New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-10-01

President Mckinley has chosen the moment
when the whole country Is rejoicing over the re
turn of its Admiral and filled with pride in It's
Army and Navy TO confirm the sentence Of dis
missal fine and Imprisonment on Captain .. VI.
Carter This coincidence Of military triumph
and military disgrace must seem an additional
DEGRADATION 10 Captain Carter. hut the one is
only the reverse of the other. The Nation has
honor and glory for those who serve faithfully
under its flag punishment and obloQuy for those
who are faithlcss and the dignity of the united
services and the self-rcspcct Of their members
are as much bound up with the one as the other.
But happily the need for punishment is rare.
For Captain Garter himself the prevailing
sentiment is likely to be as much one of pity
and regret as Of resentment. \ man Of educa-
ton and refinement. used to luxury. ut home in
cultivated society. with many influential friends
for him five years at hard labor in a military
prison. with dismissal from the service and in
efaceable disgrace. will come az a far heavier
penalty than it might to a man who did not fall
from such height But rs his fall. 50 is the
lesson of it, So high above suspicion stands the
character Of our Army officers that for one 10
commit such crimes as Captain Carriers seems
almost impossible: that one should commit them
y
do ought to be equally impossible 1t is from
that point Of view that his sentence Is to be
looked on with n satisfaction which is not in the
least personally vlndictiye. and IS not entirely
overborne by the shame that United states
uniform should have been 50 disgraccd.
Captain Carter has had an unprecedented OPP
portunlty to clear himself He was popular in
the service. and both on his own account and for
the common reputation his companions were IN
terested to establish his innocence II they could
Before his trial Colonel now GeneraD Davis eX-
amined the charges against him, and, while rec
ommending prosecution for absence without
leave and conduct unbecOming an officer, he OBJ
jccted to prosecution for the financial lrregu-
larites which had cost the Government over
81 700 600 because OF the difficulty of conviction
and from unwilllngness TO cause scandal IN the
Army His view however, did not prevail
After the court martial had found conviction
most strenuous efforts TO reverse It's Judgment
were made And 50 strong was the official de
termination 10 avoid every possibility Of In
Justice that the sentence passed on May J.,
1895 was only yesterday confirmed After the
findings had been reviewed by the Secretary OF
War ex-senator Edmunds was called in To study
them. and he finished in July. 1895, without
finding ground for reversal, and then for more
than a year the case was kept open while Cap
tain Carriers defenders made arguments, pre-
scented briefs and attacked the fairness ana
honesty Of the court martial only the other
dav Mr. Wayne MacNeagh made his final ap-
peal. But il was all Intellectual Probably the
President and the Attorney General themselves
would be first 10 admit that they would have
been glad 10 find good reason for disappearing
the verdict. Persons to whose advice they were
prone TO listen were his friends, and they them
selves would naturally be disposed TO vlndicate
an accused officer If they could Therefore the
approval Of the sentence IS a convincing testi-
mOny TO its Justice and to the power Of our
Government to withstand pressure In behalf OF
popular and wealthy criminals.
With Captain Carriers own fate decided, In
terest now centres in the prosecution and pun
ishment Of his accomplices, the contractors who
were the chief benefcarles Of his fraud. They
must not be permitted to escape. They too are
influential and they have the advantage OF not
being compelled to face the direct justice Of
military court The process Of enforcing rest-
tuition from them Is likely to be- q long and bit
tcrly contested one But when complaints were
made about the delay III Captain Carriers case
the Attorney General gave assurance that IT
could in no way open to the contractors the path
Of immunity He had several methods Of reach
ing them at command If the captain should he
found guilty. He has been. and the country now
looks confidently for the punishment Of those
who defraudcd the Government with his aid
If he committed crimes they did. The one sen
tcnce demands the imposition Of others.