Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-03-05

! HHHcH. 1SIIiDlc lHJuHtiCSS uANc DccII
inflicted upon small offenders. The
whole system is wrong.
81 realize that | am arraigning an
institution to which l belong. But
l am doing it SO that ample justice
may be done the men in the ranks.
We need more humanity in our jude-
ment of their otfenses. We have not
shown it. For the sake of our men
and their families we must put an
end to this cruel system, and we must
do it ut once"
As result of General Ansell's evil
dence, says The Times, Secretary
Baker will be called before the COM
mittec within the next few days. He
will be asked, for one thing, as to his
attitude regarding conscientious OBJ
/ jectors, who, it was intimated a!
the hearing, had been treated witt,
extreme leniency by the Secretary,
while men in .he Army were being
heavily punished for offenses such AS
declining to drill when tired out. The
account continues:
| Senator Frelinghuysen of New Jel-
sey, brought up the Secretary's atti-
tude toward conscientious obiectors
when he asked General Ansell why
the Secretary of War had "agreed to
their being honorably discharged
from the Army at the same time that
men on the firing line were being
committed to long terms in Jail foI
trivial lapses."
"May I be excused from answer
ing?" asked General Ansell. "!t
might embalrass me- -.
1--WE will have the Secretary l'e:c.
said Senator Chamberlain "He can
tell us about it."
General Ansell undertook the pow
err of review over court-martlal, he
said, after the case had come before
him of twelve non-commissioncd Off
GERS who had been dishonorably dis
charged from service and had been
sentenced to from three to seven
years for "minor disagreement" in
| one of the army camps with some
West Point soldiers. He found au-
thority, he said, under the law of
1862, to review the court-mal'tial vel'-
dict, and, after going into the evil
dence, set the sentences aside and
restored the men to duty.
81 wrote the Secretary OF War
| about it." said General Ansell. II
wrote: you can not approve the in
iouity of such a system "
The Secretary, he added, did moi
encourage General Ansel's attitude,
| but the Acting Judge Advocate-Gen-
eral insisted on his privilege cf review
and had kept on exercising it ever
s,nce.
General Ansell related, as evidence
of what he called the "perniciousness
of the court martial SYSTEM" the
case of boy who had been in the
Army but few days and was assign
ed to kitchen duty in an army camp.
The sergeant found him smoking q
cigaret and reprimanded him.
"Give me that pack of cigarcts, "
ordered the sergeant, according to
General Ansell.
"Go to- snapt the soldier The
company lieutenant came along and
commanded the soldier to give up the
cigarets.
81 won't do it, and I don't give
for anybody" retorted the soldier
General Ansell went on to tell OF
the boy being tried by court-martial,
convicted, and sentenced to dishonor-
able discharge and forty years in jail
The commanding officer of his regi-
ment, on reviewing the case, reduced
the sentence to ten years.
"Now it must appear that this was
serious offense," said General An
SELL "Buts the facts must be con-
sidered as they were to get an in
sight into the matter. Here was
raw recruit, new to army life, IN the
turmoil of a kitchen, quite likely up
set by reproof that might have been
larshly made and letting his temper
get the better of him. For this he was
sentenced to forty years in Jail.
"In many instances-I am not cit
ing exceptions-the same brutally eX-
cessive sentences have been imposed
lOT lIlNldl VII CIlSSSs
"Any system that would impose
such a sentence as that upon the boy
YOU speak of is un-American," COM
nented Senator Thomas. at would
make the Bolsheviki out of the rela-
tives of man. l want to say that
the officer who would act that way to
soldier is a--fool."
"You don't want that to go upon
record?" suggested Senator Cham
berlain.
eyes, I do," insisted Senator
Thomas, hotly. 81 say that officer was
fool, and ought himself to have
been court-martialcd. Any one inn
posing such a sentence ought to be
court-martialled, too. 1t is easy to
see why in peace times we can not
get men to go into our Army"
General Ansell remarked that, out
side of the power of review over the
court-martial by a command officer,
the only avenue left open to a soldier
under sentence is the exercise of exc
cutive clemency by tn President.
Ell articles.
The General read from a memoran-
dunn he wrote and submitted to Sec
retary Baker, PROTESTING against the
system of court-martial. He called
it personal absolutism," and blamed
the Chief of Staff and the Inspector