The Washington herald., 1908-04-15

| daSriihiS oL tHe hepuDHc or Liberia. Ihs
galleries were crowded, and probably
three-quarters OF the audience was com
posed Of negroes.
The only galleries which did not con,
tain any of that race were the diplomatic
| and the members family galleries. The
mems and womens public galleries were
almost exclusively given up to them, and
the former, although crowded to It's
capacity. contained hundred negroes fol
every white man who sat in it, Women
Of the darker race were almost as numer-
Gus as the men. and If any proof had
been needed to show that the whole race
has its heart in the fight which Senator
Foraker is making to have the dismissed
negro soldiers of the Twenty-fifth United
States Infantry re-instated in the army.
it was furnished by the outpouring Of
blacks and muiattoes at the Capitol yes
terday.
Reviews the Testimony.
Senator Foraker, Of Ohio, who has con-
stituted himself the particular champion
OF the men who were dismissed without
honor on the charge of having either
taken part In the shooting up of Browns
vile. Tex, or suppressed information
which would have led TO the discovery OF
the guilty men, made a speech upon his
bill to re-instate the former soldiers. and.
in the course Of the address. undertook
60 prove that he was right IN his pos,-
tion that not one Of the negroes could
have had part in the raid on the Texas
Town. which occurred on the night OF
August 1914 1906
After reviewing exhaustively the testi-
mony which was adduced at the various
inquiries into the ARRAY. Mr.. Foraker ad-
dressed himself 20 the two bills which are
pending TO give the discharged men the
oeneht OF what the Senator from Ohio
and the negroes themselves believe 10 be
tardy Justice The bills were returned 10
the Senate with an adverse report from
the Committee on Military Affairs b,t
were placed upon the calendar and will
be passed upon by the Senate itself.
Opposes Presidents BnI.
One bin, introduced by Mr.. Foraker.
proposes in effect 10 declare the negroes
guiltless as a whole and to restore them
to full rank and return TO them all the
emoluments which they have lost by rea-
son Of the Presidents action In dismiss
ing them. The other. which was intro
duced by Senator Warner, of Missouri
in accordance with a special message
from the President end embodieS his
views upon the subject, proposes TO allow
the re-enlistment Of those who can estab-
lish to the satisfaction OF tie President
or his advisors that they were not con-
cerned in the raid and had no knowledge
OF It's perpetrators. Mr. Foraker strongly
opposed the passage OF the latter bin.
and advocated his own. Discussing the
bill, after quoting several
statements made by the President regard
ng the ARRAY. he said:
While these assertions, repeated oyer
and over again IN the most extravaRaut
language, show, after all, as Gen. Gar
ington reported, that there was no evil
ience 10 establish a conspiracy OF silence.
and that the charges and assertions that
there was such a conspiracy rested only
1n deductions that there must have been
such conspiracy. because nobody would
ell Of that about which all claimed 10
have no knowledge, yet that very fact
put emphasizes the Presidents UNIT state
# mind to act judicially IN passing upon
he applications Of these men 10 re-enlist
IS proposed in the bin introduced by the
Senator from Missouri
Sees Justice Going Backward.
1T would seem that we are 10 be car
led back in the administration of Justice |
o the days when men and women put on |
rial for witchcraft found no avenue Of I
escape from punishment, brutality. and /
Execution, except only in confession.
THE President gives no intimation. ex. I
,ept as already indicated, that his mind /
ias undergone any change He would 1
therefore, become judge of the worthiness /
4 these men 10 re-enlist IL we should 4
Ass the bin introduced by the Senator /
rom Missouri, firmly possessed OF the 4
conviction that very few. II any of them,
we're free from guilt. In other words,
practically every man OF the battalion
would have 20 prove his innocence before
ne who has over and over again formal
y and publicly adjudged him guilty and
enouneed him as guilty In the severest
anguage Of censure and condemnation.
Another reason why this duty should
OF be int~usted 10 the President IS that
would pc impossible for him to act upon
II these cases in detail. giving to the
astimOny of each of the 167 men. if all
hould apply to re-enlist. that careful con-
Iteration which fair-dealing would re-
uire.
Taft Also United to Act.
1T may be assumed that no one would
xpect him to personally examine the tes-
mony in each case and pass Judgment
S the bill contemplates. He would of
eeessity have TO call some one to his as
stance To examine the testimony and
dvise him. but who would he be? POSI-
y the Secretary Of War, who has ex-
ressed his agreement with the President
i all ne has said and done in the whole
latter; but he, too, is a busy man, and
ould doubtless require the help of a suit
BILE subordinate and thus in all probable
Y Gen. Darlington, as the Inspector gen.
raj Of the army. and one of the officers
ho made a special investigation would
gain come to the front, and to know
is unfltuess for such duty we have but
recall that he testified before the Com
ittee on Military Affairs that he would
OF believe anything any one of these
1idiers might say about this matter.
ven under cath, unless corroborated in
)me satisfactory way.
But II none Of these should be called
pon 20 assist the President, then some
ody else-nobody knows who--would be- .
)me the judicial adviser. to the satisfac-
on of whose whim the men would have
prove their innocence.
Demands an Open Trial.
sfAToreo1-er how .svc,,15 -,,ot, - .z | :
g be conducted? Would it be public or 5
-ivate? It is a constitutional right Of {
e most important character that all
falls upon indictments involving GRIM :
al charges and convictions shall be pub- .
:, TO the end that the public may see TO !,
through the power Of public sentiment.
at no man shall be unfairly condemned.
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