The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-02-11
AMERICAN JUR1sTs SENTENCE THE KAISER.

urally arises Il
What penalty shall be paid by William Hohen-
zoern, ex-War Lord of Germany? What is the
r1oper measure Of this one mans responsibility Tor
the ruined homes of Belgium and France, the thlr'
teen million dead soldiers, and the forty million
wounded in the worlds greatest war
Sometime ago The Literary Digest prepared
brief QUESTIONABLE which forwarded to the
Justices of the State Supreme Courts to District
County and Circuit Judges, and to the heads OF the
legal departments of American universities. This
QUESTIONABLE asked for their opinions regarding the
penalty which should be imposed, provided the
Kaiser was found guilty both of conspicuous re-
ponsibility for the war and of authorizing military
violations of international law. The following was
the verdict of 32s American jurists in this
For exile, 137.
For capital punishment 1O6
For Imprisonment, 81.
For other penalties 7.
Against any trial, 27.
This resume shows conclusively that the ma
jority of the judges of America believe that the
Kaiser can legally be tried and convicted as result
of evidence brought out in impartial trial Eigh-
teen of the jursts to whom the QUESTIONABLE was
addressed state that there exists no body of laws
under which the Kaiser may be brought to trial.
Prof. Ernst Freund,-note the name-of the Law
Department of the University of Chicago is among
those most bitterly opposed to the idea. The Kaiser
should be "drawn, hanged and quartered, ne
writes. "The head should be exhibited in principal
cities of Allied and associated nations. The irony
of these statements comes out in the concluding re-
mark of the professor: "Since the proceedings will
violate every other principle of American constitu-
tons, why not also that forbiddng and unusual
punishment"
Speaking for those who favor capital punishment
Judge Thomas ]. Seehorn, of Missouri says, "The
axe and guillotne were dgnifed by the fate of
Charles and Louis XVI and if responsible for the
world-war, William Hohenzollern should Stretch
hemp"
Among those favorng the predominant verdict
exile, Judge B. F. Long of North Carolina, has this
to say:
"He should be tried in Belgium by a court of
judges selected from Regium France, England, and
the United State with probably two selected from
neutral countries Whilst the ath-penalty would
lot be for the guilty, it is doubtful if,
under the highly technical rules likely tc be invoked
in a state trial Of this kind, agreement will be
found among international jurists 1t is more prob
able&hey will agree upon Imprisonment for life, or
exile for life If exile for life-he and his chief
associates-at some place far removed from Ger
many and it's influences. Its oblect-lesson to the
would-be autocrats would have deterring, al. it
may be wholesome, effect for half century. The
world at this time will not be patient of TECHNICAL
ties. 1t rather justice-even-handed justice,
unhindered, undelayed. If it takes much time to
4bo H,ie &c 1irod 70 tho farm 0f
peace signed the benefit of the trial to mankind
will be largely lost"
Speaking for the jursists favoring imprisonment
for life, Judge Cockrell of Missouri, states:
Gall punishment should, one way or the other,
be constructive The world needs, for it's happiness,
to have the German people that their standards
have been wrong and their practise even more so.
Their own people will be the only effective judges.
The Kaiser and those responsible with him for the
atrocities pract'~ed and for the standards which led
to those atrocities deserve punishment, regardless
Of its result, but such punishment may do the rest
Of the world harm than good. 1t not, l
believe, do such harm if it is to continue only
long as they refuse to help undo the wrongs they
have done.
therefore the punishment should terminate
whenever the Kaiser is ready to go about in his
country preaching the truth to the wrongs that
he and the German people as his supporters have
done, and what they should do to right them"
Among some of the other penalties than those
enumerated above is that of Judge Burns of Vir-
ginia who declares that in addition to the
raised by the confscaton of all his property, Will
liam Hohenzollerns shame should be made, in some
way to contribute financially to the many innocent
people who may have suffered Through his acts
He could be sent to Belgium and imprisoned there