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Show DESERTION PENALTY REDUCED BY JUDGE ADVOCATE New Rule in Operation Ex- pected to Cut Down Bad Army Showing "-WASHINGTON. Feb. 4. Reduction in the number of dinhonorable dis-. chances from the army and a grading; down in The severity of court-martial sentences are expected by the judge advocat general's department to result re-sult from an executive order limiting military peace time punishment, which; (fieen into effect today. The order follows fol-lows wide agitation over court-martial penalties during the war period. I A memorandum from the president I attached to the order directs that max- I imum punishment and diahonoraMe discharges be Imposed only in aggravated aggra-vated cases. This is expected to have more effect In reducing penalties, it was stated than the actual order, which reduces punishments sfor twenty-one different offenses under, the military code. REDUCED A YEAR. The old maximum of eighteen month's confinement for desertion by men leaa than one year In service has been reduced to ona year, and in cases of moire than six months' service,, from two and one-half years to two years. The period of absence for which desertion penalties can be imposed is Increased from thirty to sixty days. The maximum penalty for fraudulent enlistment has been reduced from one year's imprisonment to six months. The greatest reduction of maximum confinement con-finement is for assault without deadly dead-ly weapon, which was five years, reduced re-duced to one year. The maximum where weapons are used still is five years. The maximum for obtaining under fale pretenses money or property valued val-ued at $50 or more is reduced from five years to three years. LITTLE REDUCTION. The executive order Will not result In a radical reduction of penalties,"! Colonel A. Kreger. acting Judga advocate, ad-vocate, declared. "Punishments for of-j fenses In the army have been based j since 1914 on a consensus of those i fixed by difrerent state laws Tor similar sim-ilar civil offenses, The executive order reduces maximum penalties for such offenses um fraudulent enlistment, desertion de-sertion and other peculiarly military In nature, but maximum penalties seldom have been awarded for these offenses. "The president's memorandum calling call-ing attention to the articles of war. which provide for a grading down from maximum penalties where cases are not aggravated probably will -have more effect In lightening punishments than the reductions which he actually orders. Hia memorandum, however, but stresses what is already a part of military mil-itary law." Since 1890 the president has been authorised by congress to ffx the limit of military punishment by executive order, and several auth orders have been Issued from time to time by different dif-ferent presidents. |