New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-03-11
CREA TING ARMY OFFICERS.
ADJUTANT-G GENERALS PLAN TO COM
MISSION VOLUNTEERS NOW IN
SERVICE ADOPTED.
TBY TELEGRAPH TO THE ra1BuSE.I


Washington, March 10.-Nearly nine hundred
vacancies in the commissioned grade OF the
regular army, created by the reorganization and
increase legislation of the second session of the
LVIth Congress, remain to be filed. They are
all life appointments. with retired list privileges
and prospective pensions for dependents. and it
is not remarkable that more than ten thousand
applicants are pressing for the prizes backed in
most cases by the strongest political ndorse-
ments. The physical impossibiltiy OF weighing
the merits Of these ten thousand applications is
well recognized, and the chances are that they
are TO be practically ignored by the President in
making his selections, except in any insignif-
cant proportion which may be brought to his
attention after the great bulk of the appoint
ments decided and further vacancies still
remain open.
1t may be said that the President and Score
tary Of War. even IL no other considera lions
were involved, were convinced of the futility of
attempting to choose good military commanders
from the unwieldy mass of ten thousand pack
ages of letters and recommendations. and would
have been driven to ignore them under any cir
cumstances. Fortunately other and better
means Of discharging the great responsibility OF
filling the lower grades of the army with men
who will rise to command in the next genera
ton have appealed TO the appointing authori-
ties, and in the short time remaining for de-
cision It is almost certain that they will be
adopted.
The plan is the proposition of Adjutant-Gen-
eral Corbin, who is animated solely by the well
fare of the service. and If his advice is taken.
in the next one hundred days all officers in the
augmented army will be in possession of the
commissions they have earned in active service
without any interference from the long armed
patronage brokers. His plan which has the
support Of the whole army. is simple. direct And
E1aa in
be illustrated by its application TO the twenty
eight vacancies in the Pay Corps. There are
now thirty volunteer pay officers whose com
missions terminate by law on June 30 In the
TWO years Of comparative disorder incident to
the uncertain state OF the army, its employment
at great distances from headquarters and the
opportunities presented for irregularities, not
defalcation or a questioned account has
CURED. These volunteer paymasters have been
continually in the field, often on the hghtlng
line discharging their work in the face of ex-
traordinary embaTassments and have repeat
edly and continually proved their worth. Two
of them have been disabled in the performance
of duty and twenty-eight remain to fill the
twenty-eight vacancies without having to be
trained and fitted for them General Corbin
would wait until their commissions as volun-
teers expire one hundred and ten days hence
and promptly commission them in the regular
establi hTnent. About six hundred vacancies
have been created in the grade Of second lieu
tenant in the various military arms. More than
seven thousand applications nave oeen hleu LOT
these places, nearly five thousand with the
emphatic Endorsement Of United States Senators
The perplexity therefore that arises as to the
Senator'S who should not be displeased, and the
question of the efficiency of the service alto
gether disappears
There two thousand volunteer second lleu-
tenants now in the Philippines and other centres
of army activity The character of service per-
formed by each of these men is definitely known
from their records. from the reports Of senior
officers and from iudisputable sources. From
this two thousand it is possible to select six
hundred officers with absolute certainty of get
| ting deserving, capable men not only ready Tor
service but in nearly every instance actually at
he