The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-07-26
Prosecution for Insulting German Army Resulting
 Badly for Government
MANY EAGER TO TELL
 OF MEMS SUFFERINGS
Over 1000 Answer Appeal for Wit nesses of Mistreatment of Private Soldiers-Case Has Now Been
 Indefinitely Postponed


 Falkenhayn, whose tactless speech. in the Refchstag on the occasion of the Zabern Interpolation undoubtedly con- trihuted greatly to the strength of the vote 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 Luxemburg for insulting the German army. Even the loyalist press is crticizing him severe ly, and the unexpected adjournment of the process for an indefinite time, against the strong protests of the de- fense, appears, when taken in connec- tion with certain other aspects of the has realized he has exposed the most vulnerable point of the institution which he had intended to protect.
 Frau Luxemburg, who Is one of the leaders of the extreme radical wing of the Socialist party, said recently in a speech in Freiburg against the mishan- ding of soldiers by officers and non- commissioned officers:
 Day in, day out, there are enacted In the German barracks dramas of
 
 to the public"
 Many Anxious to Testify
 General von Falk enhayn saw in this statement a islander Of the army, and he promptly made information to the state attorney, with the result that prose- cution was begun. Vorwaerts the cen tral socialist organ, thereupon publish ed an appeal to It's readers for wit nesses to acts of brutality against pri- Vata soldiers The of peal was evident on the first day of the trial, when attorneys for the defense submitted list of 920 men who were willing to testify to maltreatment of themselves or other soldiers in their presence. General von Falkenhayn protested that this testimony was ir- relevant, except in so far as it covered cases having a fatal outcome, either through mishandling or through sui eide to escape further maltreatment- the latter a thing that repeatedly oc- cured. Anything else, said the war minister, could not be considered a drama"
 Against this construction the de- fense protested, and the court, without definitely deciding the point, prepared to continue the process. The prosecu- ton then demanded a list of the de- fense's witnesses with specifications Of | the acts to which they were prepared to | testify The defense submitted such a | list, and an adjournment for three days | was granted to enable the states attor- | neys to investigate the cases. When l court reconvened, the prosecution at the | instal~e of the war minister, demanded | an indefinite adjournment. letter | from General von Falkenhayn was sub- | mitted, in which he declared that the defenses list had been submitted to | the military courts for action in the | cnRnffipd Ha n proceed with the Luxemburg case until l courts martial should have determined | the truth or falsity of the allegations upon which the defense bases its case. l Object to Adjournment | Attorneys for Frau Luxemburg ob- | jected to an adjournment Since the last session their witness list has in- creased to 1O12, and the indications were that it would continue to grow | To await 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 1 outcome of prosecutions to which the defendant was not a party and in whic | the defense had no confidence. The | court rebuked this statement as "un- permissible criticism of the war minis ter" and granted the adjournment ask ed for.
 l However the case may finally termin- l ate-assuming that 1t is ever really brought to trial-it cannot help direct | ing attention to the undeniably great l number of excesses against private sol diers on the part of their superiors, and this number. although 1t has been | somewhat reduced in the last few years Is still shamerully high. The i,,o ok tine <@ fsa, wal H. enhayn's proposed washing of dirty linen before an international public, cites a case of alleged misuse of a sol dier, e9ing in his death. which has just transpired as the result of an anony- | nous letter to the parents of the dead soldier. A musk eteer of a Dantsic in l fantry regiment. who died two weeks | ago, is now declared to have been fa- tally injured by his sergeant maj or during barrack drill. An investigation | is under way, and the sergeant ma Jor and captain of the company have been