New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1919-01-15
otism of this country is Of the sort that
makes people hold their noses.
Treatment Of Prisoners

Reports of the treatment of political
prisoners at Leavenworth are SO hor-
rible as to fail Of belief in America
and yet there must be some basis for
the complaint made to the Secretary
of War. It would seem that the guards
and attendants at LeavenWorth are Of
a character similar to our own Public
Safety Commission. The following &C.
count of affairs at Leavenworth was
published by the New York Survey and
the facts revealed are such as to cause
horror and distress to any one who
wishes to think of America as the land
of justice. Rs.
g An open letter to Newton D. Ba-
ker, secretary Of war, sent this weel:
by the National Civil Liberties Blu
reau and signed by i. Hollingsworth
Wood, chairman, and Norman M. Tho
mas, vice chairman among others, de-.
scribes alleged brutal conditions I'M
der which conscientious DIRECTORS are
confined in the military prison at Fl.
Leavenworth, Kan. The information
is based upon reports made to the bu-
reau. The letter says that the sub
stantial accuracy of the facts which
it sets forth seems to us well estab-
lished by the documents in our pos
session.
"Twenty-fve conscientious objec-
tors are declared to be in solitary
confinement i'll this prison in dark,
cold, endorsement. The men hang
there says report to the bureau,
chained by their wrists to thes cell
doors, for nine hours a day, they
sleep on cold cement floors, between
foul blankets, and are given bread
and water if they will eat at all.
They cannot speak and of course they
can neither read nor write.
t'Another correspondent wrote to
the buerau: saw one man dragged
by his collar across the rough corri-
dor floor, screaming and choking to
the bath. He was knocked about on
the floor for failing to undress and
was then stripped roughly and thrust
under a cold bath. saw no more,
but others tell me that he was held
under the icy water for more than
ten minutes and scrubbed with coarse
laundry soap and a heavy scrubbing
brush. He has since gone to the hos
pital.
* The letter says that two issues
are involved in this situation: the
whole matter of prison punishments.
It is the contention Of the signers
that a. form of punishment whose
only effect is to break men should
not be. applied to the worst criminal;
2, the treatment of political prison
ers. In Europe, says the letter, it
has always been the custom to distin-
gu1Sn zDGUW6en CHeill itHu OIullldiy
prisoners, and in America your de-
partment has frequently announced
its determination not to coerce con-.
science. : Yet 200 DIRECTORS are con
fined in Ft Leavenworth for terms
ranging from five to thirty years,
four, five and six times as long as
that imposed by the imperial German
government on Karl Liebknecht, al
though these men never organized
and directed opposition to war as he
did
'The letter closes by saying: The
Z fighting has ended. What possible
social end is served by the continued
Imprisonment Of idealists whose only
fault has been loyalty to those an
cient American liberties Of conscience
and of speeehg Is not their pardon
at once the just and generous;
thing. -
New York Survey.
Nearest Approach to Single Tar