New-York tribune., 1907-11-11
ARMY NOT FOR POOR.
Il PESSIMTSTIC VIEW.
officers Pay Too Small to Support
Families, Says Gen. GreeIy.

Seattle, Wash. Nov 10 CspeciaD Unless a man
wants TO be in debt right along and support his
family largely through the charity of his relatives
he should keep out of the army. according 10
Major General Adolphus w. Greedy commander of
the Department of the Columbia.
General Greely vino will be retired next March.
sees the army becoming a place for rich aristo-
Gratis. or else merely aggregation Of paupers
He has made an economic study of the subject, and
his figures are somewhat startling.
1T is getting now. said General Greely in an in
terview. 80 that in ordinary circumstances
cannot afford to send his into the army Ap-
pointments made from three sources-from
West Point. from the ranks and from civil life
There nincty-eight vacancies in the army AT
the present time. and they cannot be filled from
the two first named sources the third must be de-
pended upon
Young men in civil life are allowed to become
officers by first undergoing a rigid physical and
mental examination at Leavenworth. Kan. but it
seems that young do not want to take ad-
vantage of that opportunity any more / am prl-
vately Informed that out of the last list of young
men from colleges and other places designated by
the President to take the examination less than
one-half did so This is an alarming indication Of
the indifference of young men to-day to army NE
II is most deplorable. and requires remeoY.
THE salary allowance is too small and promo
tion is too slow. a second lieutenant gets salary
Of 81 40 a year. equivalent to Sll6 month or 81
day out of this he has pay for his uniform and
equipment besides household expenses. The scale
of wages in the army has not been raised in thirty
seven wears IL is the 1870 basis In 1897
ITO find out the financial status Of officers in
this department wrote to thirty-four officers sta
toned at widely distributed pogts and learned that
the average officer pays out q cent in excess or
his salary allowance each year. Some of them keep
expenses down by sending their families off 10 visit
relatives at frequent intervals Such conditions are
a poor stimulus to marriage
The average family OF officer comprises four
persons and tho expenses I'm detail are follows:
Household expenses including food, furniture, SER
wants fuel and light 81 4S7 81; uniforms and cloth
ing S45s IS; charity and religion. So; educaton'
sos 81; insurance S177 o. recreation S9S @3; furn-
ture loss in changing stations s9 25 cost of chang
ing stations for the family s1S4 4S; separate homes
necessitated by foreign service. 1929 81
Some OF the officers succeed in keeping our ot
debt but only by exercising much selfdoniaI The
average officer does not spend more than eight
cents a day apiece for himself and members OF his
family 1t takes an officer eight years 10 advance
from a second 10 a first 1eutenancy which means
an increase of day in pay II takes twenty
more years to advance 10 captaincy. and that
means IS or 81 day-about the wage OF plaSterer
these DAYS It takes thirty-siX years for an officer
10 reach his majority.
THE army at present is not aristocratic- II i7
most thoroughly democratic and representative Of
Americanisn One-fourth of its officers have risen
from it's ranks