The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-05
PROMOTION By MERIT.

hONiOIlON ID 1 l..
The new system of promotion by merit
III the regular army, lately adopted by
the War Department of the United States,
has been found to work very satisfacto-
rily, and bids fair to add greatly to the
efficiency. Heretofore, in the army, all
chances of advancement beyond the posi-.
ton of sergeant were closed to the en-
listed men, the commissioned officers be
ing confined to graduates of West Point,
W lille for the common soldier there was
TO hope of distinction, however merito-
rlous he might be. Now, however, I'm.
der the new arrangement there is
chance that merit will be rewarded, while
mt tue same time the personnel OF the
army has already been greatly improved
When there was no hope OF advancement
the men who enlisted in the REGULAR army
OF the United States did so, as Il rule. be-
cause they had failed to earn livelihood
elsewhere. They accepted the drudgery of
military life as the only alternative and,
with no hope of promotion they were, Ms
rule. without pride or ambition.
The social disparity betw cen them and
the commissioned officers above them
was most discouraging feature in the
organization of the army. And because
of the absence of sympathy between the
men in the ranks and those over them.
the spirit and efficiency of the service was
seriously jeopardized. Now, however. "A
better class of men is enlisting, and, as
there is II chance for merit to be reward
ed, they will give the Government more
efficient and faithful service than could
be obtained from those who Mt best are
influenced only by Il sense of duty, which,
with men of that character, is generally
not very strong.
The knowledge that there is IL chance
for him TO rise from the ranks and hold n
commission will give to the humblest pri-
vate sense of Importance and RESPONSE
bility which was unknown to the enlisted
men under the old system. The common
soldier and the officer over him will not
now feel that there is a social chasm be-
tween them which neither can cross but.
on the other hand, the latter will he less
inclined to look down upon his subordi-
nate, since i'll the changes of the service.
wear Il shoulder strap himself; while the
former will feel less envy and bitterness
against the men above him. as in the order
of events, if he be worthy of promotion,
he may be an officer himself. Thus there
will he Il sympathy established between
them, which, though bringing them
closer together, will not DO subversive of
discipline, .but will rather tenu to in
crease the respect of each for the other.
An army to he effective must of course,
be governed by rigid rules; but that of
the United States approaches nearer to IN
aristocracy than any other branch of the
public service The officers have had all
the advantages of one of the finest mill
tary academies in the world. while the
men who were enlisted under the old sys-
TEN were without any of these advan-
tages, because rs an avenue for future
prefermcnt the American army offered as
little advantage t. the private soldier rs
those OF England, Germany or any mon.
archical government OF the Old World
Under the new system OF promotion
from the ranks of the regular army
twenty-five subalterns have successfully
passed examinations for commissions,
and of these fifteen will be appointed
second lieutcnants next March and the
remainder in June. Meanwhile, there
are already more commissioned officers
graduated from West Point last June
than there arc vacancies in the regular
army. As the country, however, is set
tling down to the conviction that we are
soon to have war with Spain, there is a
fair prospect that the new officers,
whether by merit or by graduation, will
find q plenty to do in the near future