Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-02-16
PENALTIES AT CAMP MEADE
BASED ON WARTIME JUSTICE
Severity Follows officials Intention to
Preserve Dignity of Service and
Maintain Its Morale.

scientious directors" Some of them
were nothing but mere towards. They
were considered practically as such
by the court and given penalty. the
severity of which did not cause much
regret.
Some of them, undoubtedly. were alb
solutely sincere in their motives in re-
fusing to do military duty. They had
religious scruples They could, how
ever, have done as other sincere OBJ
| jectors did-work and refuse TO bear
! arms. Their alleged beliefs were more
narrow and they suffered. 1t would
Seem that some distinction should oe
made and an investigation start ed
that might tend to separate the In
nocent from the slackers.
Generally speaking, two lfeutenants
at the camp, one at the base hospital
and one at the remount station. were
given the job of issuing commands 10
such men to put on uniforms, to sweep
the floors or TO carry coal. The men
were punished. not because they re-
fused to sweep the foor-that was
only technical charge, but because
of INSTRUMENTATION.
Ten Years for Deserters.
The ten-year terms were imposed
upon six deserters and upon two men
who refused to wear the uniform or
some part of it. The remaining eight
cases cover variety of offenses.
threatening to strike an officer TO an
attempt to ''instigate mutiny
There was also a paclfst in this
group, accused of writing ''dsloyal,
scurrifous and abusive language about
the flag of the United States"
One ten-year case was that of
sentinel being found asleep on his
post. The reviewing authorities, in
discussing the case, placed part of
the blame on the officer of the day,
who allowed the sentinel TO perform
his duty in an armchair. But they
didn't relieve him of the ten-year
term. other charges were refusal to
cut firewood, refusal TO drill and re-
fusal to do work" All these offend
ers were given the same penalty, but
il seems to a mere civilian that
possibility of variation in the degree
of seriousness might exist between an
attempted 'mutiny" and refusal to
drill
Circumstances alter cases and lessen
the gravity of the offense.
Other Sentences.
The charges which resulted in con-
finement Cor terms of from one to
five years were bigamy, desertion, alb
sence without leave, breaking con-
finement, refusal to perform certain
tasks. throwing bottles at negro SOL
diers and feloniously cutting fell
low soldier,
The ess-than-a-year men were con-
victed of such charges as cited above,
with a few variations, such as theft,
leaving sentinel duty before being re-
lieved, bringing the United States flag
into contempt tby wiping shoes with
it) and introducing intoxicating
liquors into camp.
These constitute the crimes and the
penalties they drew. If the testimony
presented in ca CHI case were available
il might throw different light on
some of the heavier punishments.
From a civilian standpoint. however,
it would require a very serious of
Tense against law and order to JUS
tify the imposition of Imprisonment
terms in excess of five years. That
military authorities have a different
theory is quite apparent, and in a
third article, to be printed tomorrow,
the point of view of the military
authorities viii be presented.