ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE.

79 3

a memorandum for the amendment of General Orders No . 7 . Gen . Ansell, in

submitting the case, states :
" I concur in the views of these two officers, and recommend that the abov e
designated order be amended, so as to require all cases tried by general courts -
martial in the American Expeditionary Forces to be reviewed, to determin e
their legality, by the Acting Judge Advocate General of those forces . Th e
substantive portion of a draft of order to accomplish this purpose is here-
with . "
In the draft of that order it was provided that " any sentence, or an y
part thereof, so found to be illegal, defective, or void, in whole or in part,
shall be disapproved, . modified, or set aside, in accordance with the recom-
mendation of the Acting Judge Advocate General ." That order, as it wa s
drawn and issued, gives to the Acting Judge Advocate General in France a
power far greater than that possessed by the office of the Judge Advocat e
General in Washington, and gives, practically, the power which would hav e
been given had Gen. Ansell's interpretation of section 1199 been accepted .
You are familiar with that matter?A . Yes, sir .
Q . It has been claimed that it was never intended to give such a power .
Have you any information on that subject .A . No ; I have no informatio n
that would clear that up exactly, but I am of the opinion that the objec t
of the order was thought mainly to be the throwing into the Judge Advocate
General's office in France the business which should be attended to there with -
out the necessity of referring it to Washingtonthereby lightening the work
of the Judge Advocate General's office in Washington and expediting the
work of the administering of justice in the Expeditionary Forces . I am quite
certain that the study of the question in War Plans Division did not con -
template giving authority in France which would be denied the Judge Advocat e
General' s office in Washington . I have no information whatever that any -
thing was inserted in this order surreptitiously . The War Plans Division
simply approved the order, as written by Gen . Ansell's office, and sent i t
tip, in the exact form as written by Gen. Ansell, to the Chief of Staff . It
was approved in the Chief of Staff ' s office and sent to The Adjutant General
for issue, exactly as it was sent up to that office . In examining the orde r
which was issued, I find that there is a slight change of phraseology, but t o
my mind not a change of meaning from the order as it left the War Plan s
Division and passed through the office of the Chief of Staff . There is a sligh t
alteration in the wording and phraseology of the order issued by The Adju-
tant General. Why that change occurred is not known by me .
Q. Was it ,that change which made it incumbent upon the commandin g
general to carry out the recommendations of the Acting Judge Advocate Gen-
eral?A . The change involved that part of the order. There was a change
in the phraseology of that part of the order .
Q. Have you copies of those papers that would A . I have the copy, the
one duplicate copy .of the paper that went' from the War Plans Divisions
to the Chief of Staff, and there signed by Gen . McIntyre and stamped with
Gen . March's name and sent to The Adjutant General for issue .
Q . Please have a copy made and sent to this office.

EXHIBIT 13.

WASHINGTON, D . C., March 17, 1919.

Col . Beverly A . Read, Judge Advocate General's Department, Chief Militar y
Justice Division, being first duly sworn, was interrogated by Maj : Gen. J. L .
Chamberlain, Inspector General, and testified as follows :
Q . What is your full name, rank, organization, and duties?A . Beverly A.
Read, colonel, Judge Advocate General's Department, Chief Military Justic e
Division.
Q . How long have you been chief of this division?A. I succeeded Col. Davis
in April, 1918.
Q . Before or after Gen . Ansell left for Europe?A. After, sir. Col . Mayes wa s
in charge of the office at the time I was detailed in charge of that division .
Q. (Inspector handed Col . Read a copy of an office memorandum dated Apri l
10, giving the organization of the Judge Advocate General's office .) Are yo u
familiar with that?A. Yes, sir .
Q. Do you know by whom that was prepared?A. No, sir.