The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-06-04
Liberal Viewpoint
Rv DR. HARRY ELMER BARNES,

TINE menace Of another World War looms
over the youth of Europe and America. Our
generation will be fortunate if 1t manages 10
escaDe from the horrors Of actual con1llcC.
| II is almost a commonplace that the poor men
have to do the actual fighting and bear the
| brunt of the danger. But the poor men dlSo
have the majority of the votes OF Che cOuliUIy
under a democracy. If they really know What
war means to the common man, they can eAeIC
more pressure upon politicians than can CIle
plutocrats who imagine they Will prohC by WAL
The best lesson for the common people OF
America who are threatened by the Scourge OF
a new war is that which can be drawn from the
late World War This was war toughC oSUenSI-
bly to make the world safe for democracy OuL
country was led by a great democrat ana we hao
a relatively enlightened and humane secretary
of War. We could never expect better condltlonS
for the common men who enter upon the heIo
of battle
yet. Walter Wilson, thorough master OF ms
subject. paints moving picture in his arIlcIe
| "yVar and the Common Soldier" in the New
Republic If this article could be read by Ten
million Americans under 80 the United states
would be unlikely to enter into announcer WORTH
war. wy, y
edited nv Laudrence Stallngs, tire horrors OF
battle are graphically portrayed. But MI VIII
son shows that there were other horrors WHICH
did even more to stir resentment on the part OF
the common soldier against the Army ana Cne
war system.
THIRST, there was the unnecessary suffering
L during the training period;
"Our history books tell about the terrible
winter at Valley Forge, but thousands OF amer
lean soldiers lived through their own valley
FORCES in the camps and environments IN the
United States and in the training centerS IN
France in the winter of 1918.
! Even in the Far South snow was on Cne
Ground for months During that year many OF
! the soldiers suffered because OF an acute snort
age of necessities, including clothing 1uel ana
shelter as we'll as medical taclhtleS. Fheuhollld
| became epidemic in some of the camps, ana IL
was openly charged that the failure OF the war
DEPARTMENT to provide clothing and shelter Tor
the troops was primarily responsible Tor the
deaths that resulted
of the common soldier was the caste system
which developed in the army. The great ma
ortv of the officers were social ariStOcrats, buSl-
ness and professional men. The common soldier
was forbidden to have any personal or social re-
lations with them Even a distinguished pro-
fessor at West Point felt compelled to observe
that:
THE relation that exists between the officers
and the enlisted men in our Army is not mill
tary relation; it is feudal relation; 1t IS So
cial relation. 1t is relation that exists be-
| tween mer OF superior caste ana men OF al
! inferior caste. ="
TINE system of justice which prevailed in the
| / Army was a negation of both democracy
and the elementary principles of humanity. In
the first place, there were two standards OF JUS
tice one for officers and one for enlisted men,
The court martial system was brutal and OPP
pressive 1t was based upon the desire and in
tention of making the enlisted men more fearful
of their officers than of the enemy The NUM-
! Der Of cases was almost incredible. There we're
more than $4,000 court-martial cases in an
/ +11aT,
and the number of these cases increased after
the Arrnistice. There we're thousands of Uriahs-
enlisted men sent to certain death at the front
after being summarily convicted Of petty Of
lenses, often upon very frail evidence. The bru-
taltv of the Army became more marked after
the war was over.
THE military police were reinforced and
| turned loose with system of actual terrorism
which could not have happened without the
sanction of the higher-upS Several thousand
A. w. =. LIS, around 90 per cent of whom had
seen service at the front and many Of whom
were recuperating from wounds, were rounded
p and sent to the chain gang of the A. E. F.
! (prison labor camps where they we're put at
hard labor for many months.
C ONE of the military police won national
! - notoriety by their spectacular methods Of
third-degreeing and brutalzing the erring SOL
| der. Many men were sent up without hearings.
Later it was found that some members of these
chain gangs were legally on leave when ar
rested and were sent up without a chance to
prove it. In the camps men were beaten and
! dashed.
Victims charge that prison attaches, COM
misSioned or non-commissoned officers, would
pass lines of toiling men and strike them, say
ing Now, give me smile. One sergeant tes-
titled before House committee in 1919 that he
had beaten up more than 100 soldiers"
If We wish TO avoid a repetition of his ex-
perience it is the time for the potential COM
/ mon. soldier in the next war to wake up before
war is declared:
In the next war the common solder-im-
pressed. in the main, as he was in the last
from the ranks of workers and farmers and
small business men-wil again be forced to do
the dirty work without being given any of the
loot and without having any voice or vote in
the mere matter Of going or staying out of the
war"