El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-08-31

Z NEW YORK, aug. 3l-Not content
~ with kicking rne supreme stuff
fin out Of the Boche. running over
them with whippets. handing them
the Eddie Bichenbacker salute, max
I ing them believe it's a machine gun
charge when only Yankee riflemen
are after them, and making them
shudder at the very mention Of devil
dogs" the hapless Huns have yet 10
face the two gun mani
Outlaw or officer, private citizen OF
gambler. the two gun man" was the
individual who. quicker than the bat
OF an eye. came out with two ass
and emphasized his opinion or de-
mand with two loads OF cold steel in
stead OF one.
Every Soldier Hits Two.
Gen Pershing has demanded that
our men in the front line trenches
be armed with .f5 Caliber automatic
pistols. So. without pencil and paper,
figure out the following combination
Yankee courage Yankee derermi-
cation Yankee love of adventure and
battle Yankee uneGualed ability to
shoot and shoot straight Yankee
ability 10 shoot just twice that good
with two guns instead of one.
Then picture that bowling, singing.
laughing, not-to-be-resisted gang OF
" trained judges advocate. This, Of
lsio2Ox-e cleaned edoverhaufv-a.
itself. presents a most serious prob
lem for the office Of the Judge advo-
cate general And the interests Of
the officers and soldiers accused are
not the only ones at stake Where Of
lenses have been committed against
civilians. as in the case Of the Hous-
ton riots and other instances which
will readily come TO mind, the COM
munities in which they are temper
arily resident have. necessarily, much
at stake. and must depend upon the
courts martial for justice and redress
Courts Martial Final.
But these courts martial are not
courts of final Jurisdiction. In the
more important c. es. the office Of
thu judge advocate general acts as an
intermediate appellate court with the
president Of the Cni-ed States as the
court Of last resort IN all officers
cases involving dismissal from the
service and all cases in which the
death penalty has been imposed,
which have been decided by courts
martial convened by the commanding
generals Of tactical divisions in tnis
country. the president OF the United
States must act before the sentences
can be executed, and. in the event OF
his disapproval Of the sentences. the
accused are released from arrest or
confinement
Cases sent To President.
In all such cases which az tried by
general courts martial. the records
of the trials must be sent tC the IL
flee OF the judge advocate general.
where the legality Of the proceeding
Is passed upon in the event that the
office finds the proceedings Illegal.
the sentence is set aside; otherwise,
10 IS executed. Tie only commanding
general who has now the right TO eX-
ecute a sentence Of dismissal Of an Of
ficer or a sentence OF death. without
the Intervention Of the president or
the judge advocate generals office in
this country, is Cen Pershing, the
commander Of the American expeoi-
tionary forces in Fral Ne So far. he
has used this pre- ogative in death
cases only once, having sent every
other such case TO the president for
final action in every such case so
forwarded 20 the president. the latter
has committed the sentence
b It Talent Called.
The process Of perfecting the ad-
OF militia justice since
the war began, III 2ref1-s has con-
sisted in seeing that the courts mar