Evening star., 1909-06-20
System of Plucking Out.

/ Naval officers are manifesting anxiety
| over the selection of the .'plucking- out
board, which will meet July l to select
for retirement the number of officers
necessary to make the vacancies pre-
scribed by the naval personnel law.
There may be fifteen such compulsory
retirements of officers above the grade
Of lieutenant commander. There must
| be created nineteen vacancies, the num-
Der having been increased by decision
of the Secretary of the Navy that the
! retirement of three officers under the
! thirty-year service law may not be
deemed vacancies of the sort required
| by law.
| Against these nineteen vacancies to be
created will be placed the applications
| for retirement, and every effort is being
made to induce officers to apply for re-
trement, their voluntary action emitting
them to retirement at the next higher
grade. Officers who fear selection are
apt to apply. The applications will not
he opened until the last day of June,
when it will be known how many officers
tile ''plucking-out board Will have to
recommend for enforced retirement. The
system continues to engage criticism
from the senior officers who cannot rid
themselves of the fear of being selected
for retirement. Naval officers are talk
ing of very little else these days than
the annual pluckng out which is bound
to take place, and hardly any officer
who has reached the grade of commander
or captain feels safe against the uncer-
tainties of the decision OF the ''plucking-
out board.
Using Ram as Target.
The ram katahdin is to serve valu-
able purpose a fixed floating target
at Indian Head. Md. The operations there
have of late been so extensive that there
have not been available targets for all
the testing that has been undertaken.
The use of the old ram will therefore
be a decided aid to the work that is in
progress at Indian Head. She will be
anchored in the Potomac in line with
the Maryland shore, and armOr plates
will be attached to her sides to receive
the test shots that are to be made on
her. Her own armor iS but siX-inch and
would not long withstand some OF the
blows that will be laid upon her. Her
structure, however. is such as to with
stand heavy shocks.
No Pistols in Army.
In the new firing regulations that are
to go into effect January l, 1910, the
time honored word pistol which has
come down from a former age, will be
abandoned Although for hall century
the army has not, in fact, used pistol
as any part of it's ordnance, the word
has been kept in the regulations and has
been the official designation for the re-
NulSer Hereafter the word revolver
is to be used. 1t would seem, however,
that with the advent of an automatic
weapon without d revolving chamber the
word revolver" may some day become
equally inept.
Attack on Officers Mess.
Army officers messes, which exist at
most military posts for the convenience
of unmarried officers who band together
for economical subsistence, are the object
of attack by temperance organizations. 1t
is alleged that wines and liquors are dis
pensed at these meSSeS in violation of
the law which prohibits the sale of alco-
holie beverages within the limits of a
military reservation. On the other hand
1t is said that there is comparatively
are members of the messes who are tee
totalers. The drinking is only such as
officers individually desire and pay for.
Secretary Dickinson has refused to in
terfere in this matter. He considers that
the anti-canteen law does not apply to
the officers messes any more than ii
does to members of an officers family
or regulations issued from the War De-
partment interfering with the messes
The matter may be taken to Congress by
the temperance people.
Wireless to Submarines.
Experiments are being made by the
Electric Boat Company at Quincy to send
wireless messages from battleship to
submarine boats under water. The ex-
periments also include sending wireless
messages from one submarine to another.