New-York tribune., 1919-03-10


that of men 5000 miles from the field
of action is certainly the voice of the
nation on the punishments that
should be meted out to men who i'm
peril its honor and it's safety.
Cost Of Offences Emphasized
"Why should the offenses of a SOL
der Of sleeping on guard, desertion,
dsobedience of orders be punishable
by death? Because cities and fortif-
cations and armies have been lost
through the drowsness of sentinels ;
and nations humbled by desertion
because battles have been lost and
peoples sold into captivity by the dis
obedience Of soldiers.
"To US at home in comfort and in
present peace, it is next to impossible
| to reconcile the almost unanimous view
Of soldiers in the theatre of war on
the gravity Of these and many other
offences. Therefore, the execution Of
things has been approved BY me and
not one such sentence has been ex-
ecuted. Heavy sentences have been re-
duced comprehensivelv and uniformly.
But even with that said, l can neither
condemn the officers who assessed the
sentences nor the law Of Congress, nor
the system under that law that made
them possible.
81 come now with the utmost re-
luctance to a few distasteful para
graphs of personal viz dication. My mo-
tives and my actions have been at
tackled, and l have been advertised as
having hampercd the efforts of Cen
eral Ansell. | have been set off against
him as reactionary.
ut has been said that the present
military code is archaic. l merely say
that began what proved tedious and
heartbreaking task of years to obtain a
complete revision of the old military
code carly in my service, personally
conducted that task, beginning with my
appointment as judge advocate general
and at the end of four annual disap-
pointments obtained its complete re-
vision in 1916
Says Ansell Changed Views
"During much of this time General
Ansell was one of the most promising
and trusted officers in my office. Dur
ing all the time the code was in re-
vision he never suggested to me, nor,
so far as I can learn, to any one else,
any of the changes he is suggesting
now. He participated in preparing the
manual for courts martial which was
based upon the new code, but he ad-
vanced mono OF these new views.
'Tndeed, the first time l was advised
of such a view was in November. 1917,
on the occasion of his presenting to
you-not through me and entirely with
out consulting me-the first of the
elaborate briefs about which so much
has been made.
"It has been charged that, as re-
suit of that brief, an order designating
him as acting Judge Advocate General
was revoked and further that he was
relieved from his duties Of supervising
the administration of military justice.
Nothing could be further from the
truth.
"He was never relieved from his
duties supervising the administration
Of military justice except to take
trip to France, which he was eager to
submission of the brief and after the
revocation of the order appointing him
acting judge advocate general and
relieving me of my functions. That
order was killed before | knew any
thing about the brief. 1t had never
been published. 1t had been obtained
by him from the chief of staff with
out consulting you and without your
knowledge and it was revoked by you
because II was contrary 10 your WlSneS.
Advised to Consult Baker
General Ansell asked me in a
formal written memorandum to help
him secure an order appointing him
acting judge advocate general in
charge of my functions. | didn't wish
to be relieved, but did not wish to en-
barrass you. / therefore replied in
writing that he could take the matter
up directly with the Secretary of War
in his own way. He did not take the
at all. He took it up with the acting
chief of staff with the remark that l
cRef of staff named the s@G~ts drs of 'n an
order that General Anscll had pre-
pared for suspended publication.
"By accident | learned of it. This
was before | had any ntimation from
any source of the preparation of the
first brief, or any intimation that Gen
eral Ansell had reached a conclusion as
to the desirabilty Of an appellate
| called your attention to the circum-
stance and you directed that the order
be not published.
Knew Nothing of Brief
"While it is true that General An
sells attempt to secure an order Civ
ing him my functions as judge advo-
cate general was concurrent with his
preparation of brief urging a revolu-
tion in the military system, and his cir
culation of document of such grave
consequence among every officer in my
office without giving me the slightest
information of his efforts, it is not true
that | knew of the brief until after
you directed the resembling of the un-
published order appointing him acting
judge advocate general.
"But I deem it unnecessary to enter
this field of accusation further and
discuss the many issues of fact which
have been raised, as | am informed that
the inspector general of the army has
been designated to conduct thorough
investigation and make all the ascer-
tainments of fact that are necessary
to elucidate the administration of mill
tary justice during the war period.
"E. II. CROWDER,
Judge Advocate General"