New Britain herald., 1919-07-31
SIDELIGHTS ON THE WAR,

X Hard boiled" Smith investigation now
 be1ng uncovered on all sides, by the
 Congressional investigation commit
 tees and through the publishing of
 Army and Navy orders that would
 Huring the hostilities. The light of
 Publicity is being thrown upon many Hugly acts that were unwarranted, to
 say the least.
 In the Navy we have the recent trial sof Ensign Beck of the Third Naval #District (New York city and vicinity)
 who was accused and found guilty of
 accepting bribes for keeping indivd-
 their release after the war over.
 Twelve years in the Navy brig will be
 Ehe period of his atonement. Several |&of his accomplices were likewise sen
 tenced It is a slight punishment for
 the blot that the officer has placed s1pon the name of the service of which
 he is part. It is unfortunate that he *was a reservist, part of the civilian #naval force. However, there were
 Ioub ubtless several others from regular
 land reserve ranks who likewise took #advantage of their opportunities in SsimiIar situations. They have not #been caught and probably will not be, it would be a great pleasure to Ball of US were they bound in the tolls &of court-martial.
 Last evening The Herald published #an account of the court-ma rtial of a Ssecond lieutenant in the Army who &was guilty of deserting his charges in &the hour of danger and departing to a. safer spot This action was by no 8 m cans uncommon, either, though Smany of those who did as the con- svicted one did were not charged with &the crime and escaped scot free. 8 These actions in both Army and Navy were prompted by a feeling Sthat is impossible for a medical man Nto observe. Both of the cases at hand #were seemingly normal specimens of Humanity, we are sure, else they would #not have been placed in a position of #trust. They are merely demonstra- #tions of the weakness that is sure to occur in some individuals among a large body of men. Most of our Army and Navy was far above par, for which we may be thankful.
 "Hardboiled" Smith and his ilk are by no means as rare as one might sup pose, either. The desire to punish Severy malcontent who was disposed to disobey or throw petty annoyances in the way of his officers was present among all officers, we venture to say Yet most of them controlled them selves and treated their men with the respect due them, we are sure. ~Occa- sionally a brute, similar to Smith, ex- isted, and it was then that the enlisted man suffered to the extreme. We are not condoning Smith or his deeds. gThey were unwarranted and deserving of the strietest punishment The man higher up upon whom characters like sSmith would fawn should be sought And punished also. We doubt if he swould dare to act as he did unless he ..zvere assured of the support of his .superiors, despite his desire to be 9cfuel. There might not have been a brute higher up, but there was per sson who encouraged a brute. We are sure of that.
 The matter of destruction of Army material by fire, in France, the failure of certain officers and material to properly perform their duties, the mis-
 carriage of plans made-all will come
 out in time. Many of these things are
 not as serious as at first appears, how
 ever. We do not know the actual
 facts surrounding the destruction of
 millions of dollars worth of aero
 planes now being exploited in the
 press, but do feel that there might
 have been eXtenuating circumstances. Lack of shipping space may have jus
 titled it. The protection of a secret
 which should not have been left for
 prying eyes is another possible reason
 Supposing we should tell you that
 we saw a half a million dollars worth
 of chemicals in lead containers thrown
 overheard at sea, where it was certain
 not to be recovered. You might
 arouse yourself at the waste of public
 money A half a million dollars is not
 to be sneered at. Yet what it had
 bought was dumped into the waves
 and probably much more. But before
 we go further we will explain fully.
 The sf11ff was nnlIsta rd oas in lead