The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-24
THE ARMY OFFICERS CODE
OF SILENCE.
Should the Order 1nhlblting Publlc
Discussion He Revoked?

To III EDITOR OF TIL SUN-SW: In
THE SUN Of December 81 YOU oppose
the revocation Of the order f~Orbiddiny
army officers to discuss preparedness
for publication Far DO 1t from me
to express an opinion as to the policy
of this order. but ! annot refrain from
commenting on the reasoning by winch
you seek to perpetuate It. You say,
at Is a time honored rule
need Is there, then. for the order?
l have been In position to know the
rode OF our army, written and UNI
written, for a number OF years, ana l
cannot recall any such rule. You say
"The publication OF the views of army
officers could not be regulated DO
you mean that the Wal Department
could not issue the necessary orders,
or that army officers would not obey
them? In either case you are wrong.
The country" you say, would 'oe
inundated with professional opinions"
Was the country so inundated before
the order was issued? Did you ever
know a time when 1t was SO inundated.
Notwithstanding the freedom which army
officers formerly enjoyed7
The people Of your calling. together
with the book publishers. command the
entrance n approaches to IN pubic
eur. They would take good care that
the country was nov lnOnuHreu WIFI
professional opinions
But the heart. the pith and substance
Of your argument lies In the following
dictum:
Army officers are carried on the rolls
for the purpose OF attending strictly TO
The performance OF their duties as milf
tsty men. They are concerned solely
rlth preparing troops for the emergency
Of war.
This means apparently that army or,-
GERS are devoid OF the feelings and In
i~terests OF a citizen that 40 far as all
civic matters are concerned. they count
for nothing that they have no right TO
exert the influence OF an ordinary
civilian upon public affairs. Perhaps
YOU are laborlng under the prevalent
delusion that All army officer is not al
lowed to vote. That may be the case
in Germany, in Russia and in Turkey.
But this Is a republic that we are living
In. Under our government 'of the peo-
! pie. for the people, and by the people an
army officer IL a citizen. and AZ a citi-
zen he has rights which are not con-
ferred upon him and cannot be legally
and constitutionally taken from him by
any superior officer. civil or military.
In our civil war we had an army OF
about a million OF men. Those men
N'tc V hlNlidllNAllNNbs Nv
their citizenship with them into the
field they went home to vote or had
the ballot boxes sent to them In their
camps 1t was tseir grasp and appre-
citation of political issues. their intelli-
gent patriotism, rather than their MILL
tary spirit. that carried them through
the bloody ordeal OF alternate failure
and success to fnal victory.
They were In this respect the soldiers
= -. -.l. a.. hA AL
kind that this republic should want. II
our officers are to be animated with
their spirit. they must be allowed 70
come by II and maintain 1t. In the way
that they did. the only way Nv which II
can be done, by being in fact citizens as
Will AS soldiers.
You refer specifically to army ON.
GERS and not to enlisted men. but see
nothing in your that is not
as applicable TO one class OF soldiers as
To the other. therefore assume that
as officers for political prescription
That IL the way to begin fashioninC the
army for any work OF usurpation and
oppression.
There is talk to-day % adoptire
some form OF universal military service
II every able bodied man of military age
is u soldier. and soldiers are not al
lowed any voice In political affairs, who
is guing TO run the country Is tha'
TO be left TO military impotents AND
women
II has been observed that troops fgh
better behind Entertainments which they
have constructed than behind Others
tina are constructed for them. Thu
psychology OF this phenomenon Is no
peculiar to trench warfare. tnde al
'onditions a soldier fights better 70
liberties which he enjoys than for sucs
az are denied him, for n government IL
which ne has n share than FOR one from
which he is excluded. HENRY.
WAsHiSGroN, ID. G, December 90.