Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-16
SHORTAGE OF OFFICERS

A RMY commissions are going beg
IN cling. Various plans to attract APP
n plicants are of no avail. Presi-
dent Roosevelt has come forward with
plan which is looked upon as an un-
likely expedient. His plan is for the
governor of each state to designate a
member Of the organized militia for
examination next July by the war de-
partment. There are about 400 vacan-
cies in the grade of second lieutenant.
To reduce the percentage of shortage
the first class in the military academy
at West Point will be graduated next
month. In commenting upon the I'M
willingness of many young men to ac-
cept the appointments to the national
academy the New York Sun says:
"It is now thirty-seven years since
the pay of American army officers was
raised. Meanwhile the cost of living,
which includes the furnishing of quar-
tiers, has increased almost 80 per cent
Foreign service and frequent changes
of station at home have entailed ex-
penses for moving families and house,
hold goods which did not have to be
borne before the Spanish war. In nine
years, to take a fragrant instance, COM
pany II of the Sixteenth infantry
changed it's post thirty times and
Travelled 51,765 miles! If an officer has
to travel with troops he gets no mileage
allowance; when he can draw mileage
it is sufficient only for the expenses of
himself and one member of his family.
A change Of stations sometimes costs
him several hundred dollas, and again
he may have to maintain two establish
ments. Nothing but the hope Of living
to draw retired pay in old age keeps
many officers in the army under the
present harassing conditions of subsis-
tence. They would not be human If
they went out of their way to urge
young men to seek commissions"
Under the law enlisted men have pre-
cedence over civilians when vacancies
exist in the commissioned ranks and
there are not enough West Point gradu-
ates to fill them. At Fort Leavenworth
recently only fourteen enlisted men
were competing for 203 vacancies in the
grade of second lieutenant which could
be, filed during this fiscal year. OF
these vacancies there were eighteen in
the engineers, nineteen in the cavalry
nineteen in the field artillery, seventy
six in the coast artillery and seventy
one in the infantry. A heroic attempt
was made recently to obtain second
lieutenants for the coast artillery, the
complement of which was increased by
the last congress. The presidents of 125
colleges and technical schools were In
formed that the war department would
welcome applications by the graduates;
in fact, it was intimated that commits
sions awaited those who desired an
army career. At the end of four months
not an application had been received
direct from the institutions canvassed
Forty-eight civilians have since been
examined for commissions at Fort
Leavenworth, and among them were
"a few college graduates" But If 1T
is difficult to obtain second lieutenants
for the army, it is only less difficult to
keep officers of the lower grades in the
army. inc ratio Oh ItSlSuS1liOiS SNCeiu-
ily rises. Between 1890 and 1900 there
was an average of eight designations a
wear; between 1901 and 1904 the average
was twenty-three and a half; twenty
FIVE officers resigned in 1905 and forty
in 1906. Recently several men promoted
from the ranks left the army; one Of
them had been in the enjoyment Of his
coveted commission only six months.
Perhaps the worst phase of the blight
from which the army suffers is the dis
inclination of many young men to re-
port at West Point for examination
after receiving appointments as cadets.
Increased cost of living is a burden
which has fallen most heavily upon
men in the government employ where
their wages are fixed arbitrarily by law.
Therein lies the cause of the disinclina-
ton of young officers to remain in the
service. With the solution of the prob
lem Of increase Of price OF necessities