The Washington herald., 1916-06-05

Although the Secretary of War will not
take up the question of appointing in the
general officers of the army created by
the reorganization bill on July l, there
is considerable speculation in army circles
as to who will be appointed. 1t is gen
orally believed that Brig. Gen. Albert L.
Mills. chief of the bureau of militia af-
fairs, will be promoted to the grade of
ma jor general. which comes with the first
Increment General Mills is not only the
senior birgadier general but is acknowl-
eyed to be one of the sblest general Of
fiCers in the army.
Two of the five colonels who will be
promoted to brigadier general will prob
ably be allotted to the infantry. For
these vacancies Col. Edwin F Glen, Chief
of the Staff of the Eastern department,
Col. F. H French, Col. George Young,
and Col c. W. Kennedy. General Staff.
are mentioned most frequently. Col. Glen
is especially prominent in this connection
and if referendum vote of the infantry
was taken he would probably be elected
by a large majority.
Col George A Dodd. on account Of his
brilliant service in Mexico. it is generally
believed has won the vacancy of briga-
dier general that will be allotted to the
cavalry. Col Granger Adams. president
Of the field artillery board, has been
picked out by the spectators as the
most probable appointee from the field
artillery. Col s. f. Allen and Col. w.
G. Haan are being spoken of as the most
probable appointees from the coast artil-
lery.
A new system of conducting target
practice has been adopted for the coast
artillery this year which will result in
many novel experiments. Under the new
regulations the commanders OF the diff
ferent forts are authorized to Use half of
the ammunition in any firing problem that
they may select The batteries are mark
ed on the firing that is prescribed by the
War Department. but the comma nders
are to make reports upon the Independent
target practice that is conducted.
At Pensacola the coast defense bat
taries practiced land firing It was as
sumed that the enemy had effected a
landing and the mortars were turned
upon the imaginary army. This army was
located in a large island which gave the
defense an opportunity to show what
could be done in the way Of defending a
fort from land attacks.
Preliminary reports show that the coast
defense are making some excellent rec
ords at this years target practice. The
Thirteenth Company at Fort Miley, Cal,
A. fired at a moving target at A range
Of from 1OOO0 to 12,2OO yards with its l2-
inch motor battery. 1t landed four shells
out of twelve on the deck of the battle
ship which was sailing at rate Of 7.3
miles per hour.
The SiXty-fourth Company at Fort Win
field Scott. Cal. in command Of Second
Lieut. L. L. Moreton, L. S. A. with 10
inch guns at a range of 800 to 300 yards
made four hits out of seven shots. The
target was moving at the rate of nine and
one-half miles per hour and the seven
shots were fired IN three and eight-tenths
, minutes.
An experiment of maintaining a sys-
tenn of quick lunch counters on a bat
tleship is being made on the New
! York and has proved to be such a
success that the system may be ex-
tended throughout the fleet.
A preliminary report states: The
question of serving food direct to the
individual has been given a certain
amount of consideration for a number
of years. but the time that must
| elapse from the time when the first
man in the line presented himself un-
! til the last one was served, and the
distance some of the men would have
| to go to reach their tables offered Sc
rious obstacles to the scheme. Finally
| the idea of establishing several sub
stations in the different parts of the
ships from which food could be served
| presented itself and the problem ap-
| peared to be solved
Before the ship left New York. in
January. enough 1s-inch oval serving
trays. extra bowls and individual but.