The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1919-04-18
OFPENDABLE ARMY
AIM SAY OFFICERS
..-,,, Of Military Justice Designed
~ create strong Fghppg Force
NJ, Officers From Field.
CIVIL JUSTICE IS DIFFERENT
.,,,r SECS difference Between Ciyll
and Military Procedure In Tcs'i-
mon, Before liar Committee

WASHINGTON. April 1.-THE
,...,w OF military Jurisprudence IL
5-..urd to produce an efficient, de
r.r4Ag.r fighting army not 10 DO
,,.. uslce to individual soldiers
......,.liug 10 the Views presented to
1. .lmulttcc Of The American bar
"-.....rlou By army officers OF field
,,r..,ncc, including Edward T..
G,un organizer and commander Of
u.. ,.rl division and now In com
u,r.H OF camp sherman. In attain
rr hat objective, the officer CON
ruH,.I tho present machinery for in
t...g discipline had proven ci-
rr.rn. and fair, the final product Of
,Er system closely approNimattng
gs..r to the individual in addition
In producing what General Glenn
u,rlsnl was tho best disciplined
amy .u France.
Admit Ridiculous.
Cases Of court martial sentcnceo
BID excessive In the penalty awarded
AS 90 be ridiculous were freely ad-
m.i'rl hy the officers. Such sen
nnrrs only served, General Glenn in
t.s,rG. To- prove that even in tho early
sago II the military legal proceed
irgy tho action OF the courts is In
no case final, and that fairness was
the general rule.
Judge Gregory. chairman OF the
committee, and General Glenn en-
ragr In considerable argument
winch brought out that the officer,
apuak.ug both from his military eN-
pcr.onCr. and his special training in
eva law, saw little In common be-
tween The purposes OF civil justice
and us military equivalent
Major Charles II. Macdonald.
Genera. Gionn's divisional Judge ad-
yoct'c at Camp sherman, but who
Is a temporary officer and before
the war was counsel for the federal
comm sion, followed his chief and
expressed the same views.
Not Looking for ENnct Justice.
"lOu are not looking for exact
Justice" Major Macdonald declared,
when YOU are building the army
the size OF the United States was
building suppose mon did get
sentences OF 20 TO 40 years, the dis
honorable discharges were sus-
pended ana they went TO the dis
culinary barracks, probably To be re.
stored to service II they were worthy
u restoration.
There IL OF course" Major Me
Donald added, some room for i'm
prQvement. There always ls in any
system Of law or taxation: but tho
army justice system is n very eff.
c.eut machine We have felt that
We could attend to the question OF
exact Justice after the war"
The officer submitted n record or
ia general court-martial cases tried
al Camp Sherman. lie called atten-
tlon 20 one sentence OF 20 years i'm
posed on man who refused TO obey
lawful order from an officer. on
the face OF the record, the sentence
seemed excessive, but was justified
BY facts and as reviewed by the Judge
advocate he had regretted only that
the prison term had not been longer,
he said Explaining the case, he
said the soldier had been ordered to
work at the base hospital on a Sat
urdpy during the influenza epidemic lc
and refused on account OF relIglous
scrupes, claiming that he was a
member OF faith that set that day
aside for worship.
On that particular Saturday, tho
officer said there had been l40
deaths A. the hospital and there
were hundreds OF very sick men to
be cared for
The opposing views held In tho
service will be available to the COM
nillee next Monday when Lieut. Col.
samuel I. Anscll, former Judge ad-
'ocl'c general and the leading fig,
ufe ln the criticism thav has been
directed against the court-martlal
system. will appear.