OCR Text |
Show USER'S nlPLY IS IBM Rejoinder to Crowder Statement State-ment Awaits Return of Secretary of War. May Not Be Made Public Then ; Discipline Seals Complainant's Lips. WASHINGTON. M.ir'-h ll. Lieutenant. Colonel Samuel T. Ansell, former acting 1 judso advocate general, submitted a statement to Acting Secretary Crowd! Lu-ilay Lu-ilay in reply to the letter of Major Gen-enil Gen-enil Knorh II. Crowder, jude advocate general, to Secretary Baker on the con- i "1 rover y over the administration of military mili-tary justice. P.e-aus': of certain references concerning him made by General Crowder, Colonel Ansell asked that his siatemeni he iven the same publicity as that oi the 1ude ailvorute ejiieral. Colonel Aiisll's statement was not made public Soon after it was submitted, Representative Gould of New York gave nut copies of a letter he wrote Secretary l:nk-r todav regarding the discharge of Colonel Annell from his wartime commission commis-sion as a brtKadier general. Representative Representa-tive Could told the secretary he was "unable "un-able to escape the conclusion that the war department had deliberately and ruthlessly adopted this method of punishing punish-ing a public-spirited and efficient officer whose sole offense was against a powerful and se'f-ct-ntrred clique in your department, depart-ment, in lhar he answered a summons which he could not decline, and toid the congress of the United States the truth ti btn it n ilia tier which it was clearly the duty of congress to inquire into." Muzzled by Dicipline. Many officers recard it as unlikely that Colonel Ansell's reply to (general Crowder will be made public until Secretary Baker, Ba-ker, now on a trip of inspection of army camps, with General March, chief of staff, has been consulted and some officers doubt that the department will even then further air a controversy between General Gen-eral Crowder and a subordinate officer of ids office, particular in view of the fact that the whole subject lias been submitted to the inspector Ljeneiul of the army, Major General John L. Chamberlain, tor investigation. Colonel Ansell himself cannot can-not make public his letter without rendering ren-dering himself liable to disciplinary proceedings. pro-ceedings. Brigadier General Edward A. Kreger, designated as acting judge advocate general, gen-eral, is due at New York Thursday on j the transport America. His arrival will permit General Crowder to start for Cuba . to take up the work of advising the Cuban president and government in the pending revision of the election laws, and system on the island. General Crowder plans . now to sat Saturday. j Scope of Investigation. j The scope of the investigation being conducted by General Chamberlain has not been disclosed, the only information in regard to il which has yet reached the public being the brief reference in General Gen-eral Crowder's recent letter. In ordinai-y practice, -the inspector general acts as a military grand jury filing, after investigation, investiga-tion, recommendations that court martial proceedings be instituted in cases where disciplinary action is deemed advisable, i It also is the duty of the inspector gen-' gen-' eral to make general investigations on questions referred to him and General Crowder's language might merely mean that facts as to criticisms brought against the military justice system, charging undue un-due severity; are to be marshaled for Secretary Baker's information rather than that the conduct of any individual officer or officers is to be examined. General Crowder, however, did make a specific charge against Colonel, then General Gen-eral Ansell, asserting that the latter had moved in an irregular way to secure his own appointment as acting judge advocate general and the relief of General Crowder from any direct connection with that. of-, fire. The reply submitted by Colonel Ansell An-sell is understood to be addressed to this charge rather than to further discussion of the controversy over military justice matters. |