Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-13

broadslde OF invitations. Especially Is this
true if be has q wife with social aspirations. A
| good fellow whose cousin or aunt has fine
house at the capital and entertains judicially
| is pretty apt to be ordered for duty here. if
| the favor is asked for Powerful Congressman
are not always appealed to in vain 70 such an
| end
But assignments thus secured are merely
| temporary unless those who hold them work
hard and exhibit ability. The officers in charge
OF the business of detailing usually pick out tor
| service at the departments here men of known
capacity. Fools and idlers are not desired by
the heads OF bureaus who control such affairs
They may get places. and often do, through
| family or other influence with the Secretary or
with other persons in authority, but they can
| not hold them long. Not the most powerful
member OF Congress, though he be even chair
man OF the appropriations committee in House
or Senate, can secure more for a protege than
a brief favor which soon lapses with the uude-
serving. The Secretaries of the Navy and Of War
have strlven to take such matters out OF
politics.
CAREFUL RECORD KEPT.
Thus the choice Of officers for duty in WASH
ington has come to be almost wholly selection
Of the fittest, although now and then will
doubtless occur . marked and unfortunate ex-
ception. Furthermore. survival of the most
deserving Is secured with q carefulness and i'm
partlallty such as are unknown in any civil
business Every man in the army and navy
has complete record preserved OF his doings
from the time he entered the service up to date.
A page is kept for: him at his department here
on which is put down everything good or bad
that is reported of him. Not the recording
angel himself could keep more strict account
for aud agains. q person. From that page
nothing is ever rubbed out and there is no such
thing as turning over new leaf Minute mat
ters are set down in these histories which the
individuals concerned have themselves forgot
ten. Even letters praising or condemning the
f.. ~
siders, are duly jacketed with the papers kept
respecting him. Should he ever get into trouble
ana be tried by court-martial the entire record
is brought up to bear merciless witness for and
against him.
Officers who work hard and show ability have
no difficulty in procuring asslgnmentsin WASH
ington, because those are just the men whom
the chiefs of bureaus are anxious to secure.
The business Of detailing lies with the adjutant
generals office for the army and with the bu-
reau of navigation for the navy. Such matters
are arranged as far possible on the princi-
pies OF courtesy which govern among gentle
men-in other words. when . man wants GER
tain sort of detail he goes and asks for it II
there Is no good reason why he should not have
1t his request is granted 1t is very curious
how tastes differ in such matters. One indi-
vidual will intensely dislike the notion of going
to Alaska, while another will regard the same
assignment as decidedly lark Ordinarily the
South Atlantic squadron is considered q most
ineligible post, but there are those who think
quite the opposite. So the easiest way, and the
best one, therefore, il to accommodate ali con-
cerned as well as may be. The notion is COM
monty held that navy men want all the
shore. duty they can get but this is
very far from being true. When
they seek it, it is usually for no other reason
than because they have family ties. In nine
cases out of ten those who are not so blessed
prefer to be at sea. Better pay is one reason,
but there is such thing as passion for the
ocean, which officers in the service are very apt
to acquire, SO that they are never really happy
when they are not sailing on blue water.
Hardly have they been month or two on land
before they become discontented and are
anxious to be ahoat again. Some Of the best
men III the navy procure assignments here for
no other purpose than to do earnest work in the
way of experiment and invention. New types
OF guns, devices for navigation, torpedoes, ex-
plosives, &C., absorb their attention. The
same Is true OF the army. On the other hand,
there are not few inventive persons who save
up their leaves Of absence and spend months at
a time in Washington bothering the officials in
authority with their novel but useless ideas for
hollow bullets or what not
HIGHER ARMY GRADES
In the army after the grade Of colonel has
been reached further promotion can only be
conferred by the President of the United States
Accordingly, when the place of brigadier gen.
eral ID to be hlled, great pressure OF influence,
political and otherwise, il brought to bear upon
the executive. There are said to have been
several instances where such appointments have
been determined by the persuasion OF women.
Nevertheless, 1t may safely be asserted that in
nearly every instance choice is directed by no
other consideration than fitness, neither petit
coats nor politics having any control whatever.
The claims Of the candidates from whom one is
to be selected are put side by side and the chief
magistrate picks out the best and most deserv-
ing man.
Washington will always be favorite loaing
place for army and navy men during their
seasons OF leisure while ashore. There has
just been completed a very handsome United
Service club house at the corner of Connecticut
avenue and street. Though conspicuously ugly
outside, 1t is beautifully fitted up within.
Officers are also eligible for membership in the
fashionable University and Metropolitan clubs
on exceptionally favorable terms, no initiation
fee being demanded from them. Their favor
lite hotel is the Ebbitt House, while for thirty
years past the eating house most freQuented by
them has been Klotz's restaurant on G street.
PRIZE MONEY FOR NAVAL OFFICERS.
One attraction which war would possess for
officers in the navy would be prize money.
Sometimes it is big. A merchant vessel or
transport belonging to the enemy and taken on
the high seas may yield great fortune to the
captors, who are by law entitled to one-half the
booty. the other half being turned into the
treasury. II the prey is a ship Of war, of equal
or superior size, the victors receive the en-
tire value. Rear Admiral Porter was allowed
from 100000 to $500, 900 for prize money
gained during his operations on the Mississippi
river, while the army officers get nothing for
their share. They never do, which seems un-
fair.
Whenever the next great naval conflict shall
arrive the world viii view, with breathless in
terest the first practical test Of modern guns
and armor 1t will be a fight of mail-clad
ocean Titaus, in which the force of bullets and
the resisting power Of metal will be pit.ed
against each other Some authorities think
that the result will cause all protective sheath
ing to be done away with finally. They hold
the opinion that, just as men found 1t advisable
to give up wearing cumbrous armor in battle,
SO the war ship Of the future will be vastly
swift and SO lightly built IL compartments that
shots will pass clean through her without doing
much damage. The most important weapon
will very likely be automatic torpedoes travel
ing under water, contact with one OF which is
destruction to the greatest ship.
The history of mankind is the history Of the
development Of weapons for war, by improve
ments in which one nation has overcome an
other and survived. Though the tale may not
be safely vouched for, Archimedes is said to
have set fire to the vessels Of the enemy be-
sieging Syracuse by directing upon them the
rays OF the sun concentrated with great burn
ing mirrors. Hannibal, in o naval battle,
threw among the Romans earthen pots filed
with venomous serpents, which broke and 80
frightened the foe with their writhing contents
that they fled. In the middle ages Greek