Evening star., 1919-12-29
HERBERT PUTNAM
DECLINES MEDAL
FOR WORK IN WAR
Librarian of Congress Was
rendered Honor-AWards
Made to 5000.

MduS ~ O,OOO.
Officials Of the War Department
show no undue uneasiness over pub
lished reports that the awards made
by that departme ent for distinguished
service in the world war are to be
Investigated by Congress in connec-
ton with the investigation to be
made of the action taken by the Navy
Department with respect to similar
awards to naval officers and enlisted
men. Although the records arc nor
yet complete, it appears thct the War
Department already has awarded
nearly eighty medals of honor. about
5000 DISTINGUISHED service crosses;
and about 1.200 distinguished service
medals. Many of the last-named
medals were awarded to civilians who
performed conspicuous service in war
preparations and also to representa-
tives of welfare organizations who
distinguished themselves in war work.
There are more than 100 case: of re-,
ported distinguished service still
awaiting action. and new cases of in"
dividual hcroism heretofore overlook
cd are constantly arising.
Herbert Putnam Declines Honor.
Out of nearly 5000 medals awarded
by the War Department there is only
one instance where the honor was
declined. That is the case of Herbert
| ing the war he was chairman of the
American Library Association. which
undertook the distribution of books.
periodicals and reading matter gen
orally to the soldiers in Europe. as
well as to those in this country
awaiting transportation. lie was a
tremendous job satisfactorily per-
formed. Secretary Baker awarded Mr..
Putnam distinguished medal as the
representative of the men who had
done the good work.
Mr.. Putnam politely declined TO ac-
cept the decoration, however, on the
modest ground that while he appre-
ciated the compliment he was not so
much entitled to it as many of his
associates. who had really perform ed
much more active service than him
self in administering the work of the
association. There was 10 tinge of
criticism in his letter. but merely a
general statement that he did
not regard himself as entitled to spe-
cial recognition above his associates.
Differences i'm Methods.
There are material differences in
the Army and Navy in the method
of war awards. In the Army the
media. of honor and the distinguished
service cross are awarded for indi-
vidual heroism in action on the field
and the distinguished service medal
for "meritorious service to the gov
a =
bility." The medal of horor is for
gs1lartrE "ahove and beyond the call
of duty" while the distinguished serv-
ice cross is for heroism ''in connec-
ton with military operations against
an armed enemy" In the Navy the
the medal of horror coming first, the
DISTINGUISHED service medal second,
ranking 9th the Army dfstins ufshetf
service CROSS, and the naval cross
til lit Ia.
disti- p''ished sn-vice medal
Ali the decorations SO far awarded
by the War Department have been
distributed, while those for naval Of
ficers and enlisted men have not vet
even been finally considered. In the
cases Of the members of the American
Expeditionary Forces. all the awards
of decorations were made by Gen.
porehine On tho hoSas of re"on1rne en-
dations made by special boards con-
vened to co" slider cases of the three
different classes. All cases outside of
the expeditionary forces were -consid-
cred by special board OF Army Of
ficers convened in the o,aratio-~ A.
vision of the general staff at the War
Department. TIL" recommn nndat ms
of that board were supervised by Gen.
March. chief of staff. and finally by
Secretary Baker.
Measures to Assure Fairness.
In order to insure fairness to ALL the
commanding general, American ex-
peditionary forces. issued instructions
to each commanding officer of a regi-
ment or independent command to sub
nit recommenda atoms for the award of
the medal of honor DISTINGUISHED
ice cross and distinguished service
medal for all members of his COM
mand who in his Opinion deserved the
, award. Similar instructions relative
to the distinguished service medal
were issued in the United States to
the chiefs of all staff corps, depart
ment commanders and commanders of
ports of embarkation.
So far as known Secretary Baker
approved without change all the
awe rds made by Gen. Pershing and
all those recommended by the general
staff board. in addition to which he
personally made awards of distin-
guished service medals to many
civilians who had aided materially in
the successful prosecution of the war
by their services in this city and in
Europe.
No Developments in Navy Cnses.
Secretary Daniels has gone to his
home in Raleigh. N c.. on private
business. but probably will return
here tomorrow. In his absence there
were no special developments in the
Navy Department in regard to the
, controversy ONeI tIft utSfTlDutIOH OI
war honors. 1t is expected that all
the detailed information on the sub
ject called for by Senator Page of
the Senate naval committee will be
complied and ready for submission
and publication early next week
Secretary Daniels plans to submit
statement showing the record of each
case of award from the original rec
! ommendation of the commanding
officer. giving the action of the spe-
cial Knight board on each case and
Mr.. Daniels subsequent act ion on each
case. so that the situation can be
! disclosed at a glance.
| Neither Secretary Lansing nor other
officials Of the State Department. nor
! any official of the Navy Department
/ was willing to discuss the charge
made by Rear Admiral Decker that
he had been hampered in his efforts
"to keep Spain from entering the war
! against US in spite of the
opposition of the ambassador" The
only comment made at the State De-
| partment was that Spain had been
pro-ally throughout the war"