Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-06
NOT WELL RECEIVED
Proposition to Increase the
Executive Powers.
DISMISSAL WITHOUT TRIAL
Recommendation in the Presidents
Special Message.
EARNEST DISCUSSION EXPECTED
Representatives on the Naval and
Military Affairs Committees Dis
inclined to- Be Quoted.
DISMISSAL WITHOUT TRIAL
DISCUSSION EXPECTED

Senators and representatives are very
much interested in President Rooseyelt's
suggestion, made in special message sent
TO Congress late yesterday afternoon, that
the executive be given power to summarily
dismiss naval officers without formality Of
court-martial. Proposal of such radical
departure from Anglo-Saxon law and Gus
tom has rather startled the legislators and
today they were figuratively catching their
breath before proceeding to talk about IL.
but earnest discussion is expected
The law is that In time of peace an off,
| Ger of the army or navy cannot be dis
missed the service until he has been tried
by court of his peers and the sentence APP
| proved by the War or Navy Department and
the President. Even in time of war an officer
| summarily dismissed has the right of SUBJ
| Sequent appeal to court-martial for vim
dication. The Presidents plan is to vest in
| the executive the power to take summary
| action, OF his own initiative, and rid the
| service of an officer whom the executive
may think guilty of any offense meriting
| dismissal.
! The President moved to this recon-
| mendation because a navy court-martial
| failed to infiict upon naval officer a pun
| ishment which the department and the
President thought he mcrited. The Pres
| 1dent thought the offender should have
been dismissed the service, but the court
was not able to bring in that verdict.
| The Recommendation Opposed
Members of the naval and military affairs
committees Of the House, to whom bill
such as recommended by the President
| would be referred were disinclined today
| to give public expression to their opinions
| upon this radical recommendation. IN pri-
vate conversation, however. they deprecated
| it. Their talk could not fail 10 give the
| impression that they will not consent to
| such legislation.
There Is considerable friction in the House
| and senate. over naval and military ques-
| tons at best, due to the resentment against
| some of the Presidents recent appoint
| ments. wherein he jumped Junior officers
| over the heads of many seniors, and gen.
| orally demoralized, it is claimed, the system
| of promotion by seniority. The army and
navy have a great many friends in both
houses of Congress and cognIzance win
be taken of these cases wnen the Senate
proceeds to the confirmation of the APP
| pointments.
| The best judgment of interested legisIa-
| tors is that the latest recommendation for
extension of executive authority will make
no Roadway this session and that the adj
| ministration will probably discover it to be
the part of wisdom not to push it.
The Presidents Message.
The full text of the special message fol-
ITO the Senate and House of Representa-
tives:
81 feel it my duty to call your attention
to the facts that under the provisions Of
articles IS and 81 of the articles for the
government of the navy, the Pr, sdent has
no longer the authority to smiss an officer
Of the navy in time of peace unless in
pursuance of sentence of a general
court-martial, and even in time of war
his right of dismissal is practically subject
to review by a court-martiai, to be assem-
| bled within six months, if the accused
officer demands this court The articles
| in question in the terms following:
Article 80. No officer shall be dismissed
| from the naval service except by the order
of the President or by sentence of a gen.
eral court-martial; and in time of peace
| no officer shall be dismissed except in DUR
| suance of the sentence of general court
martial in mitigation thereof.
art. 81. When any officer dismissed
| by order of the President since March g.
| 1865, makes, in writing an application for
| trial, setting forth. under oath. that he has
been wrongfuy dismissed, the President
shall, as soon as the necessities Of the serv-
| ice may permit, convene court-martial
| to try such officer on the charges on which
he shall have been dismissed. And IL such
court martial shall not be convened within
six months from the presentation of such
| application for trial, or II such court, be-
| ing convened shall not award dismissal or
death as the punishment of such officer,
the order OF the PRESIDENT 1or dismissal
shall be void
This condition of the law called to
my attention by recent painful and humil-
the navy was accused Of behavior so inde-
cent and disgusting as to show clearly his
| unfitness Of guilty, as charged to hold a
commission or associate with officers and
gentlemen. The nature of the alleged mis-
conduct and the lack of compulsory power
in naval courts to enforce the attendance
of civilian witnesses, as well as the locality
where the offense was said to have been
committed, caused a long and very unfor-
| tunate. autho quite unavoidable, deay In
his trial by court martial. which did not
inf
convicted, but the court, while imposing a
severe penalty, to my surprise as well as
that Of the Navy Department did not sen
| service. The failure of the court to RIA the
navy of one clearly unfit to form a part
of 1t was commented upon in appropriate
terms by the department, but II was then
and has been since a source of profound re-
greet to me that the law. above set forth,
made 1t impractical for me to afford a rem
edy for this fai lure
Moreover. 1t is to be remembered that,
owing to the inability of naval courts as
above explained. to compel the attendance
of civilian witnesses and the further fact
that they have no authority to receive az
evidence the dispositions of absent wit
nesses. while the exigencies of the, service
may often cause officers and men cogniEant
of the facts to be employed In distant places
at the time of the trial. there is great dan
ger lest offenses of the nature charged
against this man should go altogether I'M
punished. In this case 1t was found very
difficult to overcome the natural reluctance
of some Of the witnesses to attend and tes-
tify.
at am convinced that the President should
have the authority, upon his own initiative
and responsibility, to dismiss any officer
whom he thinks unworthy to remain in the
service. I think there Is no danger that
this power would be abused. and If such
danger exists at all II is so slight as to
be altogether oatweighed by the consider
atoms of public policy which require this
authority to be vested in the constitutional
commander IN chief Of the navy. I there
fore strongly recommend that article Sc
as hereinbefore given, be amended by omit
ting all of 1t after the words general court
martial where these words first occur
therein, and that article 81 be repealed
THEODORE ROOSEVELT"