The Oregon daily journal., March 21, 1919, Page 6, Image 6

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THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL. PO RTLANP. FRIDAY, MARCH 81. 1919.
ALLIES REGARDED
AS DELIVERERS BY
PEOPLE OF POLAND
Polish and Allied Flags Bedeck
Houses of Posen in Honor of
Interallied Commissioners.
Ure relying qh the allies
.. SSSBWSSSBJSBIawi -
Suspend Hostilities Against Hun
Because of Request and
-Promise of Peace Delegates.
j By Aathoay Csaraeekl T
Special Cable to Th Jmiml ul The Cbteac
JMOj Stmt
'.(ConrricM. 191S. fcf Chicago DUj Nw Co.)
f Posen, Poland. by Courier to Paris,
- (franc. March 21. The presence of. the
tfnter-allled commission for Polan in
t his city and territory which was the
icradle of the Polish nation and which,
since the forcible participation nearly
jhalf a, century ago, has been ruled by
Ithe Germans, has been the cause 'of
(continuous demonstrations of Joy. ,
In places which hare beerirepre
'Seated as nearly or entirely German
ithere loomed up before the eyes of the
commission on mass of Polish and
allied flags in honor of what the Poles
'enthusiastically called their deliverers
Jand friends.
$ From the time that General Francis
J. Kernan, U. S. A., chief of the Ameri
can group of the Inter-allied commls
;Bion and his aids, together with the
,'Krench and Italian groups, stepped from
jtbe train in the city of Posen, jaasn.
women and children from mansions' an4
hovels have proceeded to give proof in
' ivarious ways that they are not German
but that they are happy at the victory
of the allies. -
i
Few Geraaaas Beatala
At every step taken by General Ker
jnan and his colleagues inhabitants
.'burst forth - into cheers in the Polish
Slanguage and waved Polish and . allied
! flags. Here and there in . Posen nould
be seen undecorated dwellings with the
curtains drawn in the midst of the bril
liant scenes of welcome. These isolated
(Spots were found to be the homes of
,tirmn officials who for years have
been trying to Germanize this part -of
Poland. '
Thousands of little children who Aad
(been forbidden by special laws even to
learn the Polish tongue appeared on the
streets in Polish, costumes singing eon 5s
in the purest Polish. Thus fh-st hand
. - - " - wvm w.. H. u w l.C V
(effort to repress the Polish language
Jhad merely increased the instruction in
tit Everywhere In this territory, there
was evidence that the continuous, secret
And persistent resistance of the Poles
against the German power had taught
them much. Commissioner Adam
Poezwinski of the Polish peoples' coun
cil in Posen, expressing the views of
his colleguee, said to me:
, Have Suffered Much
$ 'We Poles have suffered terribly. We
have been obliged to carry on the strug
gleagainst. odds but the ruthlessness
ana skill of our enemy taught us many
finings. We learned to understand the
enemy's methods. That is why-' we are
. now anxious that the free men of Amer
ica and the other allies should look into
the problem of the Polish nation with
respect to the Polish territory which,
prior to the war, was under German
rule and that in making investigations
Knitted
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Here They Are
Just in
Beautiful new pattern
effects in a wide range
of colors that will ap
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Exceptional quality at
Shirts for Spring
No better time to select your spring and
summer supply than now. New patterns
in Silk,' Linon, Madras, Crepe and Fancy
miAiuico.
$2 to
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MEN'S WEAR r
Corbett Blrjg., Fifth and Morrison
they will not allow' the skillful manipu
lations of the Germans to mislead them.
"Since . fighting: France the Germans
have been working to hold -that part of
Poland under their rule before the war
in the hope that what will be returned
to the Polish nation will be small and
that the bulk of It will remain in their
bands.
In someregiona the Poles, after being
provoked to the very limits throughout
the German rule, are still able to show
the allies just what they are and how
they feel. In other parts of old Poland still
In German hands the most brutal perse
cutipn 1 going on. A reign of terror has
been instituted to help carry out the
plan to hold such portions as if they
were really German.
"One thing Is certain. Upper Silesia
and other parts held by the Germans
would now be free were it not for the
fact that we were all told that the allies,
headed by President Wilson, wished no
bloodshed : and that the failure of the
Poles to use force to rid themselves of
oppression would not give the Germans
an advantage but that. Justice to the
Polish nation would be done.
-We rely on the allies. We have been
using every influence in upper Silesia
and other districts to prevent an upris
ing, by means of which we could rid our
selves of the Germans as we did here.
We have waited patiently for a hun
dred years. Our friends, the allies, want
us to continue a little longer and be pa-;
tient even if we suffer. ' We do so but the
Increase of brutality against the Polish
people and the atrocities committed in
those sections under German rule, par
ticularly by the so-called 'home defense
forces, make the maintenance of the
present situation very difficult"
Safe conduct for transporting the Pol
ish army under General H alter to
Poland by way of Danzig through Ger
man territory to the new Polish re-
Dublic is one of the questions whicn is
being settled at a Joint conference held
here between the interallied commis
sion for Poland and the representatives
of Poland and Germany. After the con
ference at-Kreus between the commis
sion and the German delegates the work
of bringing about a suspension of hos
tilities and the solution of other vexing
questions was taken up here. .
Waat Army Back
The German delegates from the time
of their arrival until their departure
were under the care of the Polish mili
tary and civil authorities in this city,
The attitude of the Poles toward them
has been courteous but cautious. For
months the Poles have beeen complain
ing that General Haller'e army had not
been allowed to come to Poland from
France while the Czecho-SIovak troops
were permitted two months ago to go
to Prague. On the recommendation of
the interallied commission, and espe
cially enfphaslsed by General Kernan,
a request for a "prompt decision in Paris
to have General Mailer's army proceed
to Poland was made. A safe conduct for
these troops Into Poland la necessary be
cause they will be traveling through
territory under German control. At the
Joint conference here the safe conduct lis
one of the first problems that must be
solved. 1
The prospect now Is that the Polish
soldiers now In France can come with
out further delay. The conferences be
tween the interallied and the German
and Polish commissioners are to con
tinue here daily until every problem
raised has been settled..
President in Good
Physical Condition
:' ,
Parls,March 2L-rCU. P- Despite the
tremendous - strain of his peace con-'
ferenee work. President' Wilson is keep
ing in good physical condition. Although
he has been forced to omit his usual
hours of golf, giving this time to con
ferences with foreign officials, etc, be
Is doing considerable walking every day
as a means of keeping fit. Mrs. Wilson
visited the T. W. C. A. conducted for
French girls yesterday.
$00
$10
Department
J i 4-4
Charges of General Ansell Discussed by Crowder
- at ' 'at ' K at at at atat at at at at at at . st st st 'st t . at " at at attat
Provost Marshal General Upholds Trial' System
Criticism of Severity of Sen
tences Applies to Officers
Who Imposed Them.
Turns, Aria., March M. U. P.) "It
is Important to note that the system of
courtsmartial and of military ; justice
which Senator Chamberlain attacks, is
one that he himself caused to be enacted
In 1911." declared Secretary of War Ba
ker when informed of Chamberlain's at
tack on the courtsmartial system of the
United States army.
"I cannot permit myself to be drawn
Into a newspaper controversy with Sen
ator Chamberlain about officers of the
army with whom I hold official relation
ship and whose conduct I must Judge
dispassionately.! concluded Baker,
Washington. March SI. -The follow
ing correspondence between Secretary of
War Baker and Provost Marshal General
.E. IL Crowder has been made public by
the war department:
War Department, Washington. March
1, 191J. My Dear General Crowder: I
have been deeply concerned, as you
know, over the harsh criticism recently
uttered upon our system of military jus
tice. During the times of peace, prior
to the war. I do not recall that our
system of military law ever became the
subject of public attack on the ground
of its structural defects. Nor during the
entire wa rperlod of 1917 and 1918. while
the camp and cantonments were full of
men and the strain of preparation was
at its highest tension, do I remember
noticing any complaints, either In the
publio press or in congress or in the
general mail arriving at this office. The
recent outburst of criticism and com
plaint, voiced in public by a few indi
viduals whose position entitled them to
credit, and carried throughout the coun
try by the press, has been to me a mat
ter of surprise and sorrow. I have had
most deenlv at heart the interests of
the army and the welfare of the indl
vidua!' soldier, and I have the firmest
determination that Justice shall be done
under military law.
Criticism Growndless
I have not been made to believe, by
the perusal of these complaints, that
justice is not done today under the mili
tary lw, or has not been done curing
the war period. And my own acquaint
ance with the course of military justice
gathered as it is from the large num
ber of cases which in the regular routine
come to me for final action) convinces
me that the conditions implied by these
recent complaints do not exist and had
not existed. My own personal knowledge
of yourself! and of the officers in your
department and in the field corrobor
ates that conviction and makes me ab
solutely confident that the public appre
hensions which have been created are
groundless. I wish to convey to you
here the assurance of my entire faith
that the system of military Justice, both
in its structure as organised by the
statutes of congress and the president's
regulations, and in Its operation as ad
ministered during the war. is essentially
sound. ,
Public Weeds Keassaraaee
But it is not enough for me to pos
sess this faith and this conviction. It is
highly important that the public mind
should receive ample reassurance On the
subject. And such reassurance has be
come' necessary, because all that the pub
lic has thus far received Is the highly
colored press reports of certain extreme
statements and the congressional
speeches placing on record certain sup
posed instances of harsh and Illegal
treatment The war department and its
representatives have not been in a po
sition to make any - public defense or
explanation and have refrained from do
ing so. The opportunity recently af
forded the members of your staff to ap
pear . before the senate committee on
military affairs has been an ample one,
and it has furnished, I hope.- entire sat
isfaction to the members of that commit
tee. But of the proceedings of that
committee I perceived no general public
notice; the testimony, when published,
will be somewhat voluminous, and Its
publication will not take place for some
time yet. and it will certainly not reach
the thousands of intelligemt men and
women who read the original accounts.
And yet it is essentia that the fami
lies of all those young men who had a
place in our magnificent army should
be reassured. They roust hot be left to
believe that their men were subjected to
a system that did not fully deserve the
terms law and justice. And this need
of reassurance on the part of the people
at large. Is equally felt. I am sureAby
the members of congress, in both bouses,
who have, of course, not yet Mcome ac
quainted with the proceedings before the
senate committee. It Is bo(h right and
necessary that the facta should be fur
nished. It Is indeed a simple- question
of furnishing the facts ; for when they
are furnished, I am positive that they
will contain the most ample reassurance.
Asks far Sarvey
Those facts are virtually all in your
possession, on record In your office. I
em aware that they are voluminous, and
that a complete explanation and answer
to every specific complaint is Imprac
ticable. But I believe that you are in a
position, to make a concise survey of the
entire field and to furnish the main
facta in a form which will permit ready
perusal by the Intelligent men and
women who are so deeply Interested In
this subject.
X have been asked by a member of
the bouse of representatives to furnish
him with such a statement. And I am
now calling upon you to supply It to me.
at your early convenience. Faithfully
yours, NEWTON D. BAKER.
Secretary of War.
To Major-General S H. Crowder,
Judge Advocate General, War Depart
ment, Washington, D. C
Crewders Beply
War department, office of the judge
advocate general, Washington, March t,
4919. My dear Secretary: I was very
glad , to receive your letter of March 1
calling upou me for a brief statement of
the facts concerning the organisation for
and the practice of the administration
of military Justice - during the war, I
agree heartily with you that there has
been no opportunity for bur people to
near tnrougn ute press more than re
ports of fragmentary and Inflamed criti
dams based oa sensationalised allega
tions ana tn&i . iney are entitled to
statement of the case ae It Is recorded
In ana viewed by tne department. .
The circumstances - that have most
amazed me in my following of the press
reports are that the public interest has
been carried ana sustained by a sup
posed controversy between myself and
an officer of my department. ; General
Ansel V and yet that i the exceedingly
small margin of actual controversy is
entirely lost to sight in a mark of sup
posed instances oj carsa or unjust treat
Makes Public Baker-Crowder Letters
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Major General Enoch JL Crowder, United States provost marshal general,
. whose correspondence with Secretary of War Baker on the charges
of General Ansell Is made public. - , ' ' ."
t
ment of soldiers which bears little or no
relation to General Ansell's lack of con
currence with the views of the war de
partment. I. think, therefore, that a
clear statement of the organic basis of
that difference of opinion will go far
to clear the atmosphere and leave us In
a position to discuss separately the alle
gations of harshness or injustice.
Fault la System
- General Ansell contends that there Is
a fault In the organic structure of the
courtmartlal .system, in the fact that
after a man has 4een tried by court
martial, and the record of trial has been
reviewed by the authority that ap
pointed the court (usually a military of
ficer of high rank) and by him finally
approved and 'carried Into execution,
there is no further appellate body or
officer who can review the appointing
officer's review and modify, affirm and
reverse his action.
With this I agree and there Is no con
troversy about it. , I submitted and you
approved, in January, 1918, a draft of
legislation vesting such a further appel
late or reviewing power in the president.
The draft was introduced and died In
the senate military committee, which no
doubt considered it of less actual Im
portance than other pressing business of
war. If this were the only alleged dif
ference of opinion within the war de
partment therefore, it vanishes with this
simple statement and It is difficult to
perceive a cause for unusual interest.
Desirability Conceded
The storm centers, however, about
three briefs two from Genera Ansell
and one from myself to you. Strange to
say. these briefs were not addressed
primarily to the desirability of such a
power of review. That is conceded. They
were addressed solely to the question of
whether that power had not actually
been granted by section 1199. R. S. a
law that had been on the statute books
for 45 years with but a single attempt
to deduce from it the grant of so broad
a power in any officer of the govern
ment. That single attempt was made in
a desperate effort to obtain the release
of a convicted soldier by habeas corpus.
The precise question on which General
FRIDAY EVENING
AT 9:30
PERS
STAR
. i
ONAL
APPEARANCE
Ansell and X do not agree was carried
into a 'circuit court of the United States
and there decided once for all in a man
ner binding on all administrative offi
cers sworn to execute the law as they
find it. I shall not prolong this state
ment by discussion of that question.
That any administrative officer would be
Justified In finding In the unequivocal
language of a statute so eld. against the
reasoned judgment of a federal court
and the administrative practice of 45
years, a hidden meaning revolutionising
the entire system of military justice is
simply preposterous. General Ansell's
argument was an eager, earnest plea for
a forbidden short-cut, based on expedi
ency rather than on reason. With the
desirability of such, an appellate power
in the president you agreed and forth
with requested it of congress, which
alone could grant it- Countenance of
plan to play ducks and drakes with a
statute of the United States you refused.
The briefs are in the Congressional Rec
ord or in the reports of committee bear
ings and they may confidently be left
to the reading of any fair minded man
lawyer or layman. That thread of the
story Is at an end.
Where Difference Cemes
But If the controversy Is not over the
advisability of such an appellate power
and not In a substantial sense in the
famous briefs, where is it? It lies in
this: First, that General Ansell be
lieves that the power, when granted.
should be vested in the Judge advocate
general and that a complete Judicial
system with faithful analogies to the
organisation and procedure of civil
courts should be substituted for the
present simple and direct system of
army discipline while the department
believes that the power should be vested
in the president ; that with such a grant
of power the faults of the existing sys
tem will be completely removed witb
the exercise of those powers and with
the Improvements that have been Insti
tuted in the last two years.
These are the real issues and the only
ones.
The case Is one of technical ramifica
tions and I am sorry that limitations ot
OF i
Mr. HERBERT HEYES
PLAYING OPPOSITE MISS BAR
RISCALE IN THE HEART OF
RACHAEL. ' MR. HEYES WAS
FORMERLY A MEMSER OF THE
BAKER STOCK COMPANY OF
THIS CITY.- , - :
Crowder. Admits Changes, Are
Needed in Courts Martial
but Fears Results;. "
space will not carry to . the American
people the wealth of fact and argument
to be found in the. files of the depart
ment. Each of the points ' of contro
versy must bo discussed briefly and
without avoidable, technicality.
WoBld.Bsrt Piaclpliae - -What
Is proposed Is to carry the arin -
clples of the civil code and civil court
principles of procedure into our mili
tary system. Appeal , is made to the
Anglo-Saxon conviction of the net de
sirability for the , guarded procedure,
the - technicalities ' 'of Indictment and
pleading and the stays, delays and
rights of appeal, which characterize our
criminal courts. The real effect of. such
a change has not been examined but It
is, in tact, a divorcement of the power
to control discipline from the power to
command armies. Indeed an analogy
has been suggested between an army
and a government and it is urged that
our governmental distinction and sens
ration between the executive and judi
cial system must be carried Into the
army and that no commanding officer
should be permitted to appeal to the
disciplinary measure of trial by court
martial without the concurrence of his
law officer or judge advocate, who
should be, and usually is a man learned
In the technicalities of civil practice.
Thus If a division commander entrusted
with a major part in the Araronne of
fenslve had contumaciously declined to
carry out his part of the general plan.
he could net be brought to trial by Gen
era! Pershing unless the Judge advocate
of the American expeditionary forces
concurred.
. Purposes Are Dlfferest
Our civil code Is good. It protects
our most sacred liberties, but gentlemen
who contend that It should be substi
tuted for our military code which is
also good forget that the purposes of
the two systems are diametrically op
posed. The civil code is designed to
encourage, permit and protect the very
widest limit of Individual action consis
tent with the minimum necessities of
organised government. The military
code, and especially our military code,
is designed to operate on men hurriedly
drawn from the liberal operation of the
civil code, and to concentrate their
strength, their thought, their individual
action on one common purpose the
purpose of victory. .
The common purpose is the plan of ac
tion. The plan of action cannot be, as
we have heard It is In the Bolsheviki
army, the debated sense of the army.
NO GLOOM JUST JOY
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The plan of action Is and must be the
plan of the. commander. Therefore in
dividual liberty of action inconsistent
with that common purpose, must be re
stricted. The military code is designed
to accomplish that purpose. .
.' . War Deavaadt Bacrfflee
The truth is (and our people have
lately seen It .demonstrated in a thou
sand ways) that peace and war both
demand sacrifices of Individual liberty
to a common purpose, but such sacrifices
In war are Infinitely greater in number
and degree than they are In peace, la
soldier, from the day he dons his Uni-;
form, must be prepared to sacrifice much
of his old freedom of action and Indeed
he swears to do so in his oath to obey
the orders of his commander.
What Is the essence of all this? It
is, that for 'the purposes of peace we
demand an Intricate legal system, even
at the cost of technicalities, delays and
abstruse rules ot. law we demand the
admirable system of checks and bal
ances, that is Illustrated by the divorce
of our executive from our judicial sys
tem. We entrust ourselves to these
devices rather than to the fairness and
justice tn the hearts of men. The very
nature of war is such that men forget
the sordid views that made those checks
and .balances necessary, . They give the
nation willingly and eagerly, their for
tunes, and their lives, and In such a
time of patriotic: exaltation, we .will- i
Ingly f give over, and 4he peril is such
that we must give over, this adherence
to artificial safeguard of complex rules
and trust our Individual rights more and
more to the principles of humanity,
honor and Justioe In the breasts of our
fellow cltisens who are offering their
lives and -fortunes, as we are offering
ours, to the perpetuation of our Institu
tions, and for the common good. On
this theory the soldier is remitted to the
simple and direct procedure for the en
forcement of discipline in the army.
His court has Its inception in the old
courts of chivalry and honor and the
essential principle remains. His conduct
Is taken before his comrades who de
termine whether It Is the conduct of a
soldier or no. a . -. . t -'
Two Commander Feared
In this lies the difference between the
systems for civil and military justice.
The war department naturally adheres
to the latter system. It repels the
thought of an army In the field with
two commanders.! one In charge of Its
discipline and one in charge of Its
Btategetlcal and tactical maneuver. The
picture is, to the student of war or to
the man with the slightest familiarity
with things military, nothing less than
ridiculous.
I should be willing to rest with this
statement were It not that it has been
said, that without such a radical change
as Is proposed; we have witnessed
atrocities of Injustice, and that they are
traceable to faults In the existing sys
tem of military Justice. I have said
that there is one- such fault. .. That fault
is Imposed by a statute of the United
States. ? X presented it to congress for
correction and it was not corrected. The
fault lies not In the fault of a civil
Judicial system, but In the lack of a
power to reverse, modify or affirm the
action of a military commander on the
findings and sentence of a oourtmartial.
I think we have disposed of the conten
tion that the power should lie in the
Judge advocate general. It should He In
the president. ,
Xeeord Is Open
But what actual harm . has resulted
'St- if.'-
BY AAZXSOAfJE'
Ww
. law i
' I. J
from this fault f I have covered the
facts la my letter to you of February
13. i I eaanot repeat them here, It Is
only the executed portion of a sentence
that the present power of the president
does not reach. In order that such
power as be now has may reach every
case of Injustice, excessive sentence, and
Illegality appearing In a trial by gen
era! court martial, a mechanism has
been created In the office ot the ' Judge
advocate general that gives, I venture
to say. a scrutiny more tar -reaching and
Conciwld ob Scrantaen. Column O") -
V.
'aV VI
A MAN tried &n ten
fl brand-new Mnilory
Hats the other day -.
and then bought the cut
one. .' ( , .
I just lore to' try 'en
on said he. "It's fun
too, to eeo how different
won- look in different
bats -in that mirror
which shows yon the
back of your neck.
Yon really , hare no
idea bow Pleasant it it
to buy a Mallory list.
Thero are so many dif
ferent kinds all so
smart and new.
Better drop in to see
the New Spring Models
soon.
E. A. BIaxxoiy A Sons. life.
aSS rifle, Aveaae. Rev Yets
mm urjT Daakary,
MALLORY HATS
Fpr Sale la Portland by
PHEGLEY & CAVENDER
JTOUIlTBt AX2 AXDE& STREETS
9
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STARTS
SATURDAY
7
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f 7.K f sTJ
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