The Washington herald., 1916-04-12
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The Herald's Army and Navy Department
Latest and Most Complete News of Service and Personnel Published
In Washington.
by e. b. JOHNS.

A fight will be made to incorporate in
to the Naval appropriation bill an amens-
ment creating a General Stan for the
navy. The advocates Of this plan for
the organization for the Navy declare
that the chief of naval operations, which
was created by the last appropriation
bill. is only a step in the right direc-
Of operations under the law which he
is working. is not in a position to work
out war problems on broad lines.
The advocates Of the General STAFF idea
will not propose their amendment as a
reflection upon Admiral Benson. the pres
cnt chief of naval operations. The ex-
cellent work he has done, they insist,
is only an argument for a General Staff
that Is organized upon the same pTin-
Ciple as that of the army. The proposal
of the Secretary of War to give the chief
of naval operations the rank OF admiral,
it is argued, is virtually an admission
that the navy needs General Staff. Not
only should the chief of naval operations
have higher rank but his assistants
higher grades or be given higher rank
while serving in the office of the chief
of naval operations.
The amendment will provide for the
detail of a sufficient number of officers
of adequate rank to give the navy a
General Staff that can not only prepare
it for war but shape the entire policy Of
the navy. In this organization the
naval war college and the general board
will be divisions or sections Of the Gen
eral STAFF. 1t is insisted that the navy
will never have a settled policy until It
has a General STAFF which can co-or-
dinate not only the work of the bu-
reaus but of the general board and War
College.
An amendment to the army appropria-
tion bill by which National Guard offi-
GERS between the ages of q and S5 years
shall be appointed first lieutenants in
the regular army is being urged by the
National Guard Association. 1t will be
provided that those who come into the
regular army in this manner shall have
served ten years in the National Guard
and shall have passed a special exami-
nation.
There will be no objections to such a
provision from the War Department II
National Guardsmen are required 10
pass the same examination that regular
army officers do in being promoted from
second to first lieutenants Naturally
there will be serious objections made by
the General Staff il the standard of ex-
aminations for first lieutenants is low
cred to favor the candidates for commits
sions in the regular army from the Ma
tional Guard.
A better plan, in the opinion of the
authorities at the War Department.
would be to take National Guard offi-
GERS in the regular army as second ieu-
tenants. 1t is insisted at the War De-
partment that they should take practi-
cally the same examination that enlisted
men of the army do when they are pro-
NOTED. There is no reason why those
who served in the regular army should
be Disseminated against in fixing the
standard for examination, according to
the position taken by the military su-
thorities.
There will be opposition to the pro-
vision from the colleges il the amend.
ment provides for the filing OF all
vacancies in regular army commissions
from the National Guard. Most of the
large colleges and universities are pre-
pairing to raise the standards of their
military courses. This is being done with
the view of creating a course for re-
serve officers Some of the graduates
from the military departments will
doubtless make an effort to prepare
themselves for any examinations that
may be held for civilian candidates for
army commissions. For this reason the
colleges will object to any amendment
which would fill the vacancy in the army
exclusively from the National Guard