Omaha daily bee., 1912-07-05
CURRENT GOSSIP IN ARMY CIRCLES
Trend Of Affairs Noted by Army and Navy Register

library on June to consider the subjec
of standard dimensions for the nationa
flag and Union Jack, has submitted 1t,
report. and an executive order signed BY
the president. officially prescribing thu
relative dimensions of the national flag
Is printed elsewhere In this ISSUE Al
present the army uses flags Of differen
proportions from those of the navy, while
the flags flown from the buildings of the
other seven departments are different
from either. On and after July al
national flags must conform to the fol.
lowing proportions: Hoist or width oi
flag, /; fly. or length of flag 10; hois,
OF union, 7-l3; fly of union, 76; width oi
each stripe, 1-13. The executive ordel
prescribes twelve sizes of flags, from q
c0-foot hoist to a l.31-foot hoist. Priol
to this order. the army used sizes, the
navy O. and the other departments s.
sizes. The prescribed proportions are
those In use by the navy. All flags with
hoist Of over five feet must contain forty
eight stars in the union; with hoists OF
less than five feet the union must con
tain thirteen stars. Another change rec
commended by the board was that one
flag be adopted for the use of the presi
dent At present the army uses red anG
the navy blue for the field of the presi
dents flag, The presidents flag was es'
tablished by the navy regulations in 1882
while the army established a president.
flag in 1896 The president has decided
that the color of the field of his flas
shall be blue.
New Appointments.
AS has been forecasted In these
columns for several weeks the president
on Thursday sent to the senate the nomi.
nation Of Brigadier General w. w
Wotherspoon to be major general, and
Brigadier General Clarence r. Edwards
chief Of the insular bureau, and Col.
onels g. F. Chase and e. ]. McClernand
OF the cavalry arm, to be brigadier gen
erals. One result Of these appointments
will be to create vacancy at the head
Of the insular bureau. 1t is expected that
Colonel Frank Mcintyre Of the infantry
arm will be. appointed to succeed Gen,
eral Edwards, promotion that officer
has earned by his performance of duty
as the principal assistant OF the head
Of the bureau of insular affairs. Presi-
dent Taft will have the opportunity OF
appointing two more brigadier generals
before March 4, 1918, since Colonel Chase
retires by operation of law on July %
and Colonel McClernand will reach the
retiring age on December 20 Of this year.
It is expected that one of these pros
pective vacancies will go to a colonel
Of the coast artillery and the other to
q colonel of infantry. Among those
named from the former branch are Col
onels c. ]. Bailey, F. s. Strong and J.
p. Wiser, the last named being the
senior officer Of the grade. Among those
named as under consideration in the in.
fantry arm are Colonels r. w. Mans.
field, ]. T, Van Orsdale, C. D. Cowles
II. A. Green. and 2. F. Glenn. The list
Of .'eligibles'' are not by any means con.
fined % colonies Of the line, one junior
officer who has been mentioned beins
Captain Charles r. Howland, Twenty.
first infantry, who is on duty In the
office Of the Judge advocate general OF
the army.