The Washington herald., 1920-02-18

4
supply is eligible for a medal
for heroic conduct
The Secretary of war ts
right even II he violates tn.
statutes as laid down by Con-
gress in awarding medaIA
These and other sstoundi,s
statements were made by Gen
Peyton c March testifytng befor,
the House subcommittee which A
investigating medal awards of TN
War Department Representative
Royal c. johnson. of South Dc
kota- former captain in the A n
F. is chairman of this subcou>
mittee.
Former Brig. Gen Samuel T. An
sell of the Judge Advocate Cen
erals ofice, whose demotion be
cause he didn't play War Depart
ment politics. started a number a
Congressional Investigations sps
caused his resignation from tn
army. is counsel for Johnson.
committee and cross-examined bt
former chief numerically.
Bland Defend. Private.
Representative Oscar T. Bland. a
Indiana a member of the commit
tee. took the initiative in defend.
ing the private soldier.
Throughout the hearing General
March showed a tendency to no,
even admit that he had different
opinions from the Secretary of War
he studiously avoided ali question,
which inferred that the Secretary
judgment was wrong.
Bland read the statutes on tn,
award of the distinguished seryfc.
cross which provided this award foI
| extraordinary hCzotsn IN coanertior
vltr military operations against ar
arme~ enemy" He cited the case of
a private in the service of supnIy
who went into the hold OF a burn.
ing munitions ship. put out a fr.
at the risk Of his life and saver
the lives Of hundreds OF his com.
rades and Sl,ooo.ooo worth Of am.
munition.
Win Gross I'm Trenches
General March declared that pa.
ker construed the statutes as mean.
ing that one had to win the d. s
{. In the trenches and that ther.
was no medal which could bs
awarded this man. and a hundred
others recommended by General
Harboard.
He declared that General -.,-.
board was wrong in saying -f.t
medal awarding was an 20 Ecs~-
Stub affair." but almost in tht sss-.
breath said there was no ne tor
other medals because Secreta, A.
ker did not think so.
The general again aroused ] s,sa
ire oy> declaring that no enliste rss
could perform a duty "respor iFAss
enough 10 win the Distinguishe, "a
ice Medal.
Is not the private soldier on --la,s
In the trenches with the lives o So
sands Of his comrades in his Gr
and who would be shot il he feIi dout
in his duty. holding down a responsi.
bic position7" asked Bland.
NO" stubbornly asserted Gen
March.
4 norbts OmCcrs FnNorcd.
Bland then charged that discrimina.
ton was shown in awarding medal,
as statistics show that 20 per cent OF
those receiving them were regular
army officers. Gen. March denied
knowledge Of this.
When asked why hfty-fve civilians
had been awarded the u. 5. NJ. wher
Congress had decreed that II DC only
awarded to those connected with the
armed military service. Gen. Msr,h
declared that the Secretary Of Wal
is the court of last resort" in ths
matter-the final Interpreter OF the
will Of Congress.
He further declared that the
question had been submitted TO the
Judge Advocate General for an opin-
ion. but had further ruled that his
chief, the Secretary Of War, could
1 overrule him The Secretary read
the opinion u the legal depart
ment Of the army and then disre-
garded it, Gen March reluctantly
admitted.
General Received ID. :. VI.
The ID. S. NJ is awarded for ex-
/ ceptionally meritorious service in
positions Of responsibility" said
| blduu. no" 90 You account Tor
the fact that seven out of every
eight major generals received itg
Does OF that indicate that the
! eighth man is the exception in
stead Of the men who got the
medals7'' q
/ Gen. March evaded the question.
Secretary of War Baker may be
called before the subcommittee to-
day.
Charges that National Guard Of
ficers have been Intentionally ig-
nored in the awards OF medals were
denied by Gen. March. In refuta-
tion of the denial. however. Rep
resentative Bland declared:
] The statistics prove that 80 per
cent OF those receiving awards
were regular army officers"
That was for the various boards
Ito decide" Gen. March retorted.
Representative Bland displayed
some feeling when Gen. March, re-
plying TO question as to the
War Departments attitude on fur
ther medal awards. stated that
Secretary Baker thought suffi-
cient medals 'already have been
awarded"
FIsys .-CivfIian Pcts-r
That isn't the question: said
Bland with emphasis. we don't
care whether suficient~nsedsls have
been distributed 10 civilian pets.
What we want is TO include a de-