ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE .

77 1
of the Congress, and do not desire any adverse inference to be drawn from th e
fact of such testimony where it is frank and straightforward .
Please proceed with the inquiry at your earliest convenience and report th e
facts in full to me.
NEWTON D. BARER ,
Secretary of War.

EXHIBrr 2
MARCH 8, 1919 .
Memorandum for Brig . Gen . S . T . Ansell .
I have been directed by the Secretary of War to investigate certain contro-
versies which have arisen in the Office of the Judge Advocate General wit h
regard to the administration of military justice during the war .
In making this investigation I shall proceed on the fact of full recognition o f
the right of any officer in the Military Establishment to testify frankly an d
fully upon any matter as to which he may be interrogated by a committee o f
the Congress, and no adverse inference will be drawn from the fact of suc h
testimony when same has been given in good faith.
At the time that your testimony was given before the Military Committee o f
the Senate I was absent from Washingtonill in Florida . I therefore hav e
almost no information as to the controversy as it appeared in the public press ,
but from comments which have appeared I judge that there have arisen certain
questions as to facts . All such questions will be fully considered in this inves-
tigation . The investigation will also embrace generally the administration o f
the Judge Advocate General's department in so far as same pertains to matter s
of military justice .
Conceding that the curative power of clemency exists in the President and th e
Secretary of War, and that in the first instance the Secretary of War and th e
President rely upon the Judge Advocate General's office for recommendation s
growing out of their examination of records of court-martial trials, informatio n
is requested as follows :
1. What machinery has been organized during the present emergency in th e
Office of the Judge Advocate General for the consideration of records with a
view to making appropriate recommendations for clemency ?
2. Has such machinery functioned satisfactorily and effectively? If not ,
wherein has it failed, and reasons for same ?
After examining the records in the case I will take the matter up with yo u
with a view to clearing up any disputed points . In the meantime, if you desire
to submit any statement, I should be glad to have it . I should also be glad t o
have any information, written or otherwise, which may bear upon this contro-
versy, as well as the names of any witnesses who may have information o f
value .
J . L . CHAMBERLAIN ,
Inspector General.

EXHIBIT 3 .
WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL,
Washington, March 10, 1919.
Memorandum for the Inspector General of the Army .
Responding to your memorandum of the 8th, I beg to say :
1. You state no specific controversy or issue which you are to investigate
or to which I could intelligently address a statement if I deemed it advisabl e
so to do.
2. If, as seems to be the case, the investigation has to do with my statemen t
before the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, that statement for which, o f
course, I am responsible, speaks for itself .
3. Above all, however, it is my judgment that any adequate and helpfu l
investigation of the existing system of military justice and the administratio n
of it during this war falls beyond your province . That subject, my attitud e
toward it, and my connection with it are not when fairly considered particula r
incidents to which your special capacity of inquiry can be properly applied ;
they are extradepartmental ; they involve fundamental and general considera-
tions of law and justice, the scope of which can not justly be confined to th e