Evening Star Newspaper, January 23, 1921, Page 34

Army and Navy News BY CAPT. ARTHUI . DUNCAN, THE ARMY | ROM the wording of the re- cent House and Senate joint resolutions directing the Sec- tary of War to cease recruiting, there appears to be a variance of opinion in Congress as to the meaning of the act. The intention, of course, is to im- mediately cease recruiting. reduce as speedily as possible the number of en- listed men to 175,000, and to re-enlist only, as written in the House bill, “those enlisted men who have had one or more enlistments, and who desire to re-enlist in the Regular Army,” or, as per Sen- ate resolution, “except re-enlistments of men who at the time of the passage of this act have served more than one year in the Regular Army or the Army of the United States during the recent emergency.” It was pointed out by a member of the military committes that there are possibly a half million men who volunteered enlistment during the war. ‘These men, he claimed, would eligible for immediate enlistment under the wording of either resolution, and if the War t ruled that draft men were eligible for re-enlistment it ‘would be le to immediately recruit the Army to a million men. A bonus now in effect offers $90 for re-enlistment, payable at once. If ad- vantage were taken of this bonus and it were assumed that men re-eniisting now would be almost immediately dis- charged due to their numbers, that sit- uation, if correctly versed by members of the committee who claim this possi- bility, would prove most acute, especial- 1y in'the face of the fact that the pur- pose of a joint resolution by Congress is , 1\ rather than a| for greater economy greater army. It is admitted by some members of the committee that the ‘wording of the joint resolutions is mot clearly defined, while others believe it generally understood that re-enlistments must be in sequence to be determinate, that only men now in the service who re-enlist would be entitled to this priv- ilege and the bonus of $30. The «question is yet to be settied before final action is taken. In the meantime re- cruiting goes merrily on, despite the One plan th: l . ADVERTISEMENT. wishes of Congreds, all depending. of course, on the construction and it pretation by the Secretary of War of his well chosen word——"mandato: Demotion Faces Army Officers. If the pending Army promotion of some 4,000 officers is not confirmed by the Senate before March 4, these offi- cers will be demoted one grade, and in some cases two grades. This is the statement issued during the week by Adjt. Gen. P. C.. Harris. The list includes 657 colonels, 780 lieuten: ant colone] 2.442 majors, com- prising all officers oF those grades in the Army except a few colonels, who held that rank prior to June 30 last. Several hundred of these officers, Gen. Harris . sald, commanded brigades during the world war, and a few of the colonels commanded divisions. Unless confirmed they will be demoted automatically, and will be outranked and commanded by officers who were subordinated in their command during the war. H Baker on Officers’ Classification. Appearing before the House mili- tary committee last Wednesday. in be | 9Tder to explain recent actions of the ‘War Department in reclassification of officers and: to oppose Representa- ed | tive Caldwell's amendment to the re: organization bill, which would give any officer the right to appear betore a reclassification board before their final status is fixed, Secretary of War Baker suggested a closed session, which request was granted, Follow- ing the meeting, members of the com- mittes said the secretary explained the attitude and method of procedure taken by the department fn eliminat- | ing unfit officers from the service. The stand taken by. Secretary Baker | was, that the boards appointed- for the ‘purpose performed this duty as ell as possible under their construc- tion of this part of the Teorganiza- tion bill, which part, he sald, was not clearly defined as writton by the com- mittee and left entire discretion to the War Department in carrying out ihe meaning of this part of the act. Grades for Reserve Officers. Regulations governing the commis- sioning of reserve officers are under consideration by the War Department. the committee appears ADVERTISEMENT. | llh to favor embodies the principle of “running mates,” such as is the -] = tice in the Navy, as between the and staff. In order that the Resarve Corps shall have a definite relatioff to the Regular Army the plan would:péir the reserve officers with the of of the regular establishment in grage. and they would be carried upwhrd through the various grades along $ith the regular officers. In the grades of major, Jieutenant colonel and colonel reserve officers would be paired with a regular officer of corresponding grade and the reserve officers would receive credit for sufficient comstruct- ive service so as to place them opposite the regular officers with whom they are paired. Reserve officers would then bs required to pass an examina< n for promotion, and in consequence it will be necessary under this plan for reserve officers to keep thoroughly in touch with the particular military matters pertaining to their branch of | the service. Chemical Warfare. No other combatant branch of war- fare is leas understood or better ap- breciated by those in touch with the Army than the chemical warfare service, which rendered such heroic and vital service during the world war. The following exiract from a statement issued by the chief of thls service, In which he refers to the first regiment, {8 of unusual interest: It was the first American unit to train and fight with the British in the mud and cold of Flanders trenches in January, February and March, 1918. It drove the German helter-skelter from his machine guns from —the Marne to the fall-of Sedan. - It set up a2 smoke screen across‘sthe Vesle, so that our boys could cross, where otherwise machine gun and shell mgde such crossing impossible, and later did the game thing in scores of other places.” It carried the 100- nound mortar and 25-pound -~ bombs of the Eritish trenches across barbed wire, ovef hill and vale, and In many eases dld ‘supposed impossible’ stunt of keeping such trench ma- terfal up with the infantry. “It gassed the Germans with thou- sands of projector bombs, and not con- tent to wait for favorable winds for gas it occupled the intervening hours with blowing enemy wire, enemy trenches, enemy pill boxes and the enemy himself out of existence by tons of TNT fired from gas bombs loaded by hand in the field. The chemical warfare service made the smoke signals and night torches that guided the NC-4 In {its marvelous Aight across the Atlantic.” Trained Oficers Necessary. It was recommended by the sub ADVERTISEMENT. committee of the appropriations com- mittee of the House that the Army be -further reduced within the next fiscal year to 150,000, which action is likely to meet with opposition in both branches of Congress. Publig attitude throughout the country, a8 expressed in recent editorial coi ment. indicates that the bone has been reached, at least for the present, in the recent cut reducing the .Army to 175,000 men. As to commissioned of- ficers, although the rumor has been spread of a. possible reduction, no foundation for this report can be found in the ‘expressed opinion of members of the committees on mil- itary affairs. They believe that the Army should have a sufficient num- ber of officers to train and properly function even a skeletonized Army: that this lesson was taught the coun- try during the war, and that the cost of officer personnel is nominal as compared with a large number of en- | listed men. Before the war, when all branches of the Army could be counted on the fingers of one hand, the necessity for a relatively greater number of of- ficers was not so acute. Today, how- ever, there are the air, mator, tank, | chemical, remount and other abso- {lutely new and _essential which must be officered. Further, a |large number of officers suitable for the training of Regular Army, Ma- tional Guard and = Reserve ~Corps | troops, must be avallable If the Army is to be kept abreast of the times. It is belleved the country will sup- port a policy of sensible preparedness, rather than that of too strict economy. The recent lesson of the war taught the fallacy of unpreparedness.- The size of an Army and the number of trained officers should be in: keeping not only with present unsettled con- ditions, but with the increased growth !and wealth of the nation. Possible Re-Examination of Officers. i [ s ! tary ! indica ft ssion by members of the mili- committees during the past week tes the possibility that the con- ion of emergency officer ap- R and the promotion of regu- lar officers may be held over pending decision_ of the new Secretary of War. _Although it is claimed by the War Department that action of this kind would mean the foroed dis- charge of ‘thousands of temporary officers, members of the committee say that action could be taken: by them which would work mo hard- ship. On the cntrary. some belleve that a movement of this kind would rot only correct errors of judgment which have been made, but would also give the new administration a reasonable time in which to exercise their judgment of cases, a number of | ADVERTISEMENT. services | __THE SUNDAY STAR, JANUARY 23, 1921—PART 2.° which have recently been brought to their attention. Complaints ape reaching members of the military comnilttees from former emergenoy officers in which they claim that following their recent examina- tion for the Regular Army they were reported as haviog failed, wheréas they claini" the facts 'are otherwise. Members of these committees say that-from' their examinations of the records made by these officers while in the service that the complaints of a number -are justified, but that i entering protest agajnst decisions o the éxamining boards they weére in- formed that under no circumstances would the War Department take 8c- tion in this matter; that the decisions 25 made by the examining boards were final. This attitude -taken by the department is affecting the congidera- tion, members say, in their possible movement 'in the near future to re- quest the reopening of all of these cases which have material merit. It is possible, they say, to re-examine all of these officers, without working any hardship on those now in the service. in which event they say the methods used would be more in keep- ing with the intention of the act and once and for all do away with com- plaints now reaching them and tend to smooth out purported irregular- ities not anticipated at the time that section of the act was written. e - L NATIONAL GUARD. i The War Department ‘has spproved tables of organization of the Natignal Guard for the {nfantry, fleld artillery and engineers, which the militia bu- reau will forward to the adjutant general of the sevéral - states and territories just as soon as possible. 1Officials are advised not to,communi- cate with the, chief of the militia bu- reau for the purpose of hastening in- i formation concerning the.tables, as it will serve only to delay the work or] the office. [~ 3] A state of contention betwaen. the line and staff of the Navy appears to be borne out by comments heard | the Navy Department. An effort will be made. to secure legislation in the. Sixty-seventh Congress which will re- Verse changes contained In naval regulations No. 12, approved by Sec- {retary Danlels on September 12, 1918. | Wwhich defined the rank, command amd ! duty of officers in the Navy. The line View of the results under this order DVERTISEMENT. failed of co- — SEErdelide Theservice and that no "offiger uld have a line title unless he. s the duty of a line officer. On _the"staft {Me it 1s sdid that it is essentizl to have line titles in order ) that the staff corps may ‘properly =ation. dovetailed with the question ?l amal- gamation, but whether theré is gmal- gamation -or not, it is the opinion of the 1i that there should be no Timitas to-the suthority and:the respondidility of the line, and that the line personnel of the Navy should. along 'with its responsibility, the authorfty to secure what it desires in ships and Material and to influence such changes as it deems necessary. evis number of former officers ume their places in the naval service, and it is expected an effort will be made to pass legislation to that end. ‘Mr. Daniels was loath to acoept_such.realgnations at the time of tender, and even went so far as to withhold actlon in many cases, in the hope that the officers would change their minds. Once -having accepted their resignations, however, ~Mr. Danlels ta the. position that they left the seryice far their own con- venience, and at a time when the gov- ernment needed their services and it would be highly improper to take them back, and, particularly unfair to those who Temained in the service unless such men.-wént back at the bottom of the list instead of in their former plac > 1930 Regulationn. Distribution of United States Navy regulatfons, 1920, will soon be under way. .The bufeau of navigation re- cently announced that office copies to 8hips, other than district craft, will ‘be issued without. request. Comman- dants of naval districts will distribute copies to-distriet craft. Distribution to officers” will of personal coples ‘hegin soon and will include all per- manent .commissioned and warrant officers of the Regylar Navy. For the present coples whl not be issued to tomporary or reserve officers, but the temporary or reserve officers who have applled for examination for per- manent commission or warrant in the Yegular service will be issued regu- ‘Tations by the bureau of navigation difect . upon request ' "The bureau of navigation has been requested by the House navsl com- mittee to suggest a measure to bring about & plan to cut the retainer pay ADVERTISEMENT. of the United States naval reserve force. . The commi; belleves_ it can effect a saving cutting the appropriation, and also by king new laws reducing the amount 6{ re- tainer pay In each grade per vear. The bureau’ of navigation. howeser. strongly opposes the proposed re- duction of the pay, and Will bring to the attention of Congress that dis- integration of the reserve force is sure to follow any such action. Long-Distance Flight Making a flight of approximately three thousand miles from San Diego. Calif., to Panama, a fleet of twelve air boats of the F-5-L type demon- strated their seaworthiness Air boat No. 11, made a forced landing at sea when the waves wefe so high that a subchaser dispatched to tow in the seaplane came back, reporting that she could not leave the harbor on account of the sea. Seven and one- half hours later the personnel of the seaplane, according to thé dispatch received from the Pacific fleet, “was taken off by a destroyer and th plane was safely towed into port.” Illustrating success of this flight, the department received the folowing dispatch from the commander of the Pacific air force, who led the Pa- cific fleet to the Canal Zone: “All seaplanes air force Pacific arrived Selina Cruz, Mexico, January 7, dur- ing heavy ~Tehauntepec norther. Slight damage to planes on crowded harbor after arrival. Expect to com- plete repairs in forty-eight hours.” ) |° MARINE CORPS o e A bill has been introduced in Con- gress providing that warrant officers 1of the Marine Corps shall be commis- igioped chief warrant officers under the same conditions and shall have the same rank, piy, allowances and other v hereafter benefits as are now cor m te prescribed by law for coi rant officers of the Navy pay clerks of the corps graded as warrant oflicers, with the same rank, pay. allowances and other benefits as provided for other warrant officers of the corps. The Navy law provides that warrant officers after six years' service as such shall be commissioned chief warrant officers. 1t is probable that the board in ses- sion at the headquarters of the Ma- rine Corps, which has been examin- ing records of candidates for perma- nent appointments to the commis- sioned personnel of the corps and of determining their relative rank there- ADVERTISEMENT. in. will not be ready to maje.ha re- port before Febr: . e : S by The first coast guard officér to re- | cetve a dipldma oM the long ‘cou at the Naval War College, Newport, R. 1. is Lieut. Commander H. D, Hinckley, who r‘(‘tnu}' received his dl}plnmn. Lieut. mander W: J. Wheeler and Lieut. Commander J. - Boedeker are now students at the Naval War College.* . P In connection with the awards -of medals, citations.and spegial letters of commendation to persons in the coast guard for services rendered dur- ing the world,war, there appears to be .a misapprehenkion #O0me per- sons as to the method of making the awards. persons in the coast guard were, as a rule, working under, the command of naval officers, most" 3 of the recommendations were made | by naval officers to the Navy Depart- ment. These recommendations pasged through the regdlar channels of the Navy Department and did not pass through the office of the commandant of the coast g The contents of most of the letters recommending pe. sons in the coast guard for medais are now known at headquarters. The board of awards, which was composed entirely of naval officers, considered , the recommendations received and made. ils report 10 the Secretary of o the Navy. Based upon this report. the Secretary of the Navy awarded-- Navy crosses to a number of persons in the coast guard and special letters of commendation to other persons in the coast guard. One of the require- ments for the award of a Navy cross or of a special letter of commendation was that the person must.be recom- mended for an award by his com- manding officer. As the commandant was not the commanding officer of » l any person recommended. there was: ¥ nothing lie could do 1o obtain reco: nition for pers. : coast guard Arcording to ent of the com- mandent, it is purnpose of ths jtem to explain tie personnel .af | ; that the awards were {made by the and that the coast guard had nothing whatever to do with them. 3 at's the joke?® Knicker—She wrote for a book, “How to Get in the Movie,” and.the answer was: “Pay a quarter and war tax.” ADYV TISEMENT. Reverse of The Grea From the HOLY BIBLE The morning stars sang together,"amd all the sons of God shouted for joy.—Job zzzviti, 7. tS eal [ Th e United States From the writings of MARY BAKER EDDY of Sinai lifted thought into th; song of David.—Science .. .'the and Health With Key to the Scrivtures, May those who discourse music to-day, sing as the angels heaven's symphonies that come to earth.—Miscellany, page 155. ~ purely spiritual.—Science and Health, page 510. page 20 To discern the rhythm of Spirit and to be holy, thought must ba He that hath my commandments, and keepeth it i s 3 Mozart jenced more than he expressed. The rapture of his e s ot of 'y Fatten, and 1wl Tove NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM B him, and will manifest myself to bim. . . U - Translation, e e e e e el s harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or diving.——Science and. Health, page 213. = e 2 is g .. . let us together sing the oid-new song of salvation; and let our measure of time and joy be spiritual, not material. —Miscellany, page 166. 1 still hear the harvest song of the Redeemer awakening the nations, / causing man to love his enemies.— Mzscellany, page 316. 3 - God bath thrust in the sickle, and He is separating the tares from. the wheat. This hour is molten in the furnace of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known, world-great.—Miscellany, page.269. A NEW ORDER OF AGES IS BORN—A NEW OFFSPRING IS LET DOWN FROM LOFTY HEAVEN-THE COMING MAN. IN WHOM THE IRON AGE ENDS, AND THE GOLDEN AGE ARISES IN THE WHOLE EARTH EXTEMPORE Give us not only angels’ But Science vast, to The tor&ue of angels And the song of songs. —MARY BAKER EDDY. . Ifa man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.—CHRIST JESUS. John ziv., 21, 23. - This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you—CHRIST JESUS. John v., 12. O blessings infinite! O glad New Year! Sweet sign and substance Of God’s presence here. songs, which belongs It is borne on the breath of the an - gel choir; It is*heard® inthe ' \ 1 - sing the song. of the Prince of Peace,And a-wiit ° the "war for - ev-er cease on earth, Let'the new :cre - war's re - lease, law of right. God and man. Let Words and AUGUSTA E. STETSON, C. S. Andante con moto 5 o S iyre; It is re - lease From bonds of hate, chil-dren of God; = e-cho of harp hour: of Love's a ted world” give birth To 4 — and fear, let the wel - It ‘Whose reign U nit-ing in Jess wing, gal king, of kings, tire and the ge and the King_ To the réign énd strife, Christ, with_.,_}v‘ dn-them of And chants the Orby Truth and Al na- tions, with Love_ the raise Love— for g > to .. Christ, our. > o