Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-10
AWAITING RETURN OF TAFT
ACTING SECRETARY WILL NOT
RENDER A DECISION.
Action Pending In Case Of Field Of
ficers Who Failed to Qualify for
Horsemanship Test.

The advanced stand taken by the Pres
ident in the matter of physically testing
the condition Of officers OF the army, In
the face OF strong pressure from CONNER
cial bodies throughout the country in ia
vor Of the retention in service Of engineer
and other staff officers, who, though per-
fectly competent to discharge their ordi-
nary duties, would probably be unable to
respond to the demands Of active cam
paign service has filled with apprehension
number Of the senior officers OF the
grades between captain and colonel in
elusive. Because the President in his
original letter directing the riding test
referred only to field Officers. it was in
some quarters believed that he might be
willing to waive the application Of such q
test to staff officers whose duties In time
of peace do not carry them into the held
In his recent message to Congress the
President indicated, however. contrary
purpose, and the latest order to the army
exceeds in severity the test originally pro-
posed, and will probably be the means OF
causing the summary retirement from the
army of considerable number OF ofhcers.
All sorts of comments are made as to
the Presidents order for q ninety-rnile
ride every year. One officer frankly de-
clared that the President had gone horse
mad" while another Endorsed the scheme
as a good way to rid the army OF molly
Goddess"
Failed to Quality.
Acting Secretary Oliver and Gen. Bell,
chief Of staff, have been considering what
shall be done in the cases Of about thirty
field officers who failed to qualify for the
recent horsemanship test and were exam
ined for retirement. The list includes
some of the ablest officers Of the army,
notably several engineers engaged in
highly responsible work for the govern
ment. Although the report of the retfr-
ing board has not been made public. it Is
understood that the board reported only a
few Of the officers examined actually in
capacitated for active military duty and
that the majority were able to perform
the duties now in their charge, but were
not able to take long horseback rides
without more or less risk because Of i'm
perfect heart action. In other words,
these officers were all right so long as they
avoided shock or violent action. The
question as to whether these officers not
actually incapacitated for the performance
able to take violent exercise, should be
summarily retired or allowed to remain
on the active list involves highly i'm
portant principle which would establish
military precedent.
Action Postponed.
In view Of the early return Of Secre-
tary Taft, who is expected to reach here
within the next few days. acting Secre-
tary Oliver has concluded to defer action
on these cases for the present.
Many important interests are involved
in the settlement Of some Of these cases.
especially that Of Col Marshall. the en-
gineer officer in charge of river and har-
Dor works in the vicinity of New York, in
GLIDING the Ambrose channel. The cham
Der of commerce and other influential
bodies at New York have protested Wig
orously against the retirement Of Col.
Marshall so long as he Is able to perform
the important work now in his charge.