New-York tribune., 1919-03-21
Senator Chamberlain Says
War Secretary Is Under
Sway of Reactionaries
Officer ''Elbowed Aside"
Oregollian Asserts Evils of
the Army Court Martial
System We're Exposed
Continued from page

to fn0 you Iencing upon a question
which means so much to the tens O
thousands of enlisted men who hay
suffered injustice under the presen
system-a question which means s.
much to you, the army, the .nation. II
your telegram you say that more thai
year ago you recognized the evil
of the present court martial system
and requested legislation to correc
them, and that inasmuch as you in
tend to renew that request, there ca,
be no controversy on the merits O
the subject.
Your present recognition of exist
ing evils of the court martial system
is strangely irreconcilablc with your
published statement no more remote
than March 10. In that statement OF
warm approval of the existing system
you seem blind to any deficiency. You
say therein:
''T have not been made to believe by
perusal of these complaints that
justice is not done to-day under the
present law, or has not been done dur
ing the war period, and my acquaint
ance with the course Of militar,
justice (gathered as it is from the
large number of cases which in the
regular routine como to me for final
action) convinces me that the condi-
tions implied by these recent COM
plants do not exist and had not ex-
isted.'
Further Defence of System
"You further say that you are 'ab.
solutely confident that the public an.
prehensions which have been created
are groundless. And then you pu;
the capstone upon your monumental
confidence in the system by further
saying:
81 wish to convey to you here the
assurance of my entire faith that the
system of military justice, both in its
structure as organized by the statutes
of Congress and the Presidents regu.
.ations, and in its operations as ad-
ministered during the war, is essen
TALLY sound
"And finally you call upon the judge
advocate general to make a statement
for the purpose of reassuring the peo-
pie who must not be left to believe
that their men were subjected to a
system that did not fully deserve the
terms of law and justice and then
you conclude, rather lightly, that after
all 1T IS but a simple question of fur
nishlng the facts, for when they are
furnished | am positive that they will
contain the most ample reassurances
"On March 10 you were blind to any
DEFICIENCIES in the existing system as
indeed, the evidence abundantly shows
you have been deaf throughout the
war to complaints about the injustice
OF this system, complaints which
should at least have challenged your
earnest attention, rather than pro-
yoked your undisguised irritation
Questions Reform Effort
But, as you. say, you did propose
certain legislation to the committees
which they did not see fit to recon
mend for enactment, and which, very
fortunately, did not become law.
can hardly believe that that bill. pre-
pared by the judge advocate general
OF the army and submitted by you, was
bona fide effort to reform the exist
ing system, and the slightest consid.
Grafton of the bill will show that had
II been enacted into law it would have
made the system even more reaction
ary, II possible, than it is now
Il hardly can believe that this was .
bona hide effort at reform, because yo,
already had had an opportunity to es
tabiish in your department a legiti
mate and necessary revisory power
over, and supervision of, courts MARTA
procedure. General Ansell was at thai
tlme acting Judge advocate general o.
the army, and his opinions were en-
TITLED to be respected as such, and ir
spected.
"In order to keep courts MARTA
procedure within just and legal limi
tatlons, he wrote an office opinion, ir
which he clearly demonstrated that thi.
power OF supervision was to be fount
IN existing law, and in that opinion al
the offcers of the department, among
wnom were many most distinguished
lawyers from civil life, concurred.
Overruling Opinion Written
And yet, in order that that opinion
might be overruled and that you might
rely upon the theory that you were en-
tirely without power, you either or
dered Or permitted General Crowde,
himself, who was not at that time CON
nected with the Office, to return thereto
and write for you an overruling opin.
ION which you approved, and in DOING
so voluntarily denied that it was youl
rignt and duty under existing law te
the opinion of the Judge Advocate Cen.
eral, which was to the effect that th;.
supervisory power did not exist. and
furthermore, ought not to exist. mas
mucn as the law military is the kind o1
"a" tnae should be left to be exec,,tef
az sne viii Of the camp commander.
,,u you had really desired to estab.
lasn legitimate legal supervision o1
cou1.s-martial you could have done ar
simply by approving the opinion of thu
actihg Judge Advocate General. which
Was not personal opinion. but was =
oHiclal opinion, which in the ord;nar,
course OF administration would havs
Deen adopted. Advised to do the prone,
sning by your chief law Officer ant
having been shown by him the wav r.
u0 ity you declined to do so unon son,<
ssngnt legal technicality. This ia ex;
dence TO me that you did not des;re {,
fou supplanted the officer who h a.
seen Mt 70 cali to your attention At IN,
nsginning Of the war to tho neecss;t,
Ok keeping the strictest supsrv;s;n;
over courts-martial procedure nv a,
omser who contended that auch s,,ner
VISION was not necessary. and thu
suen supervision would derooa4s fror
the power OF the commanding ~
ana destroy discipline. You elhnws,
aside the one officer who even +be,
had the courage to condemn tha 80.
tenn and the provision to point out -
terrible rcsults~-Ceneral Ansell--~.n.
took into the bosom Of your conAdsnn
trio of men who are nrono,rcs'
General Crowder. ~
then acting chief Of staff and IN
inspector general, the last named o
whom is even this day engaged, b
your order, in q so-calicd invcstiga
l. -