New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-12

situation, any man was likely TO be
called 70 take charge Of his fellows and
! tell them what to do. Unless man
paid the strictest attention to every
word that was said and every move that
was made during the entire exercise he
ran the risk of being placed in an ex-
ceedingly embarrassing position.
Il was a trick of one or two In
structors to call on any man not pay
ing attention TO business. The result
was that before long everybody was on
his toes all the time, which in some
respects makes thi. method superior
/ To the old system, where one man has
! to do virtually all of the thinking and
| the others can march along and take
| in the scenery.
| At such pace as this some were
] bound TO fall out and succumb to those
"stapqerine doses" The maximum
! strength Of the camp was 800. Now
1900 remain. The losses have been
| about equal between the New York and
New England contingent. OF this mum.
Der about 5000 receive commissions OF
one kind or another in the Regular ana
National armies.
On August the instructors
were abba to set apart the TT
from the unfit, to determine those
who had proven themselves capable
of the responsibilities of officers OF
tn. line. A most minute record had
been kept of the performance OF every
man, showing his progress day by day
and almost hour by hour from the time
h. entered camp. Guided by these re-
markable three-months biographies,
each company commander prepared and
! submitted to headquarters q roster OF
the men who stood highest. Colonel
| Wolf forwarded these lists to Wash
ington for formal approval by the War
Department.
In NO Mans Land"
For ten days-until yesterday-the
! Camp groped in the mo Mans Land" OF
doubt "Where do l stand?" was the
eternal question on every lip and In
every mind. The suspense was ended
| Friday. On Wednesday the approved
lists were returned by the War De-
partment. Yesterday, while civilians
were carefully excluded from ear shot
each organization was formed IN its
company street while the company com
mander read of the names of those
commissioned together with their ranks
! major captain, first or second lieu
tenant.
The swearing in was commenced AZ
once, but every man was placed on ms
absolute word of honor not to dlvuige
TO any civilian information as to his
or any one else's fate until the names
were given out to the newspapers IN
Washington. The names Of the Ne"
England camp winners appeared IN the
evening papers, but the relatives and
friends of New Workers will not kno"
the result until Monday morning. On
I Tuesday. the last day Of the camp. the
fortunate candidates will receive theiI
assignments to the Conscription OF
Regular army cantonments, where they
must report by September J.: =,
The best forty-five men from eacr
company will be assigned 70 command;
in active service with the National
Army. These will represent platts'
bure's contribution to the FIRST Len
Thousand, who, in the words OF AdJu,
tant General Mccain, shall be the oeS'
natural leaders the country AFFORDS
Forty-fve additional men VINO hsVe
made good will be selected from eacn
| company for duty with the National
Army as assistant instructors. lhese
men will have no commands.
Six hundred of the younger men
many If whom have determined on the
army as career. have qualined lol
second lieutenancies in the regulars
The frst l20 Of these will get assign
ments at once. Two hundred men toI
.he ouartermaster corps, seventy-nve
ordnance officers and twenty intelli,
oence officers have been commissioned
Prom each regiment. Ten men from
each company are listed to repeat the
course in the next training camp
Those who receive no commissions VIII
he given first consideration in the selec'
tom of non-commissioned officers foI
the National forces.
Percentage Of Failures Low
Colonel Wolf was asked il he did
not think the percentage Of men fail
ing TO obtain commissions was rather
high, considering the care with which
candidates had been selected In the be-
! ginning.
"I think the perce,sAse is rather
low" the colonel responded. THE
average civilian has little idea OF the
severe mental and physical standards
set by the army. At West Point, where
the entrance requirements arc many
times more diffcult than they were
here. so per cent fail to finish the
, course. The percentage of failures
psed to be higher than that. One hun