St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-01-13
Defense IF Cart Martiais.

| To the Editor of the Globe:
SIDNEY, Neb., jan. 81 have been an in
| terested reader o. your plpsr for year or
longer, and have been frequently impressed
with the uniform fairness with which ques-
tons of public interest, political or otherwise,
have been treate in its editorial columns.
A single and most singular exception, how
ever, occurs in the issue of Dec. 6, in your
comments upon that portion of the annual
report Of the secretary of war relating to
court martials in the army during the year.
You proceed to say that ''the secretary ex
hlbits that there were during the past year
more than Ii, 900 trials by court martial
of enlisted men, or rather more than
every other man, as the number of enlisted
men Is less than 25,00) WAS on trial
for some sort of violation of military
law In addition, the court martials of com
missioned Officers amounted to 2 $50, about
the same per cent. as among enlisted men,"
l have quoted your la Igu lgu verbatim in the
foregoing, but not your co nm 'uts in full. |
have not now at hand he statistics of the
secretary's report, but do not hesitate to say
that you have misquoted lis figures or other
wise have misiuterpreted them. | will
Furthermore venture the assertion that
neither the secretary of war nor Acting
Judge Advocate Lieber in his report,
conveys the idea that one-half or
even nearly one-haf of 1900 diff
ferent enlisted men were on tr al
by court martial during the past year. That
seemingly large number were arrested aud
tried during the year and duringevery other
year is a matter which sh, uld create no sur
prise. There may always be found in the
volunteer ranks Of the army, not Il few who
have enlisted from the criminal classes and
the slums Of society, and who have not left
their evil propen stiles behind them. These,
in common with the well disposed, are held
TO strict observance of army rules aud
regulations, which, it is needless to say, are
somewhat exacting. Arrests, trials, con
victous, and punshments are visited upon
offenders for misdemcanors such as are of
| every day occurrence in civil life, but which,
not being in direct violation OF penal law,
there pass UNDECIDED. Every such case, as
well as more glarin offences, transplring in
the army, becomes u matter OF record and
report; aud the number occurring in
the course of year is stated in
the annual report of the judge advocate
general OF the army, and may, perchance,
appear In the report of the secretary of war.
! The number may at times seem uordinately
| large, but the fact should not be overlooked
that the number OF offences is invariably
largely in excess of the actual number of
offenders, since it often occurs that the same
man is repeatedly arrested during the year,
generally for minor offences, such as cannot
be suffered to pass unnoticed, but which may
not be Of sucl nature as TO justify expulsion
from the army.
The thief of police of your goodly city Of
st. Paul, W Iich sustains an enviable reputa-
ton for Law and order, may in his annual re-
port, give 10000, more or less, as the
number OF arrests made during the year for
violation Of the city ordinances. Would it
hence be fair TO infer and tD publish TO the
outs de world that 10, 900 citizens of
ST. Paul were arrested ana tried during the
year before the criminal court for infractiOn
Of city Ordinancesi Chronic bummcrs are
petty offenders whose delight it is to be ar
ragned early and often before "hizZOner,"
would Indignantly object 10 being deprived
of their laures by such an Interpretation Of
the chiefs figures.
Your statement of the number Of arrests
and trials by court martial Of commissioned
Ollicers, and your comments thereon, are
still more glaringly erroneous and incOn
sstent. While your language would convey
that more than one-half or more than hfty
per cent Of the enlisted men
Of the army were court martialed during the
year. you would make it appear that l07 per
cent, or thereabout, Of the commissioned
officers were on trial during the same period
Of time. This would embrace all the com
missoned officers Of the army from the lieu
tenant general to second lieutenants inclu-
sive. the lowest in the scale, and about $50
besides, since according 10 the "ofiicial army
register there were on the 1st Of January,
1884 but 2l32 commissioned officers all
told, and the number has not since been
materially changed.
When 1t becomes understood that instead
Of 9, $50, as you have ii, there were II fact
but 10 arrest and trials by court martial Of
com missioned officers during the year,
w