Republican farmer., 1919-09-19
ANSELL'S WRATH
 STIRRED UP BY
 TAFT'S DEFENSE
Says Ex-President Debases His Position to Become Ignorant Partisan of
 Crowder.
SEN. CHAMBERLAIN
 SCORES TAFT TOO
Brutality of Courts Martial An Outrage on Ameri-
 cans, He Declares.

Washington, Sept 16.---A newspaper i article written by former President [ Taft defending the present system of military justice and Gen. Crowder.
 Judge Advocate General of the Army, brought forth yesterday storm of criticism from Senator Chamberlain. I chief defender of Samuel T Anseu, [ former Acting Judge Advocate Cen i eral on the floor of the Senate and a sharp personal criticism of the former President by MT Ansell.
 i Taft thus peryerts his power to the 1 furtherance Of a plan not only to i maintain the existing vicious system ! Of military justice and to do me great personal injury but he abuses the con- fIdence and trust of the American 1 people and misleads them. and de- ] bases his exalted position as ex-Pres- ident of the Republic to become an l ignorant and bitter partisan in behalf of his friend, said in a statement .s- sued last night in reply to Taft
 The inspiration of this article is wei known" he adds. Taft wrote it at the instance of Gen. Crovder. his close personal and political friend" AnseN declares that Taft is utterly ignorant of the facts of the contro- versy and has adopted as his own the arguments and statements of Crow ! der without any investigation as to their credibility.
 He has also adopted" Ansell de- 1 cla~es, the methods of defense | agreed upon in the beginning bv the Judge Advocate General and his off, | ctal supporters, namely, a general denial of the injustice through the i official misrepresentation of facts and an attempt 10 discredit and destroy
 me and every other officer who had opposed the system.
 He says that I was guilty Of sur reptitious conduct and disloyalty to
 my generous friend. Gen. Crowder, in November, 1917, and that conduct became known at the time to the l Secretary of War and the Judge Ad- ! vocate General. A moments redec- ton sh ould have served to convince him of the falsity of that statement. If it was true, or believed to be true. 1 why then did they not charge me with that misconduct then and there
 Why was I retained throughout
 the war in my grade of Brigadier l General, with every evidence of re- spect and esteem by the Secretary of | d himself? Why, at the end of the war. did the Secretary of War, upon the
 recommendation of Gen. Crowder, award me the Distinguished Service Medal for especially meritorious and conspicuous service as Acting Judge Advocate General of the Army, whose | broad and constructive interpretation of law and regulation have greataly
 facilitated the conduct of the war and
 military administration "
 "The obvious truth is that the Sec
 retary of War and the Judge Advo- cate General 1avished upon me undue
 praise and found no fault whatever
 with me until I publicly found fault
 with the system of which Gen. Crow
 der enormously claims the patern-
 ity."
 The ex-President4evide has not
 given this subject much considera-
 tion." said Senetor Chamberlain in
 the Senate. He declared the truth of
 the old maxim that all respect Taft
 but few follow him.
 The American people are not sat- isfed with results even if Taft ls' said MT. Chamberlain. ''The Ameri- can Expeditionary Force was not sat isfed. I should think that Taft would change his mind on this subject. He has done so many times before.'
 The court martial problem is a legal controversy. said Senator Cham berlain. Crowder took one viewpoint and Anse1 another. Because of this difference" he added. there has been no revision and as a consequence the young men of the country have suffered the most terrible injustice.
 "The brutality of treatment has been an outrage against American citizenship, and I will show it up be- fore I get through"
 Senator Chamberlain called atten- ton to the 322, 900 inferior trials in the army up to the signing of the armistice and 22,OOO general court martial cases. The general courts martial sentences averaged seven years each. The other sentences az gregated 28,GO0 years, but were since the war closed reduced to 6,7O0 years
 This reduction said MT Cham berlain, lis due to the courage and persistence of one man-Gen. Ansell. Clemency would not have been neces- sary if the cases had been properly reviewed.
 The present system results both in unjust convictions and excessive sentences. It is a system of terror ism rather than one of doing justice, according to witnesses before the Senate committee. Ansell dared to tell the truth and was denoted. He was not driven from the army but placed in a position which no hon. orable man would occupy
 ''I am not crI+icising individuals but the administration. I suppose if it were possible I would be court martialled and shot. Unless some change is made in this system Amer ica. is going to have a pretty hard time to raise an army next time"