The evening times., 1896-04-08
SURPLUS OF VACANCIES
Fortunate State of Affairs for
Naval Cadets.
ALL WILL BE PROVIDED FOR
Graduating Glass VIII Not Be Large
Enough TO Fill the Positions That
VIII Be Open THIS Hcar-Dame
Fortune Not So Liberal With the
West Pointers.

A fortunate state OF affairs exists for the
vounc men who Will graduate this ycarfrom
the Naval Academy. For tine first time
IN many years there will probably be more
vacancies in the navy for graduates than
cadets to fill them. Such / state OF affairs
Is unprecedented, and it is not likely to
occur again until the rctirements are more
freancnt or war comes along, with its tram
OF casualties
Previously there has been hard work to
secure sufficient vacancies in all branches
OF the navy to accomn odate the graduates,
and often Young men have been honorabiy
discharged with years pay as a balm to
their disappointed ambition. The uneX-
pectcd number OF places this year is not &C.
c,sioned by any unusual number of deaths
or designations, an is certainly not through
retirement on account of age, but seems
due to the rather large number OF young
Officers. who have been compelled 10 retire
ON account Of physical disabilities. Re
Gently three have gone out under TINS stat
ute and two cases Will soon be pending,
which will increase the number Oh 'acah-
cies for the year six men.
AT present there are nineteen vacancies
N the line, twenty y-five in the engineer corps
will eventually fall To Annapolis graduates,
and what is left over from this class will go
over to the next.
Besides these places, which can be lilea
only by graduates, there are eleven va
cancies in the medical corps or the service
for which there is no competition. These
have existed for several months, and, while
.he Inducements for young doctors To enter
slt.. anil -4Vng. Sga..rf
to be lacking.
INCREASE IN LINE VACANCIES.
The coming class numbers thirty-three,
but If the usual percentage is adhered to
probably three or four will fail either men
tally or physically, so that on July 1t Is
not probable that more than thirty at the
outside viii be qualified for commissions.
Two Officers, Lieut.. Seabury and Lieut.. IL.
r TYLER will b. ordered to appear before
medical boards this month, and 1t Is pos
| sible both will bc retired, in which event
| the number OF line vacancies will be in
! creased to twenty-One and by June ~,
| when the fiscal year ends, IL is expected
/ The number will have been advanced TO
| twenty five or more. To this must be
! added at least one marine corps vacancy,
| and perhaps two, so that altogether there
| will be a surplus of vacancies and GER
tainly a large number left over In the
engineer corps for following classes.
| At the present rate OF appointments to
| the latter, Chief Engineer Melville esti-
| mates that it will be impossible to main
| tain the quota at its full limit, aud that
| either the number of cadets must be iu-
crea sed or else some of the assistant en-
gineers must be selected from the technl-
cal schools.
| The leading man among the six-year grad
| yates is young fellow from Mississippi
named Robert, who is now undergoing Il
| course of instruction at Greenwich in naval
construction. preparatory to his assignment
| 70 that corps. Daniel II. Cox. the second
| man, Is from New York and is pursuing the
| same course. and Thomas Il. Roberts OF
| Alabama. the fourth man, is at Paris stndy-
ing naval architecture. Lawrence s. Adams
| of Arizona stands fifth ard is also abroad.
None of these cadets will be eli gibie for line
vacancies. so that the star man OF the final
graduates who appear at Annapolis in June
will be Irwin V. Gillis of New York, a son
of Admiral Gillis. retired.
The record OF Robert, who headed his
clsas two years ago. is only repetition
of the successes attained at the Annapolis
Academy by boys from the South. who
have invariably taken a high stand In
the class of 1885. David Watson Taylor of
Virginia. now 4 naval constructor, set n
pace aud secured an average such as no
graduate before or after ever reached. In
the next class a Southerner stood high. and
the same was true of the class OF 1889,
when X. p. Hobson of Alabama was third
man. In 1880 T. F. Ruhm of Tennessee
led the string. Since then the Southerners
have maintained the standard of their pre-
lecessors. The only Maryland boy in the
final graduates is Walter S. Turpin, who
! stands 81. and Is assured of a vacancy IL
| some branch of the service.
FEW ARMY VACANCIES.
In direct contrast to the surplus of vacan
| cics at Annapolis is the condition which will
/ exist at West Point this June. Instead OF
hcn. enough vacancies for the graduates
| rs the rule has been, there will be places for
! scare ,lya dozen out ofa class ssofscventy-two
No such extraordinary conditions have
| prevailed in the army since the academy
was founded, and the question seems Il
he serious for both the non-commissionet
men, who are entitled TO some vacancies
and 10 graduates for the next few years