The evening times., 1899-12-30


| Miles to the Secretary of War that the
senior class of West Point be graduated
February Is. instead Of June Il, Is creating
considerable talk among army officers, who
are divided on the question. Adjutant Gen.
eral Corbin and the officers OF his depart
ment are said to be opposed to the plan.
and are making fight TO have the Secre-
| tary of War refuse to act on General
Niles Recommendation. 1t was statsd by
| an army officer that Secretary Root had
prepared letter to Col. A. S. Mills, the
superintendent of the Academy. asking
whether the cadets were prepared to grad
uate in February, but General Corhin's
protests availed, and that this letter fas
not yet been sent and may not be ssnt-
The cadets may be allowed TO continue in
the Academy until June.
The recent retirements and the deaths,
both from natural causes and in :he var in
the Philippines, have, caused large number
of vacancies in the ranks of second lieuieE-
ants in the regular army. short time
ago the regular army was short over leo
second lieutenants. To fill these vacan-
cies many appointments have been made
from civil life. and many enlisted men,
having served three years, have taken ex-
aminaiions. and, on passing, have been
promoted.
General Miles and his friends are stand
ing up for the West Point cadets, claim
ing that it will be great injustice to ap-
point fifty or sixty second leutenants from
civil life who will rank the graduates
from West Point The mere fact OF being
cutranked as a second lieutenant does Lot
rake a great deal of difference on hrst en-
tering the army. but as promotion TO high
or grades falls due, the army Diners say u
works great hardships and that many Off
GERS are retired as captains. majors. or
lieutenant coIonels because of age when in-
ferior officers are kept in active se;N-cs.
and reach higher ranks.
The oficeIs opposed to graduating the
cadets in February argue that II VIII DE
bad precedent TO establish. they say thar
the Law prescribes four years. course. ana
with the exception at the outbreak OF the
civil war and the beginning OF the Spanish
war the rule has never been broken and
should not be in this case. They claim that
the number of appointments Of civilians to
second lieutenants between the present
time and June, when the class graduates
will not be large, and Will not hurt the
West Pointers, 90 far as outranking them
is concerned.
They further say that to graduate the
members OF this years senior class tour
months in advance of the date they would
ordinarily graduate will result il next
years class and the next after that asking
to be graduated before they have finished
their course.
Secretary Root IS expected TO very short
" decide whether the class will graduate
in February or wait until June.
The senior class has fifty-eight members.
Their names, with the States from which
they were appointed. are as follows:
George B. Pillsbury. Massachusetts; Ed
ward NJ. Adams, Massachusetts: Edmund
NJ Rhett. South Carolina; Gustave r. LII
kesh, Ohio; Charles r. Lawson. Massachu-
sets; John X. Slattery, Ohio: Gilbert A.
Youngberg. Minnesota: Francis 4. Pope,
Kansas; Stanley b. Hamilton, Nevada;
William p. Stokey, Ohio; Joseph A Baer,
Pennsylvania; Frank O. Whitlock. Minneso-
ia: Frederick L. Buck, Pennsylvania; VIII
lis V Morris. Washington: Jay p. Hopkins.
Michigan: Charles F. Martin, Arkansas;
Edwin G. Davis. Idaho; Leroy 7. Hiliman-
Indie ia: Raymond H. Fenner. Montana:
Archibald II. Sunderland, Illinois; William
/. Wcstervelt. Texas: Charles NJ. Wesson,
Maryland: Walter S. Grant. New York;
Upton Birnie. jr., Pennsylvania. Ernest Z.
Alien. hissOuTl, JuildH a. btHJdiuiu. az
large; Charles L. J. Frohwtter. Massachu-
setts: Clarence Deems. jr., Maryland:
James p. Robinson. Kansas: Robert Z.
Wood, Missouri: Morton C. Mumma. Ohio;
Clifford c. Carson. Indiana: Frank p.
Amos. Nebraska: Herman Glade. Indiana:
Arthur p. S. Hyde. New York: Edward P.
Nones, Kentucky; Harry E. Mitchell. Illi-
nois; Verne Las. Rockwell. Pennsylvania:
Lewis S. Morey, Texas: Robert T. Jackson.
oria n En,1f,, lrr--
John McManus Pennsylvania; Fred C.
Doyle. Massachusetts; James Goethe. South |
Carolina; Frank S. Bowen, Nebraska; |
Presley X. Brice. South Carolina: John |
w Wilen, West Virginia; Samuel r. |
Gleaves, Virginia; George 3. Comfy. at |
large; George Perkins. Wisconsin: John |
Watson. Kansas; Augustine Mcintyre, Ten |
nessee; Richard NJ. Thomas. Pennsylvania; |
Charles G. Harvey. Missouri: Dennis II. |
Currie, Texas; Jerome G. Pillow. Arkansas: |
Leonard W. Prunty. Kansas, and Louis |
Soieliac, jr., New York.