Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-10-30
ARMY DESERTl0NS GROW
Policy Of Swift Punishment
Adopted by Secretary Root.
How the Craze Is Explained-Many
Trials in the Philippines-Effort TO
Save the Alaska salmon.

Desertions from the army continue at
an alarming rate, despite all efforts of the
war department to keep the men In the
ranks A policy of swift and severe
punishment for deserters has been adopt
ed by Secretary Root, the number of
convictions Of offenses of this Kind for
thte past year being twice as many as
In the year previous says a Washington
correspondent The full legal penalty for
descrtion is now being enforced
Ever since the early reports of the de-
partment commanders began to come IN
II became apparent to the officers at the
war department that the total number of
assertions for the past year would be
much larger than for many years pre-
vious 1t is too carly to ascertain what
the total assertions will amount to, but
the judge advocate general of the army
has prepared a table, giving the number
of trials and convictions for this offense.
They number 1,0Sl for the year, but of
course this is far below the total of de-
sertions, for only a small percentage of
the deserters are apprehended and
brought to trial. Some idea of the In
crease in the custom of taking French
leave of the military service, however,
may be gained by comparing the num-
Der of assertions in the year just closed
with those In the preceding year
There were only ga convictions for this
offcnse in the year ending June 30. 1911,
when there were more men in the army
than at present. or when the figures for
the recently ended year were made up.
This indicates that there has been an in
crease of about 100 per cent. in the num-
Der of assertions. This condition of af-
fair has given to the war department
officials some little concern. and 1t Is
likely that If things do not improve soon
there will be an investigation to find the
causes for the wholesale abandonment
of mill 70 lI, r,rix tpa n a
In addition to the thousand and odd men
who were published last year for deser-
ton, there were SAG others who were con-
victed of absence without leave, an Of
Tense closely bordering on desertion.
An experienced army officer, in discuss
ing the large number of assertions, SAID:
This is a subject that no two officers
will agree upon. 1t has long been one of
the mysteries of the service, and l sup
pose will continue so for all time. Every
thing possible has been done to make
army life so attractive that the enlisted
men will stick to it, The pay has been
increased and the rations improved. yet
every day finds one or more deserters.
We have always observed that there are
more cases of this kind in prosperous
times than when business is depressed.
The inducement of good wages in private
| life is often enough to wean man from
| the ranks before his time of service has
| the men who have recently given Uncle
| Sam the slip enlisted for the excitement
OF war in the Philippines, and have been
unable to endure the irksomeness of army
| life in times of peace In view of the
| improved conditions of service In these
| days as compared with the lot Of the
army private ten or fifteen years ago
we have come to the general conclusion
that assertions are caused by local In
| huences rather than by any fault within
| the service.
During the year covered by the report
\ of General Davis. the judge advocate of
| the army. the military commission of the
army, the military commission was kept
| busy in the Philippines where 1t tried 12O
| cases. Offenses involving violations of
| the laws of war are brought before this
comssion as well as cases of persons
| not belonging to the army who are charg-
! cd with offenses of the same kind. Among
| these so tried were five Americans
| who formerly served in the volunteer
| army and who deserted to enter the SER
| vice of the enemy. They were captured
| after tho volunteer army had been dis
solved and consequently were not en-
| titled to trial by court martial Nearly
| all the persons brought before the mill
| tary commission we're native Filipinos
| and the death penalty was meted out with
| a liberal hand. rs sentences to death
| being carried out.
The greatest number OF cases tried by
| general court martial last year were on
| harges of desertion and absence without
| leave. -Four men We're tried and punish
cd for using language disrespectful to the
late President Mckinley, and there were
| All cases of drunkenness on duty. There
were the usual cases of minor Ofenses
| involving blackmail, burglary, abuse OF
authority, malignery wasting of ammu
milton. loss of arms, neglect Of duty, mu
nd Of inc, Nnrdiy a tf
language"
TO SAVE ALASKAN SALMON.
The officials of the treasury depart
ment who are required to exercise super
vision over certain fishing industries o.
the United States, entertain grave fear:
for the future of the Alaskan salmon
Reports received from that section
| especially from the waters of the south
ern part of the territory, state that thu
salmon is rapidly being fshed out an'
that unless precautions are taken at al
early date to protect the fish it will onl!
be a matter of few years before the.
will be so few in number as TO render sal
mon fishing no longer profitable.
This Is due entirely to the greedines
of certain salmon operators who owl
canneries in Alaska. They claim tina
competition compels them to take all tn
fish they can get, regardless of the fu
|
| gres about a year or so ago which wa
| intended to stop this abuse, but it prove
| to be defective instrument, and ha
entirely missed the object it was intend
| ed to cover.
The law was adopted with the idea c
| prohibiting the taking of salmon In Alas
kan waters for certain periods of tn
year The law was worded to sa
streams and no restrictions were lai
n on the taking of fish at the mouths
n these streams. The result has been thu
the wholesale catch has gone on will
out interruption, until the supply ha
been materially lessened.
y, Pending the amendment OF the law b
Congress the treasury department
ot using its best efforts to get the Gamer
lie owners to agree on a short season Il
T. taking fish. The proposition Is to estal
fish a closed season from January l
T. July 4, so that the fish may enter Il
streams and spawn, something which
II practically impossible under present col
er ditions. A conference of those intereste
in this industry has been called by Il
70 department, to meet In December, whe
this question will be thoroughly discu
~ sed.