William Howard Taft

“ Troops in instruction camps across the ocean from the field of war cannot in any proper sense be held to be operating against the enemy. Camp instruction is doubtless a necessary preliminary step to effective operation against the enemy, but it does not constitute such operation. This act was passed during the Spanish War, and the Court of Claims rested its conclusion on the opinion of the Attorney General, 22 Ops. Attys. Gen. 95, in which he held that troops assembled in camps of instruction in the United States were to be considered as operating against an enemy under the statute. ”

“ We think that the construction is so at variance with the ordinary meaning of the language that we cannot follow it. It can hardly be said to have become the basis for a long executive construction and practice, because the Spanish War was soon over and the question of its application did not arise until the recent great war. ”