k■<■ 11 inadequately paid, that food was so seane that they were obliged to steal in order to eat, that no new clothing had lilCii provided them, and that the old had been well-nigh worn to tatters. Most of the officers, they said, were drunk during the greater part of the time. Representative Gallivan, of Mass., charged that American military authorities in fiance had discriminated against National Guard officers in favor of regular army officer;-. To make room for the promotion of regular army men, National (Suavd officers wore sent I" the *'canning factory" at Blois and there demoted on I lie most flimsy grounds. lie asserted that more officers were "crushed in mind" there than were killed at Chateau Thierry. lie mentioned specifically the ease of ;ui officer who u'n.- so humiliated by an unmerited demotion that he committed suicide