New Britain herald., 1918-06-17
18 MONTHS TO 20 YEARS
 IS RANGE OF SENTENCES
Onc "Soldicr' Declined to Fight AganSt Uncle Whom He Had Never Scen-OthcrS Had Similar Claims
 --"Thcy Have Equal Rights and
 Privileges, Therefore Equal Ike
 responsibilities" Scc'y's Attitude.
sponsibilitics," Scc'y's Attitude.

Washington, June 1T.--Scntences ranging from IS months to 20 years Imprisonment imposed by court mar tial upon so-callcd conscientious ob- jectors who refused military servce ct Camp Upton, New York, and Camp Gordon, Georgia, were approved to- day by Secretary Baker.
 Most of the men objected to fight ing aganst Germany or Austria be- cause they have relatives there. In approvinfs the findings of the courts, the first of the kind to reach the de- partment, MT. Baker went on record as favoring the return of such men Ito the countries of thcir preference' after the swar.
 Twelve objectors were sentenced as follows: Ayman Polkes. , years; William J. Seider, 20 years; Joseph White 15 years; Anton Zsoldak, 10 years; Julius Levinthal, Is months; Louis Snverman, 10 yrs; Mayr stuff kind o years; Louis H. Blumenthal, l years; Samuel Spire, } years; Paul Bauer, 10 years; William Charles Schwab, 20 years and Michael Ciupa, 10 years.
 In my judgment, said Secretary Bakers approval tho sentences should be executed and, if. after this war is over, some process can he de vised by which these entirely unde- sirable citizens can be returned to the countries of their preference, it would hc highly desirable from tho point of view of the United States.
 ,"I have not the least doubt us to tho propriety of the proceedings in these Cases, nor am I uncertain q to the correctness of the results reached.
 The soldiers in all these cases were either naturalized citizens of the United States or native citizens of the United States born of parents of countries with which the United States is now at war. They were pToperly members of the army of the United States pursuant to the selective draft law. They were summoned before the proper officers of the army and asked whether they would in fact fulfill their military obligations by fighting against Germany and Austria in Europe. They all answered that they would not. * There was the same shuffling on the part of some of the soldiers as to what they meant by their answers, and some long Minded refnements were undertaken to the effect that some of them were willing to fight Germans and Austrians generally, but would not fight their own relatives, although they offered no explanation of the process by which they were going to discover whether particular Germans and Austrans whom they were required to shoot at from long range happened to be re- lated to them.
 "In one of the records the soldier claims to have an uncle, evidently too Austria, whom he once saw and he had heard of ten or twelve other rola lives in Austria, of some of whom he had seen photographs which must have been of a very persuasive char acter since they aroused in him emotions of blood kinship strong enough to overcome the obligations o1 his oath of allegiance as an American citizen.
 "These men were full citizens Of the United States most of them by the voluntary act of naturalization. They were full citizens in the sense thai shey had equal rights and privileges with all other citizens. They have also equal responsibilities. Amons these duties and responsibilities is tt protect the United States against al Its enemies, domestic and foreign. Nc right is extended to a naturalizec citizen to pick and choosc.'