Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1920 — BUCK PRIVATE FIGHTS GENERAL [ARTICLE]

BUCK PRIVATE FIGHTS GENERAL

JAS. W BECKMAN ISSUES PAMPHLET AGAINST GENERAL WOOD. J. W. Beckman, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Beckman, has issued the following pamphlet which he is sending to the boys who wore khaki. Mr. Beckman has been very active in an effort to punish some of the officers in the Great War for alleged brutality and has been before the congressional committee in Washington where he made a very ibitter attack upon General Pershing and other officers. We are pleased to give his article publicity, but feel that he has not been able to connect General Wood with his grievance. The following is his article: SOLDIERS OF THE A. E. F.— You’ve got the chance now you waited for in France. Generals who regarded you as a dog over therel now want your vote. When it comes to voting for them, they are not putting up the familiar signs, “For Officers Only,” “Out of Bounds to all Enlisted Men.” No. For Power is in our hands Now! United, we will use it! The tables have turned. Hardly a year has passed since the good old days of officer aristocracy pver there, protected by a censorship which concealed more than military information. We waited long for our chance. It’s here now, and as we stood together over there, we will stand together here. As we fought there to have the democracy of the world we will vote to save American democracy here!

We will see that the White House and the government at Washington are not “Out of Bounds to All Enlisted Men,” nor “Reserved for Officers only.” « Weren’t they the good old days! ' But it’s different now. We’re in 1 America again, where class and kings don’t go! ' The Pershing-Hard-Boiled Smith 1 travesties on justice and honor are seared indelibly in our minds. And General Wood, on the wit- ! ness the court-martial J system which make them possible—- ' notwithstanding the fact that the court-martial system of our Army . is the one which that tyrant George 1 111. used in the days of the Revolution. England has long since discarded it for one of law and justice. 1 France, too, has a just court-mar- ’ tial system; but Wood and Pershing T stand with George HI.! Regardless of party, every last one of us soldiers must fight the * nomination and election of Wood, > Pershing or any other general on either ticket. A victory for Wood or Pershing means the end of all hope for military reform. It means going back to the obnoxious system we had to endure in France. It shall not be! t I don’t need to remind you of it; ; but what we all must do is to talk . and write against Wood or Per- • shing’s nominations by either party. , It is up to us to wage the fight for ■ democracy in America by informing those who do not know that militarism and prussianism are one and the same thing, and that Wood ’ and Pershing mean both! We must ’ warn American voters who were ► not in the Army that the officer ’ class as it is constituted today em- , bodies the same spirit that obsessed > the officer class in Germany, where J they pushed citizens off Hie side- > walks or struck them with swords ■ if it suited their autocratic pleasure. ■ | You, as a comrade in the fight for the world’s freedom, are reJ quested to talk against the support ■! of these or any other generals. ■ j Warn the people of the danger of militarism with its caste system ' 1 if a military man should be elected. ;i It would mean providing thousands iof soft jobs for officers and subjecting the civilian population to the military, as was done in Ger- . many, under the guise of universal military training or service. If we I need a bigger army, let us put an end to this stupendous scheme for graft and, give the benefit to the soldiers who enlist, so that those who choose to serve in our army will be paid what they should be paid and treated as the soldiers of a great democracy should be treated—on their merits and not on a basis of caste, that unjust and tyrannical relic of autocracy. Remember, the fight for democracy was only half won on the battlefield of Europe. The victory lies in the ballot box and in Congress and the White House. You did your duty over there.

I know you will do it here! JAMES W. BECKMAN. i Former Sergeant Major, A. E. F.» L who caused Congressional investigation into criminal treatment of American soldiers iby their own officers.