Evening star., 1947-09-27
Retired General Speaks His Mind

To the Editor Of The STAR
Your editorial, volunteer Enlistment Crisis" !"
paints a gloomy picture of the failure OF the
Army's program Of volunteer enlistment, and
subscribes to the program OF universal con-
scription as the one recourse.
There is another alternate. With unemploy-
ment increasing and with masses Of veterans
unemployed and a million more in our educa-
tional institutions who will soon be unem-
ployed, decidedly there must be something
wrong If these men refuse to work Tor the
Army.
The reasons are obvious except, apparently,
to the Army leadership. We are right back
to the issue Of the Army caste system and
military justice.
AS a sop to public opinion the Army, at the
close of the hostilities appointed the Doolittle
Board to investigate Army conditions The
board did reasonably thorough job. and
made a number of important recommendations
which were approved by the War Department.
Then nothing happened. The Army dropped
back exactly to where it was before.
Then, as another sop to public opinion to
quell the growing anger against the Army
system of justice, the War Department ap-
pointed two other boards, the Roberts Board"
and the vanderbilt Board" Each board per-
mitted itself to become brush to whitewash
the Army. The Roberts Board found 1t neces-
sary to modify IS per cent Of the sentences
of general courts martial alone, which SEN
teffees were out of line. Unquestionably In
stances of injustice far more fragrant than
the Litchfeld case were found among the
25O0O0 cases considered, but In no instance
did the Board hx responsibility upon COM
manders who had abused their authority
The Board ended by giving the Army pat
on the back for its record of "clemency"
which It stated to be the "capstone Of military
justice" This statement is an affront to the
intelligence. The CT did not want clemency.
He wanted, and had right to receive justice
The War Department accepted the bouquet
but conveniently covered up all evidence OF
gross miscarriages OF justice.
The Vanderbilt Board izzled out even more
abjectly. 1t made some excellent Recommended
tions, pointed out many weaknesses OF the
Army system which, If corrected would have
gone far toward eliminating the worst abuses,
and then made the mistake likewise, Of patting
the Army on the back Again the Army broad
cast the compliments, concealed the full evit
dence of rotten administration Of justice, ac-
cepted some of the recommendations, and
disapproved the more vital ones. AS a final
result there is no such thing as justice in the
Army. Justice becomes function Of COM
mand, used by the commander as club over
the heads of his subordinates, and not func-
ton of the courts of the land There Is no
appeal above the military bureaucracy in the
Pentagon.
It is significant that all three boards acted
off the record with no reporters present and
without publicity. The people of the country
were never taken into the confidence of the
boards or of the War Department. The results
were published as accomplished facts.
Technical qualifications do not divide them
selves horizontally according to Army stratif-
cation; they run vertically. from top to bottom
There Is no justification In modern technical