The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-28
APPLY IT AT HOME.

Every officer of the army ought to disclaim
sympathy with the Lowering lawlessness, for
lawlessness it was to torture a private sol
der before trial. 1t was the spirit of the
self-constituted regulators and 1ynchers,
who are making the record of crime in this
country hideOus and the sooner the federal
government sets the seal of condemnation on
the Lowering disciplinary method, the better
will it be for the army. Dismissal from the
service is the proper punishment for lawless-
ness ON the part of an oficer.-Minneapolls
Journal.
We sympathize entirely with the po-
sition taken by the Journal in the Low
ering case, which is also the position
assumed by the G o b and by the
newspaper press and people of the
country almost without exception.
There is no politics in this case The
army officer who has been tried did not
appear on his record as Republican or
Democrat. He owed his military posi-
ton to neither party, and, consequent
ly, the judgment passed upon him has
been free from that strong bias which
SO often distorts reason and Warps JUS
tice when it is imagined that party in
terests are to suffer. There is practi-
CdlIy pQI Ole Op1L1O1i Oli liz I'D VI
the Lowering case among the people of
this country, and we believe that, out
side Of army circles, not one man in
thousand would adjudge any penalty
for the offense of which he has been
found guilty short Of dismissal from
the service.
Let us apply the moral Of this Incl
dent and this pertinent illustration to
a case at our own doors. The offense
of Lowering fell far short of a similar
one in the state of Minnesota by one
of it's duly accredited representatives
All that was found true in the Lowering
case was that a private soldier, IN
questionably guilty of INSTRUMENTATION
and Of mutiny against his superior Of
ficers, was prodded with a sword, kick
! ed while he was down and dragged a
| considerable distance by rope fasten-
! ed around his ankles. 1t appeared in
! the evidence that the previous char
acter of this man was distinctly bad
He was not entitled, on his prior rec
| ord, to any consideration from the
court. In addition to that, he had COM
mitted the most serious offense, short
of actual desertion from the ranks, of
which soldier can be guilty. He had
refused to obey the command of a SUI
perior officer; and, in order to main
tain that discipline which is the life
and soul Of military success, an exam
| MI h Jn aF
however, composed of associates Of
Capt. Lowering and in sympathy with
him, held, as public opinion unani-
mously holds, that he was justified only
| ed by the regulations and by custom
and practice for compelling obedience
and Furnishing rebellion and disrespect
He had full right to put this man in
the guard house, to have him carried
with the exercise of necessary force to
the place to which he was ordered to
| go and to inf1ict upon him the sever
est punishment allowed by the military
code. He had no right to employ
measures that are degrading to hui
manity and that debase the man who
resorts to them as much as they pain
and injure his victim.
Turn now to the circumstances set
forth in the Investigation into the con-
dition of affairs in the state prison at
Saltwater The men there who have suf-
fered indignities and been the subjects
of brutality have a. record scarcely
more undesirable than that of Ham
mond. The crimes of which they have
circumstances which appear in his rec