New-York tribune., 1919-04-17

and later as commanding officer OF
Camp Dix. He insisted that "sweat-
box methods were not permitted, and
asserted that the men always were
warned that if they spoke before their
counsel was appointed everything they
said would be used against them.
General Scott said that 9S2a per cent
OF the cases of draft desertions in his
camp were disposed of without trial.
Actually. however, General Scott ana
General Wood were not so far apart IN
their ideas as might seem at first blush
from their testimony, because General
Woods whole idea was that the trouble
in certain camps had lain in the per
sonnel of the officers rather than in
tho written laws.
"An army is exactly what its Off
GERS are General Wood said, in an
swer to one question: "If the officers
do their duty; if they treat the men in
such a way that the men are kept in
good discipline, but arc not allowed to
lose their sclf-respect; if the officers
are scrupulous to do the things the
men know they are supposed to do,
there will be no trouble ABOUT the men.
The men viii work their heads off to
please the officers. Young officers
should be taught how to command
how to handle men. | do not mean
that they have to coddle the men That
is not necessary. Go not mean that
the officers have to be soft or that
courts martial necessarily ought to IN
flict mild punishments.
Common Sense Needed
"But there ought to be intelligence
and common sense applied to the prob
lem just as it should be in civil life.
The fact mat man puts on IN!
form does rot make him different, de-
spite the fact that many young oftlcers
seem to think that when addressing
men they should let their voices come
from somewhere down below their
belts instead Of their thronts.
"lf boy from the back woods Of
Virginia, or Maine, or Montana, slips
off without leave and it is discovered
that he went to see his sick mother or
wife, that is one thing. If he deserts
in the face Of the enemy. that is q
very different thing, though the same
regulations apply and the charge is
still dnsertion.
"What is disobcdence Of orders, for
example? If | meet a man smoking in
the trenches and tell him to stop and
he viii not, that is disobedience of or
ders. Under rigid enforcement the
man might be shot for it. But if a
man starts for the rear in the pres
cnce of the enemy against the com
mand of his officer, that is very DIFF
ferent thing.
"Of course, there arc some instances
where the punishment might be inme
diate. without reference to a court
martial. For example, if that man
starting for the rear should seem to
be spreading a panic, an officer would
be justified in shooting him on the
spot
General Wood told Of case when
he was chief Of staff whore the de
sertions were tremendously high on a
certain post. He sent an officer there
with a view to discovering the trouble
and cleaning up the situation. Cen
eral Wood told the officer to get his
juniors at the post, and MS non-com-
missloned officers as WE'LL to pay great
attention to the individuals composing
their force. He insisted that every of
ticer should know every one of his
commissioned officers very we'll,
and every commissioned officer
should know all of the men under him
well, and realize that his duties did
not stop with the purely military nee
essities. If a man were found nerv-
Gus inquiries were made of him, and
if he was disturbed about conditions
at home, a pass was given him If pos
siblc.
British System Superior
eve divided desertions at that post
by twelve" he concluded proudly.
Now consider the difference wrought
by the human equation. The figures
show that Of every hundred men who
are sent to Fort Leavenworth to prison
about 20 per cent are recovered to The
colors. Think of the difference in loss
to the service where 100 men are sent
to Leavenworth as against eight
General Wood said the British sys-
tenn Of military justice had proved
much better than the American. "Thcy
had a system Of sending men to dis
ciplinary institution, from which they
recovered to the colors if possible, "
he said "They recover, on the aver
age, about 80 per cent to the colors
We recover about 90 per cent
Before the war, Judge S. S. Gregory
of tho American Bar Association Com
mitteo, interposed, the British had
about an average of one and half
courts martial a year, while tho Amer
lean army, not half the size of the
British had 1900 year
General Wood said that when he
was chief of staff he had sent an OF
ficer to England, with the approval Of
Secretary of War Stimson, to study
the British system Of courts martial
particularly with reference to the sus-
pended sentence. He said Secretary
Stmson had started to put this systom
into effect in the American army, but
1T had not become general in this
country.