Evening star., 1923-03-17

| Attorney General Daugherty comes
| in for a new rebuke for his alleged
| Indifference to the physical condition
| of veterans of the world war who are
incarcerated in federal prisons for
crimes. The Governor of Wisconsin,
Mr.. Blaine, had asked that the De-
partment Of Justice make survey of
the health of these veterans, and
report whether any of them should
| be considered for release because of
| their decline in health. He wrote TO
Attorney General Daugherty as to
conditions in Wisconsin,, and ap-
pealed for investigation in other
states. He said: II am sending a
summary of facts found in Wisconsin
penal institutions. which shows that
large number of these men are
| mentally and physically deficient,
! requiring disqualification rather than
| prison bars" And he adds:
You state that L regret to state
| 1T is impracticable.' You can have
10 such regret upon any such
grounds. When the troopship was on
the tide, these men were heroes.
have broken them mentally and
! physically, then, to you, they may
| rot behind prison bars, because it is
| impracticable to bring relief. ! trust
that the dictates of humanity will com
mand your attention and action"
| x \ X
! The nation has been surfeited with
mawkish appeals for the release of
all "political prisoners" Many of
| them have been set free--notably Mr..
Debs. These men were not gassed in
| the war-unless by their autosug-
! gestion-nor are they dying of
! diseases due to exposure or hardShipS
! while doing their duty in defense of
| their country.
The veterans, in prison, in many
| cases would not have been there but
for their physical and mental
| stresses, due not alone to the cam
| paign hardships but to the struggle
| for industrial readjustment after
! their discharge from the Army or
| Navy. No one who did not experience
| the reStleSSness of spirit growing out
| of the war and subsequent discharge,
and weary hunt for employment, can
pitfalls of the veteran after his re
| lease from military obligations. II.
| in his abnormal state of mind. he
| violated law, is he not worthy Of as
much consideration as the so-called
| "political," unpatriotic socialists who
| were swapping at his heels during
| the months of sacrifice and danger?
| The Department Of Justice has had
! much TIME TO ma II prdCtlCa Dle' to
! sift all the evidence of the political
! prisoners" and to recoHlrne nd pardons
which have been granted in many
| cases. United States senators join
! with banner-carrying socialists in
appealing for the release OF all the
rest, but how rare is it TO read ap-
| peals like that of Gov. Blaine for sym
pathy for the incarcerated veterans
| men Suffering from mental and physi-
| cal disability" says Gov. Blaine, due
! entirely to their service fcr their coun-
| try and because OF that mental condi-
! tion they have come TO their sad plight"
| With many, the condition drives them
| to suicide; with others to violation of
| law
Maj. Gen. O'Ryan, the counsel of
the Senate committee to investi-
gate the Veterans Bureau. does not
hesitate to let it be known where
his sympathies lie. When speaking
at a dinner given in New York III
/ honor of the new director of the
| bureau, General Hines. he referred to
the great financial obligation to the
] veterans. He said 10000 veterans
received hospital aid last year. and
! $4,000 are still in hospitals. Of this
$4,000 one-third are insane, one-thlrd
| have tuberculosis and the rest have
| miscellaneous diseases.
The attitude of both Director