Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-15
Officers Of Volunteers
BY Frederic 7. Haskin

Washington, D. c., July 12.-With
the certainty of considerable increase
in the regular army and the POSSIBLE.
ity OLA general call for volunteers
which has existed for many weeks,
there is much public interest in the
question Of how these new troops will
be off1cered In the event of call for
large number of men, commissioned
officers as we'll as privates and non
CONS must be drawn from the civilian
population. ,..,.. .s ..t
There are several provisions already
In operation bearing on the subject.
Under the term civilian" the regular
army man groups, every one who Is
not regular army man. There are
hence different classes of civilians,
with different qualifications for the
duties of commissioned officers and
such qualifications will have great
weight in the final selections. ...t
At present there are two possibili-
ties for the civilian to obtain an army
commission. One of these is his
chance for a commission in the vol.
the other is his chance for second
lHc IC6uIdl
Whether there will be any call for
officers of volunteers depends OF
course in the flrst place. on whether
it will be finally necessary to raise a
volunteer army; and also on how that
army is raised. If the country de-
cides to adopt state volunteering sys-
TEN, then the appointment of officers
will rest with the state governors
but if the volunteer force Is federal
body, raised by the. nation at large
the qualifications of the applicant are
passed on by a board composed OF
army officers. .......,, - '-
That the later method Is considered
probable, however, is shown by the
fact that there are already many appli-
cations on file with the war depart.
ment for appointment as officers OF
volunteers. The applicants are divid-
ed into three classes-men from any
walk of life who have successfully
passed the examination for volunteer
commission; graduates of schools to
which officers of the army are detailed
as professors of military science, who
have been recommended as especially
qualified. and officers and enlisted men
of the militia, former officers or en-.
listed men of the regular army or the
volunteers in previous wars, and 9th
ers who have been recommended by
the board of officers appointed to pass
on the qualifications of the candidates.
From these lists the volunteer officers
will be selected should the volunteer
force be federal body.
The applicants really divide them
selves into the men with special mill
tary qualifications and those whose
civilian record goes to show that they
will make efficient officers. The Of
ficers and men OF the national guard
for whom provision Is made are prac.
tically eliminated from the situation
by the general mobilization OF the
guard before any call for volunteers.
Men who have received special train.
ing in accredited military schools un-
der army officers are classed separate.
ly, and with them are classed college
men who have attended two camps Of
instruction for college students, and
who have been recommended by the
camp commanders for appointment.
The candidates who have passed the
examinations for volunteer commits
sions are perhaps the most represen-
tative class, drawn as they are from
the general public. The tine and
place for such examinations are, left
to the discretion of the secretary OF
war. In view Of the fact that there
would be a call for hundreds II not
thousands of officers should the call
ever go out for half a million volun-
teers. the nature Of this examination
is arousing a good deal of interest. ..
The examinations given to candi-
dates for commissions in the regular
army, however, indicate In what such
an. examination would consist. Since
the passage of recently enacted legis-
lation, there has been chance for
the civilian to obtain second lieu
tenancy-the lowest commissioned Of
f1cer's ranking-in the regular army OF
the United States. With the increase
provided for in that force, the pros
poets of the civilian who wants COM
mission are proportionately brighter,
though at best they are not compar-
able to his chances for obtaining a
similar rank in the volunteers. - -
The standard source Of army offi-
GERS is Ct course the military acad-
envy at West Point. Any vacancies