Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-04-19
TESTS OF DISCIPLINE.
Can't. Mahan Discusses Obedience and
Disobedience.

No cIear-cut absolute reply, no wade
mecum for pocket use, can be TURN
ished defining just when and how, III
all cases, a man is justified IN dls-
obedience. nor even when he is justified
nv blind obedience: although the bal
ance of professional judgment must al
WAYS incline in favor of the latter
alternative, writes Capt. Alfred L:
Nahan in the International Monthly
When a doubt arises, as it frequently
does. between strict compliance Win
an order and the disregard OF u, IN
whole or in part, the officer is called
upon to decide a question of profess
sionaI conduct Personal judgment
necessarily enters as a factor, but only
one of many; and, to be trusted, it
needs to be judgment illuminated by
professional knowledge and fortified by
reflection. Short of that, it is not 2
safe counsellor, and has no claim to
consideration if cited before a court OF
final appeal.
The officer at the moment should
consider himself, as he in fact is,
Judge deciding upon case liable to be
called up to a superior court, before
which his conclusion has no claim to
respect because it is his personal Opin-
ion, but only in so far as it is sup
ported by the evidence before him.
There is of course, the necessary res
ervation that the final Judgment upon
himself. for his professional conduct
as involved in his decision, will be
rendered upon the facts accessible to
him, and not upon those not then to
affarxyar1 1nnarpnf
Unless qualified by these grave con-
siderations, the phrase error of judg-
ment," so facilely used, is misleading
to the popular understanding. Not
only so; it is pregnant with serious
consequences to the issues of war, and
to individuals influenced by it.
| 1t is necessary to realize that some
errors Of Judgment are ineXcusable be-
cause inconsistent with recognized
standards; and that disObedinece of or
ders is on it's face a fault, disregard
of settled standard, of an established
rule, of such general application that
upon the person who commits it rests
the burden of proving that the circum-
stances commanded his action.
The presumption, in the case of dis
obedience, is not innocence, but guilt.
Mere rule though it be, in its narrow
| construction and rigid framework, the
rule of implicit and entire obedience
rests upon reasons so sound that its in
I fringement in action can rarely be con-
doned. when not thoroughly approved.
! Nothing can be more disastrous than
| to trifle with the cornerstone upon
which rests the structure of coherent,
| unified action. The admission into the
military mind of anything approaching
irreverence for the spirit of military
obedience. or levity as regards the let
ter of the rule in which it is embodied,
/ is the begetter of confusion; and that
in turn is the forerunner of defeat. To
j sit loose to this obligation weakens the
sense of responsibility, upon due
realization of which rests not merely
/ literal obedience, but Intelligent and
! deserving disobedience. in the occa-
sional circumstances which call for
/ that
! The recognition of responsibility by
/ the individual, the consciousness that
serious regard to it is governing his
/ determinations, is the best moral
/ equipment that man can have to en-
| able him to sustain the burden of
violating instructions, deliberately
undertaken upon his own judgment 1t
Is the mems conscia recti in a serious
+, problem of action.