The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-03-14
In THE REVENUE SERVICE.
A NUMBER OF RETIREMENTS THAT
WILL NECESSITATE PRO-
MOTIONS.
SIX CANDIDATES FROM CALIFORNIA
WILL TRY FOR THE VACANT
POSITIONS.

Considerable excitement has been caused
in United States revenue marine circles by
! a recent decision of the Secretary of the
Treasury. All officers who are unable to
perform the duties of their respective
Offices are to be retired and the younger
men are to be promoted.
At present many of the officers in COM
mand of the United States revenue cutters
hold the rank of first or second lieutenant,
the captain as general rule being too old
to do active duty. 1t is the same in the
engineers department, and in consequence
many deserving officers are kept in the
second rank. At present there are twenty
four officers awaiting orders" and out of
this number there are eight captains, four
first lieutenants, two second lieutenants,
one third lieutenant, five chief engineers,
three first assistant engineers and one
second assistant engineer.
Of this number only three belong to the
Pacific Coast. One was formerly captain
of the revenue cutter Hartley and is well
known in San Francisco. He is now blind.
Another is Captain J. II. Scammon, who
has not been to sea since 1883 He now
resides in San Francisco on waiting
orders" AT different times he commanded
the revenue cutters Shubrick, Lincoln,
Wayanda and Wolcott. The Wolcott is
now the only one of the four cutters en-
! ployed in the service.
Chief Engineer Wavson is also on wait
ing orders and has been since 1898. He is
a very sick man and will never go to sea
again. He served on the Bear, Corwin and
| Wolcott.
In consequence of these retirements and
! the consequent promotions there is a de-
4 mand for cadets. Uncle Sam has vacancies
! for number of young gentlemen in his
revenue service and an examination will
! be held next April to select the twelve who
shall pass the best examination. There
are about thirty-six aspirants and of these
/ six come from California. The latter are:
Albert H. Buhner, Sterling G. Cousins and
| John Hell, of San Francisco; Larue A.
! d Yoe and Howard A. Tennison, of San
! JOSE and Robert Hawkhurst Jr. of Ala
media. To accommodate these young
| gentlemen an examination will be held IN
| San Francisco on April 1 next, the ex-
aiming board being composed OF Captain
/ G. l.. Hooper of the revenue cutter Richard
Rush and Captain w. G. Coulson, In
| spector of Life-saving Stations. All the
other candidates will report at Washing
ton, d. c., for examination at their own
expense.
4 candidate must be a citizen, not less
| than Is or more than 23years OF age and
unmarried. The law says the marriage OF
a cadet will be considered as equivalent to
his resignation and his name VIII be
stricken from the register forthwith. He
must secure at least rs per cent In mathe-
mates, physics, chemistry, grammar,
composition, history, spelling, geography,
| literature and one language (German,
French or Spanish) outside of English.
If two candidates tie, the one who has the
largest percentage in mathematics will be
chosen. The successful cadets will have to
serve probationary term of two years and
pass an examination upon what they have
learned every six months. AT the end of
that time they will be promoted to third
lieutenancy and will then be manageable.
The first printed books abounded to such
an extent in authorizations that they were
extremely difficult to read and understand,