The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1919-03-24
ANSELL'S DEMOTION
AROUSES MUCH IRE
deduction Of Polar Dfnurr Reveals
Dement'S nf Courimnriini Nlr-
tenn Now In Vogue. a
ARMY BEAURAUCRATS RULE
Old System Called "prus-inn' Ntli
l. ~ lff,Et IN NrmN-Inginnd
ana France Have Civilians
~ G,,a ,,,a, w'';n,osroo '.'.,, nor~o.


Brig con Samuel r AnsrII. who
was willing to sacrifice himself iu
Llll Pru"slanlsm "a tine American
Arm,
General AusrU recently appeared
before Tho Oklphout S't'c NJ..r.e
here ana dou,eIrd ru address Tun
controversy between himry,r and
Secretary Nikgr vas 'hru u' ~.
height but G"nctal Nnsau ur,,I
one" referred to u II NnH nn Dd
drrss Ia praise Of IN" BOYS VINO won
'he war. ana who would have wpu DO
whether or not Con rev ON e..
'lrsn o. scmconc 50 il! boon
,r ~ Of Wnfi
Wcll-lnformcd Oklahomlus Ahcro
who have been watching the An.aU
case very closely since tho former
Judge advocate general made 30
many friends In the Epuuri state.
feel that bureaucracy iH indirectly
performing a public Hcr,i'" hy tuh.
horny ,llnRinE 10 the evils Of the
court martial sNstom and lilompi
Ing To prevent ia" public trnm
realizing the enormous oNtont OF iH
abuses uEnluI American CitlEcns
thr greater tho stubhoruncsz Of the
bureuuCTalv the more striking VIII
hc the reform that Ia about 10 sweep
keep out of th" light viii result IN
throwing blazing light on the
whole subject.
Punishment Excessive.
There have been about 100000
court marti,ls OF various kinds since
tho war began. Under the mallgn
system that appears TO have boon
devised 10 lnfllCt cruel punishment
and deny Justice n In safe to Hhy
that the vtvi majority ~ these cnSen
resulted In the infllctinn Of excessive
puniAhment A large proportion OF
tho convictions resulted In the pun
ishment Of innocent men ln many
cases excessive punishment WAS pre-
vented by the exercise Of Clomcncy.
hut Il must hc rcmcmhrtrrt-
Clemcncy cannot he exercised except
after conviction Thus, even inno-
cent men cannot obtain Clem"ncY
without going through the auRmh-
tizing process OF conviction. + ThrN
are rst declared to W criminals, ana
then, II clcmencv ID exercised, II N
on tho ground OF mercy not Justice
There ia no Justice anywhere IN the
rystem: nothing but brutal and re-
morselest military dcspotlAhl
A courtmartlal In called hy the
commanding officer on his own aus.
picIon as to tho probable guilt OF
the accused. The accused defend
ed by an officer appointed ny mo
commanding officer The task is dts
liked, and, accordingly. II II imposed
practically unon some unpopular
second lieutenant ior showed upon
some cha plain Many cases are
known In which Tho defending Of
ficcr. to cvade an irksome task
pleads guilty for the accused, and
actually connHns him To punishment
-kalways excessiVe--rather than de-
fcnd him.
Ignorant Of law.
Tho court is made up of men lE-
norant OF law and rules q evidence
Hearsay testimony II often. IL not
usually. admitted. Convictions are
found in which no evidence was sub
mitted.
A young lieutenant defending nm
enlisted man sometimes actually per
forms his duty II he dares TO cross
examine an officer higher In rank,
for the purpose of testing his mem =
ory or credibllity he w often threat
ened with courtmhrtinl
Soldier boys suffering from home
sickness have nbsentcd themselves
without leave, and then, upon their
return, have been charged with de
sertion the extreme penalty Tor
which II death Their return Is not
conceded az evidence that they dih
not intend 10 desert Tho question OF
intent II all-lmportant, and yet-~ith
out ascortuninp tho intent and In
the face OF the fact that the soldier
returned TO camp, convictions hnv"
been made with penalties running 10
TO 20 years,
The mere statement Of these facta
IL enough to condemn tho present
Courtmartial system to extinction I'm
the United states The system must
bC put In harmony with Justice u
iss foolish and dangerous for the war
dCpartme ent authorities longer<'o de
Yend system that Is inherently
Anti-American The Vices or the sys.
tenn were not brought home to tho
people until this war cratNd tens
OF thousands OF caseS or gross. stu
pid injustice. Now there 0ro mil
lions who know ~ their personal
knowledge that Justice is made IA
mockcry In the average courtmar-
tial These millions viii not stand
for such system They will smash
g. TO pieces and along with, II they
will smash, II necessary any hui
sreaucrpcy that trios to defend the
system,
Civilians Chosen
In England the Judge advocate
general OF The army ~ civilian.
aiiF~er1hlc only To- the secretary of
state for war lie Is not controlled
hv the military caste. ana rs able to
kecp tho army from being rrusSion-
ilch
In France tho Judge advocate Is a
rlyiutt AN 'rlcrnsourCtur ~ state.
Who appears 90 the chamber OF dep
utles and augwrrs questions lIh also
sore that French soldiers aro not
pru~,Rnized
In the United S'a'cs the entire
courtmartiu s,Etcm i- miitnrized
and kept detached from o.yu ip.
fuenCe The rcsul' is rrl,aiNu Ism
1t must go, and lhrro ts nothing
more important "a good citIfnu ~
Oklahoma can do r.gh' now h1u
TO tell his senator and hla congress.
man that he thinks so
.........
Ordinarily YOU would naturally
expect Secretary Baker 10 remain at
home and anewer the grave charges
OF loyalty TO his country which MAJ
ior Foster brings against him. Wut
60 long IA Baker has IN" backing ot
President Wilson. who calls him
the beet secretary OF war the cuun-
tr, has ever had he viii probably