The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1914-07-26
WAR MINISTER
FALKENHAYN IN
ANOTHER BREAK
SECOND EXHIBITION OF BAD
POLITICAL STRATEGY BY CAUS-
ING ACTION TO BE BROUGHT
AGAINST A WOMAN.
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS.

|
| Berlin. July 26-War Minister Won
! F'alkerhayn. whose tactiess speech in
the ReIchStag on the occasion of the
| Ia bern Interpolation undoubtedly corr
| tribute1 greatly 10 the strength of the
| Y ote of Censure against the government
! is generally considered to have made
| another exhibition of bad political
strategy by causing an action to be
| brought against Rosa Luxembourg for
| insulting the German army. Even the
! loyalist press is critiCizing him seve-
rely, and the unexpected adjournment
| of the process for an indefinite time,
| against the strong protests Of the de-
| Tense, appears when taken in connec-
| ton with certain other aspects of the
| case. TO indicate that the war minister
has realized he has exposed the most
| vulnerable point of the institution
! which he had intended to protect.
| Frau Luxembourg. who is one of the
leaders of the extreme radical wing o.
| the Socialist party, said recently III a
speech in F'reiburg against the mis-
handling of soldiers by officers and
| ron commissioned Officers.
| Day in. day out. there are enacted
| in the German barracks dramas of
which only a small part becomes known
| t. the public"
General Won F'aIkenhayu saw in this
statement a SANDER of the army, and
he promptly made information to the
state attorney, with the result that
prosecution was begun. NorWaerts, the
central Socialist organ, thereupon
published an appeal to its readers Tor
witnesses to acts OF brutality against
private soldiers. The success of this
appeal was evident on the first day
of the trial, when attorneys for the de-
Tense submitted q list of $40 men who
were willing to testify to maltreatment
! of themselves or other soldiers in their
presence. General Won Fddkenhayn
hat 60
| relevant, except in SO far as 1t covered
| cases having q fatal outcome, either
| through mishandling or through sui
eide to escape further maltreatnIent--
| the latter n thing that repeatedly oc-
! CURED. Anything else, said the war
| minister could rot be considered d
drama"
against this construction the de-
| Tense protested. and the court, without
| definitely deciding the point. prepared
to continue the process. The prosecu-
| ton them demanded d list of the
| defenses witnesses with specifications
Of the acts to which they were prepared
to testify. The defense submitted such
list. and an adjournment for three
days vas granted to ena bic the states
attorneys 10 investigate the cases
When court reConvened, the prosecu-
ton, at the instance of the war minis
ter, demanded an indefinate adjourn
ment. \ letter from General Won
Faikenhayn was submitted, in which ne
declared that the defenses list had
been submitted to the military courts
for action in the cases specified. He
was unwilling to proceed with the Lux
emburg case dntil the courts martial
should have determined the truth or
falSity of the allegations upon which
the defense based it's case.
Attorneys for Frau LuXebburg OBJ
jected to an adjournment. Since the
last session their witness list had in
creased to 1,012, and the indications
were that it would continue to grow
To wait the action of courts martial
in all these cases meant an indefinite
delay. Moreover, one of the chief is
sues in the case was the leniency with
which military courts handled brutal
officers, and they objected to having
the present case made dependent on
the outcome of prosecutions to which
the defendant was not a party and in
which IL defense had no confidence.
The court rebuked this statement as
''unDermiSsible criticism of the war
minister" and granted the adjourn
ment asked for.
misunderstanding that il is ever real
ly brought to trial-it cannot help
directing attention to the undeniably
great number of excuses against pri-
vate soldiers on the part of their super
iors, and this number. although it has
been somewhat reduced in the last few
years, is still shamefully high. The
press. in objecting TO General Won
Falkenhayn's proposed washing of
dirty linen before an international
public, cites a case of alleged misuse
has just transpired as the result of an