The Washington herald., 1915-12-11
BY r.. n. JOHNS.

| Tho ARMY reorganization bill submitted
by Chairman Chamberlain of the Sen
ate Committee on Military Affairs abol-
ishes the grade Of brigadier general In
the army. 1t also creates the grade OF
lieutenant general which title Is TO De
| held by the chief Of stah
The navy organization Is Followed oS
the Chamberlain bill in creating 'wo KINDS
OF major generals to take tho place OF
| the present grades of major general and
! bricadier general. Part CT the major
generals will have the pay and allow
| ances OF tn. pres srnt hrigadier generals
| while the upper major generals VIII nave
| the paw and allowances Of the present
major generals The same general plan
OF creating an upper and lower major
general, as is now in effect in the navy.
in arranging the rank of the upper ana
lower rear admirals is followed. Inc
navy is followed also in creating the
rank Of lieutenant general. There is a
feeling in the army that If there are to
be full admirals and vice admirals in
the navy the land force should at least
have a liuetenant general.
Those who are in favor of the abolish
ment Of the grade of brigadier general
call attention to the fact that this title
does not exist in any other army. In the
army the grade OF brigadier general is
a parallel to that of commodore in the
navy which was abolished some time ago
The Army and Navy Journal today
will say: in a statement given out
with the War College military policy
report, the Secretary of War attempts
to discredit the document and create
the impression that 1t represents the
work of only a few officers serving at
the War College. He does this by de-
claring that the general stan Is COM
posed of four divisions. He says these
divisions are the Mobile Army Divis-
ion, the Coast Artillery Division. the
Division of Militia Affairs and the War
College Division. The official list and
directory does not give the officers on
duty at the headquarters of the Coast
Artillery and with the Division of MI
Iitia Affairs as members of the gen.
eral staff 1t will be news to these
officers when they read that they have
ben assigned to the general stan by
the secretary of war. The chief Of
the Coast Artillery and the chief OF
the Division of Militia Affairs are ex-
officio members of the general stan.
but the Coast Artillery officers on
duty at the War Department and those
in the Division of Militia Affairs are
not members of the general stan. al
though this would be inferred from
the statement given out by the Secre-
tary Of War, with the evident purpose
of discrediting the report of the War
College Division of the general stan.
The fact that the Mobile Army Di-
vision of the general staff has not
been asked to pass upon the War Col
lege study Is due solely to the action
of the Secretary of War. 1t was un-
derstood that the entire general staff
xronld ha alloue cd m ia Tt iciDate in the
work of formulating a comprehensive
military policy. But this should not
be allowed to detract from the merit
Of the study made by the War Col
lege. The Secretary knows that the
War College in it's study took under
consideration all of the work thao has
been done on the subject at the War
College for the past fifteen years. 1t
also had before il reports from prac-
tically all Of the general officers on
the active list and many distinguished
Officers who are now retired. The
Secretary Is perfectly aware that IL
the War College study was submitted
to a referendum vote of the officers
of the army IL would receive practical
ly unanimous Endorsement. All OF
the essential features Of the report
represent the views of the army de-
spite the Secretary.s insinuation that
IL Is the product of only the War Col
lese Division Of the general staff"
The acceptance OF the resignation of
Lieut.. E. c. Oak. U. S. N, closes the |
growing out OF the. explosion |
in the BOILER room OF the San Diego,
which occurred six or seven months |
ago The flagship OF the Pacific fleet
vas on q full speed trial trip when her
boiler blew IN. killing eight or nine en-