Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-07-06

from camp to France. There he 1ed
them and clothed them: and the con
out his strong methods to put things
in order the men would not have
been moved or supplied with food and
clothing aftef they got there.
+ *
Now that Congress has passed the
great appropriation bills. it has left
the way clear
Administration of for m n y
Military Justice. nres Init new
ertheless important. Among these' IS
the bill for the administration OF mil
itary justice, whose advocates are ex-
Meeting it to come up at IN early day
after the recess.
The Importance OF this subject
becomes rather more apparent on the
cold inspcctfon of a few figures. Ihe
war Army did not mobilize in lage
numbers untn late in 1917 ana was
! notu sent abroad for service until
/ well on in 1a1S. Yet in the snort
time interycnins, beore the armistice
! there were some $4,000 general and
| 400 600 inferior court cases. Recent
STA tistirs indicate that the general
| court cases. including some OF the
most trivial offenses, averaged sen
| fences of more than seven years I'm
| prisonment. including u,snoiiof nyi @
| discharge from the service. me
severity of these sentences was m
eyitable, the advocates OF the strict
! fmethods of discipline in the Army
| claim, because the country was at
| war. Since the signing OF the ar
mistice the clemency board mas e.
| fected a sort of Jail delivery. lie
| tween February "a. and June II
examined 1876 cases and extended
! clemency in all but 81 of them. ne
! average sentence had been slightly
more than seven years. The board
| has reduced il to d little more IMAM
| a year and a half.
! When the officers of the national
! armies found it necessary to resort
: in 100000 instances to courts martiai
/ to preserve discipline or to punish
i infractons OF. order in ten months.
| they presented case against the
! army of developing Officers incapable
, of handling men successfully. of a
body of enlisted men peculiarly I'M
+, susceptible to discipline. or of de-
| fective system of administering jus
| tice. Perhaps it was some of all
| three.
There are two conceptions of the
military power in the land. The one
is expressed in the ordinances of
King Richard H. 1.-THE army is the
army of the king. to be disciplined
by him and his commanders under
| his ordinances and at his pleasure
| The other was that of the trainers
of the American Constitutions: Con
gress shall have the power to raise and
! support armies the power to
make rules and regulations for the
: government of the land and naval
| forces The conception of the
| founders was for a democratic army.
4 Nnt hn nttfh II of ar r
| saw the anomaly of the nation fight
| ing to maintain democracy on earth
| of The most completely Prussia niZed
| army outside of Germany. 1t was
mercenary aristocratic body. Pa
| triotic but wholly inexperienced
young officers, who regarded their
commissions as personal privilege
| rather than call to great RESPONSE
! bility. were suddenly placed in COM
mand of body of wonderful but I'M
| disciplined young men whom they
| did not know how to handle. The
! courts martial.
| 1t is not the purpose here to in
| quire whether the code, based upon
! the British code used in the period
of the Revolutionary war and handed
| down to them from the Roman en-
pire, provides a just, reasonable and
| fair way of disposing of the cases
| before these courts. endowed with
power of inflicting death, imprison :
| ment and dishonorable discharge for
| offenses which to the civilian deserve
no such penalty. For instance: In
France. in war, boy private was
| found asleep at his post. The verdict:
| "Guilty-twenty years imprison-
ment." The facts: He had been de-
| tailed to sentry duty; and through
mistake of the officer of the guard
| left without relief for thirty-one
| hours. and when found was exhaus-
| ted. The Judge advocate succeeded,
| after the sentence had been con-
] frmed. in having the punishment cut
down to two years imprisonment
The officers of the Army do not
/ wish for the continuance of the old
conditions in the American ARMY
The people of the whole country
have a personal concern in the con-
d1tfons under which their sons r1ay
| be called to fight. The mothers and
| fathers, the wives and children Of
| the men who, without counsel, were
sent to prison and condemned to the
disgrace of dishonorable dismissal
| from the service are concerned
! whether the military code can be
improved. They ask the question,
| How far did they suffer from the
| neglect earlier to select and train
officers for the line?