The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-03-22

Again, section eighty provides that
"all necessary expenses incurred by
commanding officers to carry out the
provisions Of this act shall be paid by
the State, in the same manner in which
other military accounts are paid" Now,
who is to be the judge whether these
expenses are necessary? These major
gen erals can go around contracting any
exp enses they may deem necessary, ,and
the State has to foot the bill. There is
no restraint, and these major generals
can make years job of it. Is it not a
fine position? / am not surprised that
the situation of Major General in the
militia is much more eagerly sought for
than the position of private was during
the war.
I believe that the three hundred thou.
sand dollars which undoubtedl y will be
required had better be added to our
common school fund, or appropriated
to the soldiers orphans of the late war.
The more you educate the people the
less necessity you will have for war. 1t
Is better for the people of this Common.
cational fund, il you have it to spare,
than to give it to men who wish to 90
out on Fourth of July excursions and
BlbJ oOlultls
Again, there are several instances in
this bill as to the power Of the civil au.
thorities and that of the military. These
have been jumbled together, and it is
impossible to tell where the courts can
take hold and act, and where the mill.
tary can. There is direct conflict in
several provisions in that particular. |
will call attention to section thirty, and
/ venture to say no gentleman can make
sense of the last clause, If any of the
committee can tell what it means, l
would be much obliged to him:
"When the division commander GER
titles that he has, either before or after
receiving his commission, removed his
residence out of the bounds of his com
mand to so great distance that, in the
opinion of his commanding officer, it is
incOnvenient to exercise his com mand
when such commander certities that he
has been absent from his command
more than three months without leave,
upon address of both houses of the Leg
stature, to the Governor, upon sentence
OF court martial, alter trial according to
law"
That is the closing part Of the section
and fany gentleman can extract q sin.
gle idea of what court martial, or an
address to both houses of the Legisla-
ture has to do with a division comman-
der getting outside the bounds of his
division, l would like to have him eX-
plain.
Section 50 reads as follows:
"The president of every court mar
tial, or court of inquiry, and also the
Judge advocate, shall have power to
administer the usual oath to witnesses,
and the president shall have the same
power to preserve order, to compel the
attendance of witnesses by attachment
and to have the testimony of such wit
nesses as cannot be reasonably produc.
ed at the trial taken by commission, as
in courts of common law jurisdiction !;
and all sheriffs, jailors and constables
are hereby required to execute any pre-
cept issued by such president or court
iof that purpose"
They put all the constables, jailorS
and shertfS at the disposal of maj orr
ty of those composing the court martial.
They may be all minors, or persons en-
tirely ignorant of law, yet every consta.
bic and every sheriff is subject to their
order and any jailer must take the body
Ofa any man they want to send to dun
geon. There is no appeal from the
decision except to the military superior.
They call upon the power of the civil
law to enforce the mandates of the court
martial, an unlawful tribunal that
should have no existence in times of
peace, and especially in the proud old
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. These
men have this power without control.
The trial is held in secret, and it is an
oath bound body, where witnesses are
l,,,, nI hxy ,,nrn,iS-ian M
one side. Counsel cannot crosS-examine
without the consent of the judge advo
cate and the court is one that isappoint.
ed by the prosecutor. / was nearly four
years in the army, and | know the
power they have. AS Senator Hale,
of New Hampshire, once said, "it is a
court organized to cOnvict-a court ap
pointed by the man who makes the
charges, and he generally appoints only
such rs believe in the guilt of the party
against whom thr charges are made.
The CHAIRMAN. Will the gentle
man from Columbia give way? There
is consider BILE business to be transacted
before the House adjourns.
Mr.. BROCKWAY. l will, if it is
the understanding that l will have the
floor when the House again meets.
The CHAIRMAN. 1t is the under.
standing that the committee will resume
the consideration of the bill at three
o'clock, and the gentleman from Column
Dia will then have the floor.
The Committee then rose, and thu
SPEAKER resumed the chair.
AFTERNOON SESSION.
The House met at three o'clock p. NJ
pursuant to adjournment, Speaker Ell
LOTT in the chair.
Mr.. BROCKWAY. At the hour Of
adjournment l Was attempting to show
the Inconsistency of incorporating into
this military bill certain provisions In
regard to che civil powers OF this Com
monwealth; and Irefer to sectisn sixty
five OF that act, which provides thai
warrants for the collection of fines
penalties and costs imposed by any
court martial or court of irquiry, shal
be executed rs writs Of teri JdcidS an(
| If lands are levied on, return of the pro
ceedingS thereon shall be made to tn,
| prothonotary of the county, who shal
make full entries thereof, and ente
judgment thereon any Judgment 81
| entered shall be good and valid, anC
shall date its lien from the date Of entr,
| thereof, aud shall be collected under tn,
direction of the district attorney OF thu
county, by the same process and rule
of law as debts of record are now col
lected, and when collected, shall be pail
by the district attorney into the mill
| tary fund of the State"
This is simply cumulative evidence t,
show how the trainers of this bill ar
attempting to use the courts of the Com
monweallh to carry out what conceiv
to be fines and penalties imposed by al
illegal tribunal. These fines imposed
by the courts martial have the effect O
Judgments on which execution can b
issued, and yet the prisoner has n
chance for appeal for writ of certiOrdri
and cannot claim either stay or exemr
tion; and the district attorney-th
prosecuting officer of the Common
wealth, and elected by the people 70
other purposes-is charged with the ex
ecution of this section. In short, create
powers are given to this secret inquis
tion, intended for a time of war, tha
are conferred upon our courts of justice
This monstrous provision alone show
how ignorant its authors are of ou
fundamental law.
The next place in which this sam
subject occurs Is section eighty five
The section reads as follows:
ANY person belonging to the Nj