“In times of war severity of treatment, within the limits of humanity, is to be expected by those who refuse to fulfill their obligations to the nation; but the term ‘severity of treatment’ is an euphemism when used to describe the experiences of conscientious objectors, shackled, unclothed, for hours to cell doors, kept for days in dark cells, and forced for weeks to subsist under physical conditions which the law would not permit in the case of animals. If these charges are substantiated, and the outraged sense of justice of the nation demands that they be either substantiated or disproved, then the drastic revision of military law and practice is an imperative duty of Congress which it dare not ignore or neglect. “There is abundant reason to believe, in the severity of the sentences permitted to be imposed by army courts-martial, that there is lacking in the military mind that sense of fitness and of humanity which is in accordance with the age in which we live. The United States cannot with clean hands ask the nations with which it is allied in the war to humanize the laws of war while it tolerates inhumanity in the enforcement of its own military regulations at home. Recalcitrant soldiers offer a difficult problem, of course; but the fact is a greater reason for dealing with such offenders with tact and, above all, with humanity. Torture has no place in the penology of the day, and least of all in the service which prides itself on its patriotism.” The Acting Committee of The Pennsylvania Society, having been informed of some instances of punishment which seemed to resemble soulless European autocratic methods, sent the following remonstrance to Secretary Baker:-- “The Pennsylvania Prison Society learns with astonishment and a profound sense of sorrow of the brutal methods of punishment employed in some of our Federal Prisons upon military offenders--especially upon so-called “Conscientious Objectors” whose only offense is a consistent adherence to their sense of duty. The studied attempt to break the spirit of prisoners at Fort Leavenworth and elsewhere by unspeakable cruelty suggests the practices of a barbaric past rather than those of a civilized and enlightened people. Granting that a Nation must at times deal firmly with political offenders, can any crime ever justify the employment of cruel and inhumane treatment? If such barbarous punishment has the sanction of law, then an outraged sense of justice demands the immediate revision of our Military Code.” The following note was received, which indicates that the War Department at Washington has taken measures to relieve the harsh conditions. “FEBRUARY 6, 1919.