Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1919-08-13
PUNISH OFFICERS
WHO WERE CRUEL
CASES OF BRUTALITY FEW IN
PROPORTION TO NUMBER OF
MEN I'M ARMY,
"a. w. o. l." SERIOUS OFFENSE
tendency Among People of United
states to BelittIe Charge, Because
They Do Not Realize What offense
Really Means in Time of Battle.
By EDWARD B. CLARK

Washlngton.-A special commit Zee
OF the house Of representative is in
vestigating the charges of cruelty to
American soldiers in France who
were confined to the guardhouse on
various charges of bad conduct. Six
American soldiers, now discharged
from the service, have testified that
they were brutally treated while under
arrest.
1t appeared at the hearings that
several officers who were accused of
cruelty to prisoners have been con-
vlcted and that others are awaiting
trial. Of course the statement that
American soldiers who were prisoners
In our guardhouses were cruelty treat
ed Is one to arouse the anger of the
American people, but it ought to be
remembered that the cases of alleged
brutality are few and that 100000
men were serving the colors in France.
Army officials believe that the moth
ers and fathers of the soldiers should
know that these cases are isolated
ones; that every charge of ill-treat-
ment had been investigated and that
those proved to be guilty of cruelty to
the men have been brought to justice,
or are about to be so brought.
There are two sides to every army
question, as there are to every ques-
ton in civil life, but the tendency of
the American people as shown by the
Washington records, is to believe
everything i'll that is spoken of the
army. There are many guardhouses
in France. There had to be places
where the unruly, the mutinous, the
shirks and others charged with mill
tary offenses could be confined.
Small in Proportion.
The number of prisoners charged
with offenses was large, but it was
very small in proportion to the number
of men in the army.
There has been a tendency among
the people of the United States to be-
little the charge known in the army as
"a. w. o. L." otherwise "absent with
out leave" A good many of the guard
house cases were men charged with
this offense One hears frequently in
Washington, as apparently elsewhere,
how shameful a thing it is to lock
man up simply because he has taken
day or two days leave without per-
mission. Doubtless fathers and moth
ers of many American soldiers feel
this way.
How would the fathers and mothers
Of some of the soldiers killed on the
battlefield feel today on this subject
If they knew that perhaps their sons
lives were lost because the sons of 9th
er fathers and mothers had shirked
their duty, and had gone "a. w. o. L."
TT critical times, thus necesSitating
service in the first line for men who
already had served there and were in
rest billets?
So it is that "a. w. o. L." on occa-
sion means much more than people
think it means. Cruelties to prisoners,
whether they absented themselves
from their commands at a critical time
or not, is something that the American
people will not stand for, but the ex-
pressions of sympathy for well-treated
prisoners simply because they are pris-
oners is sometimes misplaced. 1t is
no lie to say that some American
soldiers lost their lives while doing the
work which it was the duty of other
soldiers to do.
The special committee of the house
of representatives is investigating
Nf oil 70 n a
prisoners in France. Any officer or
noncommissioned officer who is cruel
to a prisoner, no matter what his Of
tense. will be punished, for such al
ways has been the way of the military
authorities in the field, but so far as
sentiment and sympathy concern them
selves with legal punishments for men
who shirked their duty that others
might do it, the American people in
many cases, perhaps, justly might stop
sentimentalizing and sympathizing.
Senate Debate Not Convincing.
The senate of the United States
these days is literally an international
debating society with a national set
ting The representatives Of nation
are discussing proposed relations with
virtually all the other nations on the
face of the earth. The senate is an in
teresting place, but admittedly it is
a place where one cannot get the full
light of conviction.
The man with an open mind on the
subject of the League of Nations who
goes into the senate galleries to get
the illumination of conviction has his
troubles. Within an hour the League
of Nations covenant first will be pro-
nounced the worlds greatest document.
marking the beginning Of a new and
better order in worlds affairs" and
then denounced as "a pact which IL
given the life of law will undermine
Americanism, destroy nationalism and
bring war and tumult into the world"
Men have come to Washington to