The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-12-06

with Mexico carried plans and ammuni- ton to the enemy on the other side of the Rio Grande river, and then returned un- der circumstances which made it clear that a large number of men in the bat talion must have known who they were, but that every man in the battalion de- nied all knowledge of it, and thus all means of detecting the guilty were lack ing. Would a competent general for one moment hesitate, in the interest of the public, to disband the entire battalion and discharge 1t from the service in order to avoid a repittion of the danger?
 Can a real and logical distinction be made between the crime of treason, under the circumstances supposed, and the crime of murder in this case? Both are capital offenses, one perhaps more heinous than the other, and more dangerous to the gov ernment itself, but in both cases it seems to me clear that the government must protect itself and the community to which it is responsible, from a recurrence of such offenses, not by punshing guilty and innocent alike, but by separating both the guilty and innocent from the service, so as to deprive the guilty of second op portunity for such crime, even though this may result in inconvenience and per haps hardship to the innocent
 Order Is Not Punishment.
 
 order is in itself a punishment either of the innocent or of the guilty. A dis charge would be an utterly inadequate punishment for those who are guilty whether of committing the murder. of withholding or suppresslng evidence which would disclose the perpetrators of such a crime. The use of the word penalty in the proceedings is mere misnormer and is unfortunate. The dismissal from the service of the members of this battalion under the circumstances is moi punish ment. however great the hardship. There is a dismissal technically known as a dishonorable discharge which is only im- posed by sentence by a court. This is punishment. But the members of this battalion were not dshonorably dis charged. They could not have been so discharged except after trial. They were discharged for the good of the ser vice, as the technical phrase is, without honor." It is not fortunate phrase. be- cause so easily confused with a dishon- orable discharge. It is called without honor" to distinguish the discharge from a discharge with honor. an honorable discharge. which indicates the termina- ton. in due course. of a satisfactory ser vice. An enlistment brought premature ly to an end for the good of the service cannot be an honorable discharge Hence the distinction must be made The dis charge without honor" is merely the ending of contract and separation from the service under a right reserved in the statue for the protection of the govern ment. which may work hardship to the private discharged, but which, in the pub lie interest, must sometimes be arbitra- rily exercised.
 But it is said that the order forbids re-entry by the discharged men into the army navy or civil service, and this is penalty When an employe is dis charged for the good of the service, it naturally follows that he cannot De taken back. and the President in formally stat ing this result is not imposing a penalty in the proper sense of the term. He Is only laying down a rule of inegibility for the service with respect to which it Is his executive duty to prescribe the rules of admission. Should hereafter facts De disclosed, or a new state of facts arise from which it can be inferred that the public service will suffer no detriment from re-entry of any one of these men into the service. his ineligbility can be removed by mere executive order.
 Much Sympathy Evoked.
 Much sympathy has been evoked for those who have been so long in the public service as some of the noncommissloned officers and others of this battalion of the Twenty-ffth infantry. It is to be said with respect to these noncommissioned officers. that upon them especially falls the duty of maintaining the discipline of the companies and the battalion, and that by reason of their long service and from their official authority they have more influence over the men and more oppor- tunity to learn the circumstances leading O a nf hn