The dispatch-news. [volume] (Lexington, S.C.) 1919-2001, November 09, 1921, Image 6
I
TOM WATSONS
REGARD CON
A sensational attack on the conduct
of ,the American army in France was
;macte by Senator Tom*Watson before
the United tSates senate last week,
in which the Georgia Senator claimed
' that 21 American privates had been
changed without trial on a gallows in
France, an alleged picture of which
the senator exhibited. The charges
have caused a 'great deal of discussion
throughout the country. General
Pershing strongly denies the charges
of Watson.
What Tom Watson Said.
i<From Congressional Record, October J
31, 1921.) |
Mr. WATSON of Georgia. Mr.
President, the Senator from Alabama
<Mr. Heflin), while delivering his eloquent
speech, express*, i his wonder
.-at what was being thought, felt, and
said out at Kansas City at the great
meeting of the ex-service men of the
World War. A few moments after
lie had taken his seat a friend from
the ipress gallery handed me a copy of
the early issue of the Washington j
"Times of to-day, on the front page of
twhich I find these headlines:
"Legion demands bonus revived.
^Criticism hurled at the President.
-Mellon also accused by national com
mander at convention ot nusreprcrenting
the facts."
Just beyond the Canadian border
Jthey have done and are now doing
very thing which we have not
*done ^in the past and apparently do
-.not intend to do. More cian 4,000,000
.acres of land have been alloted to the
ex-service men who went from Canada
to fight for their mother country
vwhen her very life was at stake. That
magnificent policy is going forward
from day to day.
In this country we have adopted nc
.-such policy, and apparently do not
:intend to do so. 'Why it was that
the President of the United States
placed himself in antagonism to the
.soldiers who fought under unusual
'drcumstantes of sacrifice and sufferI
ing so many thousands of miles away
/
- .from home I do not know any more
^ r.han I know why Secretary Mellon
rsc persistently misrepresents the
.facts.
; There is one thing about this service
beyond seas which makes it dif- j
ferent from that of a soldier in any j
~V-~ other war in which Americans have I
taken a part. Th^ wid ocean sepa- j
yated them from home. They lost contact
with neighbor, friend, father
? mother, children. During the War
between the States and all our other
1 wars the soldiers in both sides enjoyed
the advantage of furloughs
.home. In this Great War they had
jio such advantage. During the War
ibetween the States, and all othei
. -wars we have waged, they could receive
comforts from home to supplement
the Army rations. In this wai
.tJtiey could not, and the very boxes of
comforts which were prepared for
tthem here and shipped to France
.were sold to tl^m; and it took the
-soldier's pay to keep himself fed
and clothed. There was not a single
letter he could write that was not i
1
stereotyped. There was no censor- j
.sldp of private letters during the Civil
' War or the Revolutionary War or j
the War of 1812 or the Spanish !
'War. In this war beyond the ocean!
it he most rigid censorship prevailed, j
and no soldier could tell his own j
folks, who could spread it over the I
'neighborhood, how they were being j
treated. Our people never learned ;
of the barbarities practiced upon our
sc^ldiers until the privates began to
filter back into this country and to
tell a part of what they had experienced.
I have been impressed with the
-fact, as various * ;:-scidiers have come
to my house, that there were certain
points at which they paused. There
were some things they did not want;
to tell, and those things have not i
fceen told. "Hard-boiled" Smith was
^ *
not alone in his savage treatment ol ;
t
the men in h>s power when he was
*:o far away that lie did not believe
his at ocious mistreatment of the j
privates would ever get* back to Am-1
erica. j
How many Senators know that a i
private soldier was frequently shot by'
his officers because of some com-'
plaint against officers' insolence; ana
that they had gallows upon which j
men were hanged, day after day, j
without court-martial or any other
form of trial? How many Senators
know that? I had and have the
photograph of one of those gallows,
-upon which 21 white boys had already
been executed at sunrise when the
photograph was taken; and there
were others waiting in the camp jails
to be hanged morning after morning.
Did we not have meatless days in
order that they should l>e fed? Did
TIRS UP MESS |
DUCT OF ARMY
we not have wheatless days for the
same purpose? Were not the women
busily engaged making for them gar<
ments of comfort and necessity? The
! greatest indictment that can be
i
brought against those who were responsible
for their supplies was that
we gave a billion dollars' worth of
those supplies to the French Government
for $400,000,000 on credit?a
debt which probably never will be
paid. In the city of New York, only]
a few weeks ago, there were sold tc
a speculator, a *profrteer. five carloads
of boots at 25 cents a pair. They
were held in the depots here and elsewhere
when the bleeding feet of our
soldiers were tramping over the
J frozen ground in Europe.
! Conditions of welfare were worse
than ever before known. The men who
followed Grant and Sherman and
Sheridan and Lee and Jackson and
RennrPMrd didl mot
U VlUXOWVii Uiiu ? ,
have to stand in trenches almost waist
deep in freeezing water day after
day until they contracted the incurable
disease which is known as
"trench foot." They did not have to
go on useless marches?"hjkes" be.catne
the name?where if from sheer
exhaustion a man fell out he was left
to die by the roadside.
While I was making a speech at
Covington in the campaign of last
year I mentioned a hike that was
made after, the armistice was signed,
and I spoke of the lives thus sacrificed
without rhyme or reason. When
I had finished, an old man came tc
me and said, "Mr. WATSON, what you
said was exactly true; the son of my
neighbor died on that hike, and he
died by the roadside with not a hand
to help him or anyone to speak into
his ear the last words of consolation.
Senators were here on the 4th of
"DV?AOITt?oo
IVldl'UH l(ldt >V 11C11 tii^ x x^o&uvuv >? uo
inaugurated; they saw the parade of
wounded soldiers?"the display of
wounded soldiers" is, perhaps -,a better
expression.- It was pitiable; but
whether or not the condition of a I
man who is wounded or has lost an
eye or an arm is worse than that of a
man who came unscatched from
battle to find himself homeless, with
I
a wife who was homeless, with children
who were homeless, and a country
that had forgotten him, I leave
for philosophers to decide.
What have we been doing here that
we could not give the soldiers just
compensation? Have we not been told
that they upheld the civilization of
a thousand yea^s? If that statement
was true, what was their service
worth? Have we not been told
that they saved our own country? If
that statement be true, what is our
country worth?
Why have we not been able to i
pay them a bonus? We were able
and willing to pay Colombia $2^000,000
to effect a peaceful entrance for}
the Standard Oil Co., the worst tax \
dodger on earth; we were able to}
give a million dollars, without a word,
to Brazil to assist her in having an
exposition and to build an edifice?
that will be hers so long as it lasts?
costing a half million dollars; we!
were able to pay' to Great Britian
?46,000,000 for carrying our soldiers
to her own salvation in nasty cattle
ships, while England owes us nearly
?5,000,000,000 and will not even pa>
us the interest on that debt. We are!
able to take off from the profiteers.}
as my friend from Missouri (Mr. I
Reed) has pointed out. ?450,000,000 i
in taxes on excess profits.
Any bonus paid to the soldier
would add to the money of every1
community in the Cnion and would!
benefit country and town, white and!
I
black, merchant, farmer, banker, and j
laborer.
!
We do not propose to put a tax'
upon stock dividends representing net!
profits. Why not? It is said it isj
because the Supreme court t* the
United States has said we could not
do it. "We can do it. We can slightly
change the wording of the law. I j
propose to offer an amendment to
that effect; and we shall see, Mr.
President, whether or not five men,
sitting between this Chamber and the
other, have a greater power than Ununited
Congress and President of the
United States. The Constitution
does not give it to them. The debates!
of the Constitutional Convention |
show that it was never meant they
should have it. The judiciary act of
17Sf. drawn by that fine New EngI
land lawyer, Mr. Elbridge Gerry, an j
ancestor of our friend the Senator;
from Hhode Island (Mr. Gerry) wht ,
i i
sits on this side of the Chamber, does i
not give them that power. They have
usurped it. and if ever they usurp it,
again the Executive ought to exert its'
coordinate power and enforce the law
as made hy the legislative branch,
j Thomas Jefferson did it, Andrew
Ja.-ks' : did it, Abraham Lincoln did
i
it. and any other President can do it |
!
who has the will to do it.
A layman on the other side?I j
notice lawyers are not so anxious to .
make propositions of that kind?a
layman, the Senator from Indiana .
(Mr. .New), tor whom l nave tne ut- .
most good will and respect, said thai ;
the amendment of the Senator from ^
Missouri (Mr. iteed) could not stand:
because it proposed to devote a certain
amount of the revenue intended
to be raised under the pending bill to
a certain purpose. Mr. President, is
it not implied in this bill that the
revenue to be raised shall be given, | 1
so much to the Army, so much to the
Xavv, so much to the hospital service,
so much to salaries? Could we 1
not put in the bill the items for which
the money is to be expended? We 1
certainly could. Therefore, the
amendment can stand without in any
way interfering with the constitutionality
of the measure. Why the '
other side of the Chamber and the
White House have put themselves (
against a recognition of the service i
r??" nni' crilH ini-a it i<s nnt fnr m f- tn !
say. / |1
Mr. STANLER. Mr. President? | '
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. 1
Wadsworth in the chair). Does the!1
j
Senator from Georgia yield to the j
Senator from Kentucky? j1
Mr. WATSON of Georgia. I yield !
Mr. STANLEY. If there were any- j ;
thing in the contention of the Sena- 1
tor from Indiana?and I agree with j !
the Senator from Georgia that there | 1
is not?but if there were any sub- j ^
stance at all to that shadowy argu-jj
ment. the bill could simoly provide i '
I
for the appropriation out of the Gen- j
eral Treasury of an amount equal to j
the amount collected by the excess- J J
profits tax, and avoid all question. j 1
Mr. WATSON of Georgia. Pre- ! (
cisely; and if we should impose a | <
tax on stock dividends we would get J
twice as much as is contemplated i
would be required to meet such an j :
appropriation. j '<
Why all this talk about a bonus?]!
Why this effort to put the ex-service j
men in the attitude of asking favors i i
when it is a mere question of reward- 1
ing service? The greatest Irishman 1
that ever lived, in my judgment? s
Henry Grattan?was a poor man, and <
he served in the British Parliament, ]
where as everyone knows salaries 1
were not paid. The people of Ire- ;
land made him up a purse, a fund. 1
as I remember of ?50.000. which now,, <
perhaps, would be worth more than j <
$2,000,000 in our money. When reproached
for that he said, "1 hold j ]
that gift by the same title that the j i
l
King holds his Crown; the peoplej?
gave and I received." | <
Does not everybody know that j ;
Great Britian has already paid her | ]
soldiers a bonus out of our money? h
France has done the same thing; j
Italy has likewise acted. Does not j ;
everybody know that the historic fact!
that brought about the union between i
i
Caesar andPompey was that the Ito-j
man Senate refused to pay the bonus!
i
to Pompey's soldiers, and Caesui !
thought it ought to be paid and he j
had it put through. Then when he
was trying to break up the big tax!
dodgers and userers they had him j
murdered.
The Senator front Kentucky (Mr. j ,
Stanley) alluded to the fact that we |
were even now in the midst of prep- j
arations for a celebration the like oi j
which the world perhap# has never j.
seen since a Roman triumph. The j
lights are being lit, the arches are j,
being made, the monuments are ^
being reared, the money is being
spent, for what? To celebrate the (
victories of these very men who to- (
day are without work and without ,
bread. Is it not inconsistent, Mr. i ,
President? Should we not be just .
before we are generous?
I warn the other side now that if 1 !
i
wanted to play politics, and wanted to
give them the advice of a Mephistopheles.
1 would tell them to go right ,
ahead and keep on doing what they j
are doing. Just keep right ahead. ,
There was a time when one duke in ,
<
England named 1 1 men in the House
of Commons. There was a time when
another duke named half a dozen, j
There was a time when a seat in the ,
House of Omniums had its price on
the market, like a stock or a bond.
Whether or not we have a modern
adaptation of that system I do not
know, but this I do know: The endurance
of the American people has ^
its limit, and that limit is rapidly
being reached. They reached it under
John Adams, and they put in Thomas
Jefferson. They reached it under
the congressional caucus, and they
put in Andrew Jackson. They will
reach it again rather than bear intolerable
insults and a continuance ol
intolerable wrongs.
Good Health
*.
if 1T.H tvniiU pninv en rul hcnlth.i
keep your bowels regular. No one
can reasonably hope to feel well,
when constipated. When needed, take
Chamberlain's Tablets. They are mild
and gentle.
WEEKS AND PERSHING
DRAW WATSON'S FIRE
Washington, Nov. ?Presenting
further support for his charges that
Ameritan soldiers were hanged overseas
without courtmartial, Senator
Watson (Democrat) of Georgia tonight
in the senate turned his fire on
Secretary Weeks and General Per
sning oec-ause oi ineir aenuu ol nusenator's
assertions.
Alluding to a statement made today
by 'the war secretary that ''no
d<*ent man" would make charges
with respect to army nurses such as
were made several days ago in the
senate. Senator Watson while disclaiming
any intent to attack the
nurses as a whole, said he would leave
to any impartial tribunal to judge
whether he or Mr. Weeks was the
more "decent." The senator said that
his charge as originally made was
'that officers in too many cases made
courtesans of the nurses."
"And I can prove it," ho exclaimed.
Reading General Pershing's state ?
cr modn ivIdT i r> XT'! cV? V i 1 J#>
I ll*JiLL U O maut j V.OW4 uu,; iit a ? ? -*??. ,
Tenn., that the Watson charges of illegal
hangings and inhuman treatment
of privates by officers was a
\
'most outrageous and untrue acusa:>'on,"
the Georgia senator declared:
"When the general denounces a senator
as a liar he had better remember
that it is within the power of the
senate to bring him here and a time
may come when we will do that. Ii
iie talks that way about more senators
it may be done. We ha$*e as vet 110
kaiser that says: '.\Ie and God.'
Question ol' Abuse.
"I'm not going to lower myself,"
Senator Watson continued, "to the
level ol' either Secretary Weeks or
General Pershing by indulging in
ibuse. 1 simply content myself with
taying that it was a great impropriety
ior either of these gentlemen in the
public service to publicly condemn
mother without the slightest investigation."
Senator Watson then read a letter
,'roni an unidentified Richmond, Va.
voman who said she had served 12
months as an army nurse. The letter
>aid that "officers made courtesans of
:he nurses wherever possible and
nurses who resisted were subjected
:o personal indignities." Mr. Watson
ilso said he had been told personally
by a former nurse that she had been
compelled to repel the assault of officers.
More telegrams and Letters in support
of his illegal hanging charges
were presented by the senator. He
submitted another photograph of
what he saitl was an army gallows in
France, which photograph lie said,
had been smuggled into the country
by a Huntington, \Y. Va., private.
"Apparently there were as many
gibbets as hospitals." said the senator
who lor the first time gave the
name?Clifford L. Ayer, Jr.?of the
man he said had told him of a gaLlows
guard that said "1 soldiers had
been hanged without eourtmartial. He
presented a telegram from Ayer slating
that an affidavit was being forwarded
for the use of the special committee
that will meet Monday to determine
procedure in the investigation
of the senator's charges. The senator
promised to protect his witnesses
if any attempts, he said were made to
"brow beat or intimidate them."
Telegram From Georgia.
\
Another telegram presented by the
senator was from George Carborough
pf Aaron. Ga., who said he served in
the Six Hundred and Fifth engineer
corps and declared that Mr. Watson's
charges of illegal hangings were true,
Senator Watson said this witness
would appear before the committee
und "face the Nabobs of the general
staff."
The senator read another telegram,
the sender of which was not disclosed,
which asked that the senate investigation
include "the ease of Albert
Pure-ell of Cincinnati." about
which the informant said he had been
ible to learn nothing from the war
iepartment.
The message said Pure-til's death
occurred at'a camp at ?an Antonio,
Texas.
William Gibbons of Cleveland had
written, Mr. Watson said, that he had
two photographs, one taken before
:tnd the other after the hanging of a
soldier against whom the writer said
the charges lacked definitcness.
The senate also was told today by
the Georgia senator that a former
service man now living in Washington
had given him a statement as to
the hanging of lour negro soldiers
on one gallows at one time, each clad
"in the uniform that General Pershing
wears."
The same soldier had informed him,
t-.. ?:,i ?U..? I,.,
lit: I licit I inv>r ill* 11 \\ * i c Jiuri^vu
without courtmartial.
Another soldier had informed him
Mr. Watson said, that the body of
"a negro convict, the Mack cap still
over his face," had been exhumed and
sent to the home of a white woman
i in Rochester, X. Y., whose son had
?
been killed in action.
i i
! "Just such a case happened in my
I
I home county in Georgia," the senator
; added. ,
i '
j William T. Collins of Titusville, Pa..
; in a letter presented by Senator WatI
son, said he saw a negro hanged but
did not know if there was a court-1
i I
j martial. Another corerspondent from j
Elmira. X. Y., said that he had "seen 1
two negroes hanged" in France, and
Harry D. Waldron of Xew York, an
I ex-sergeant in the army service corps.
1 the senator said, offered to give evi- j
dence of "cold blooded murder" in the
American expeditionary force and destruction
of files of the Bastile prison.
Finally after presenting an affidavit
from Joseph D. Conwell of Philadelphia
stating that he saw a negro
hanged in uniform. Senator Watson
said the executions cited by him al{
ready had passed the figures given by
| the war department and Chairman
Wadsworth of the senate military affairs
committee.
"The further we go the worse it
gets," he concluded, "the more we
stir it the worse it stinks."
I
I
Beaumont. Texas, Nov. ?O. A.
Daigle, a former lieutenant in the A.
E. F., today declared that the alr
! leged hanging of a soldier by the Ai.i- i
eriean army officials in the I^a
Rochelle area of France during the
! war. referred to by Senator Watson of
I Georgia, never took place, the negro,
j according to Daigle, is William Cur|
tis. now serving a life term at Fort
j Leavenworth, Kan.
: Curtis, according to Daigle. who
I says he attended the eourtmartial as
' an interpretor. was found guilty of atj
tacking a seven year old French girl.
| He was condemned to death, Daigle]
i said, but later the sentence was commuted
because of the fa'-t that the
French law is opposed to capital pun- :
ishment for such crimes.
Cincinnati. Ohio, Nov. 0.?Albert C. |
Purcell, father of Albert l'urcell men - j
tioned by Senator "Watsoh in the sen- !
ate, as missing from San Antonia,!
Texas, tonight stated his son had been ;
stationed at Sam. Antonio and upon j
failing to hear from him had sent requests
for information. Officers re- j
ported that Albert had deserted thej
army and efforts to locate him pr&ved J
| futile. The father states he had]
I
j never made any appeal to Senator
| Watson or any official,
i The father asserts that his son had
[ written saying he had arrested several
j army officers* while he was on sentr>
! duty. Later I'urcell wrote that he I
| had been attacked by officers and j
i beaten severely, the father states. I
j Further letters from 1'urcell indicated
i he was to go on furlough and would
j come to Cincinnati, but he failed to
appear, according to the father.
! Leavenworth, Kan., Nov. ?Albert
!
j William Curtis, a negro, formerly a
! private in Company B, Thirty-third
American Labor battalion, who was
convicted by eourtmartial in France
ou ;.t charge of attacking a French
girt, is serving a sentence of 20 years
at hard labor in Leavenworth federal
prison.
Records at the prison show the ne|
grt> was sentenced to life imprisonI
ment, but that later his sentence wai
reduced to 20 years. Curtis was tried
ou January 12. 1010, according to the
records, which also show, it is said,
that tH& negro was not sentenced tr
* -xt- /% V Z .1 flw. /.Koiwr..
ciyatn. * urns iifiiieii iin i uuisi
against him.
I
This is the season of the year when
the prudent and careful housewife
replenishes her supply of ChamberIain's
Cough Remedy. It is almost
certain to be needed before the winter
is over and results are :nuch more
prompt and satisfactory when it is
kept at hand and given as soon as
the first indication of a cold appears
j and before it has become settled in
the system. There is no danger in
giving it to children as it contains no
opium or other harmful drug.
SOUTHERN AG
Nashvill
I
The Giant o
I
l
Its immense popularity
that even* line in it is writ
ilies by men and women
. Southern conditions, but t<
*
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charge.
4 Eery year we answer
hundreds of different subj<
When you become a subs
sonal service is yours. That
375,000 CIR
i .
llKDISCOT **r RATES
GENERALLY REDUCED
Washington. Xov. 4.?Completion
of the general reduction of rediscount
rates in all 12 federal reserve districts .
was announced today by the federal j ,
reserve board with the approval of
reductions in the Cleveland rate from
f> 1-2 to ;> per cent, and in the Minneapolis
rate from 6 to 5 1-2 per cent.
The l^tes in. these districts are effective
on Monday while reductions in
tne Oilier ClliSUK'cS dir tmcttujr Mi !
foot. The new schedule of rediscount
| rates, which covers paper of all
I classes and maturities, as follows:
j Four and a half per cent, Boston,
\ 1
I New York and Philadelphia; 5 per
cent., Cleveland,. Chicago. St. Louis,
Kansas City and San Francisco, 5 1-2
per cent., Richmond, Atlanta, Minneapolis
and Dallas.
! Mr. I*. LaDuke. Farmer. Says, "Yon
Bet Rats Can Bite Through Metal."
"I had feed bins lined with zinc
I * vI
last year, rats got through* pretty
soon. "Was out $18. A $1.25 pkg. of
RAT-SNAP killed so* many rats that
I've never been without it since. Our
collie dog never touched RAT-SNAP."
! You try it. Three sizes, 35c, 65c,
$1.25. Sold and guaranteed by Harmon
Drug Co., and Lexington Phari
macv. ^
%
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I i
^ A ^c? * oo lfT TXT a Q
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>
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i Finally a friend recommended Doan's
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Price 60c, at all dealers. Don't
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I get Doan's Kidney Pills?the same
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