Release?

For two weeks it was kept quiet, because it was feared that publicity might be hampering. Last week it was officially announced. The President had picked a board to investigate the vexing question of the 31 so-called political prisoners--chiefly I.W.W.'s convicted in Federal penitentiaries under War-time laws.

The Joint Amnesty Committee had been agitating for their release for many months. President Harding, a few weeks before his death, liberated several of these prisoners, some of them under conditions of good behavior, deportation, etc. Several of these "liberated" prisoners are still in jail because they refused freedom except with unconditional pardon. In the appointment of the new investigating board a Christmas amnesty is foreseen.

The Board held several meetings in Buffalo. Its members:

Major General James G. Harbord. He entered the Army in 1889 as a private in the Fourth Infantry. Later he rose successively through the various grades of officerdom and eventually became Chief of Staff of the A. E. F. He was chief of the American Military Mission to Armenia in 1919. In 1921 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff, U. S. A. He is now President of the Radio Corporation of America.

Bishop Charles H. Brent, of the Episcopal diocese of Buffalo, has a record of over 20 years' service in various bishoprics. At one time he was on the editorial staff of The Churchman. He has been a leading member of many national and international commissions on control of the opium traffic.

Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War under Woodrow Wilson.