The Washington times., 1902-12-14

but constrained, reserved, and unconge-
nial, discouraging, perhaps uninteutiOu-
ally. the advances made toward them.
When they happen TO be married. or
even If they have relatives visiting them.
the situation becomes stiu more difficult
As a rule. the wives OF the officers Of
regiment form. so TO speak. a clique
or set Of their own. like some big FAM
lily. and 10 is not always possible 90 In
troduce with success into such @ little
world as this q woman devoid Of the adj
vantages Of birth and breeding
The result OF all this Is that when an
officer has risen from the ranks. be sell
dom remains for any length Of time with
his regiment. but soon seeks some sep
arate assignment which viii have he ef-
feet of enabling him TO get away from
his fellow officers and from their faml-
lies. condemned IN that case to lead O.
life vet more solitary, since his rank a.
a commissioned officer and the care
which he Is obliged TO exercise 20 dis
courage any familiarity on the part OF
the men under his command compel
him TO refrain from holding with them
anything but strictly cflciaI intercourse.
American officers Views.
An argument. uncharitabIe and un-
kindly. but true. was put forward a cou-
pie OF years ago by an American Gag OF
dcer. now dead against the promotion
of a warrant officer 10 the rank Of lieu
tenant ia the navy. In the marine forces
Of the United States. as in those OF Great
Britain. the epaulets OF an officer have
until now been accepted. both AZ home
and abroad ds an assurance that Tho
wearer was q gentleman Of birth. breed
ing. and education, and he has been well
coined everywhere as such on TIE
strength Of this.
The epaulet viii cease to constitute
a passport If it becomes known that 10
Is granted TO men promoted from before
the mast and who do not have that
knowledge and experience Of the ways o.
the world nor yet that breeding which
one is accustomed 20 look for IN evcry
one of the naval officers Of Uncle Sam
and Of John Bull.
While there are many officers OF tine
reserve forces on the Continent OF bOur-
geois birth who owe their commissions
TO the fact that they were able. as grad
yates of the national schools. 20 limit
their obligatory military service to the
term of one year. and at the end of that
time 20 pass an examination as an officer
Of the reserve force. yet there are et the
present moment extremely few officers
Ia any OF the Continental armies Of hum
bic origin who may be described as hav-
ing been promoted from the ranks.
In Germany. Austria. and. In fact. all
over the Continent, the officers who have
adopted soldering as q profession and
who form part OF the standing army. are
as a rule men OF bhth and education.
This is especially the case in Germany
In France. TOO. the old saying about
each private having I'm his knapsack the
baton of a field marshal can no longer
be said 10 apply 20 the conditions OF the
present time. The officers Of the stand
Ing army are nearly every one of them
graduates OF St Cyr SOumur and OF the
other military colleges. and today more
than ever In republican France, as IN
monarchical Germany. the educational
and also social qualifications Of COM
manding officers are required 10 be OF
such a high order as 20 render alto
gether ineXpediont the practice in vogue
during the first half OF the nineteenth
century OF promotion from the ranks.
X-ATTACHE.