The Washington herald., 1916-05-21
By r., u, JOHNS.

Under the army bill as passed there
will be over LOO promotions in the army
effective July !. This means that about
LOO officers will be compelled 10 pass
examinations. as under the bill officers
up to the rank Of lieutenant colonel are
required to take examinations in the nigh
er branches of military science. As thef =
are no funds for transportation Of OIL
GERS boards will be created at every p 'st
where the examinations will take place.
Although the details have not yet been
worked out it is believed that there will
be more promotions i'm the Medical COrDS
than in any other part Of the army. II"
field artillery will come next on account
of the great increase in the number 0i
organizations. The provisions for to-
equalization of promotion will work ont
very GaYorabIy to the cavalry and five or
six ma jors will jump the grade of lieu
tenant colonel. All Of the second lieu
tenants in the army will bc promoted
Even those that graduated from West
Point last Iunc will 20 up to first lied
tenant July !.
There will he some vacancies m the
army after the Class at West Point %
commissioned. and in all probability
there will be an examination for enlisted
men OF the army and civilians.
If the provision under which the num-
bcr Of medical officers is fixed Al seven
to every 100 enlisted men Of the army
goes into effect Immediately, there will
he about GSl vacancies in tn" Medical
Corps on July ]. There is some doubt a
to just when this provision goes into cI-
feet, and it will probably be submitted
to the Judge Advocate General
Tho bill sets forth that unless other
Wise pi divided the nCreas" shall be made
in five annual inCremcnts The Medical
CorTs provision simply sets forth the
ratio Of officers to enlisted men without
any reference to incremcnts. This would
appear to make the change effective inn
mcdiately.
On this basis there should be about
- Medical Corps officers in the army.
while at present thcr" are Hl on the
active list after deduuIin@ the reserve
corps officers that are on active duty.
Although the distribution of officers
among different grades has not yet been
worked out accurately. it is roughly cs-
timatcd that if the Law -o"s into effect
Immediately 10y July there will be
created eleven additional c0lpneIs. twenty
additional lieutenant cOlonel~ and ninety
two additional majors. The balance Of
the increase will be distributed among
captains ard lioutenan,s.
A'ibf ulilz 10 l'l 'll|llNllstl - .l Alr ll'iltS
the Dr motions in the army will include
one brigadirr general to 4 major general
and five colonies to brIEadier generals
Under the terms Of the bill only colonies
can he promoted to hrigadier generals
and the major generals must be selected
from the list Of hrigad!er generals. This
will prevent the President from jumping
lieutenant colonols and even majors over
officers in the grade Of colonel
The promotions m the infantry on july
!. will be twenty-one lieutenant coloneIs
10 colonies. thirty-eiSht majors to lieu
tenant col"nols. eIghty-sIN captains to
majors 90 first ncuteauts to captains.
In the "a airy tWentN-Cour lieutenant col
oHels to coloncls thirt Zone majors to
lieutenant colonies. ffty-one captains to
major, 16, first liruteuauts to captains.
- second Heutenants to first lieutenants
In the coast artillery four liCuteUantS col
OUels to COlOue.& eight ma iors to lieu
tenant colonies. four captains to ma iors.
eIEhty-niue nrst heutenants to aptainS
1853 second HCuteuants t. first HeuteuauIs
The held artillery depends upon the
number OF three battalion regiments that
are created. 1t is stated that there will