Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-09-29
u. S. Army IS FAST
DROPPING OFFICERS
Unfit To Command--Expect Thous-
ands From Reserve Corps Will
Be Returned To Civil Life.
HIGHEST TYPE MEN WANTED
Twenty From Ranks. Ranging From
Colonel To Captain Reduced To
End Lieuts In O. M. C.

The War Department has commence
ed severe wedding out process in
the officers Reserve Corps II is
predicted that thousands of officers
will return to civil life before their
comrades reach France
The Department has found that
there is such an unprecedented de-
mand for commissions that it is pos
sible to pick men of the highest type
for virtually every position in the
Reserve Corps. There are thousands
of applications for commissions un-
answered from men of excellent tech
nical training.
WELDING The Pruning Knife.
The pruning knife just at present
is being used on the men, who had
commissions in the Officers Reserve
Corps before the United States be-
came a belligerent Under the Ma
tional Defense Act of 1916 the De-
partment was instructed to organize
a reserve corps of men of all pro-
fessions and business training who
would be available TO fit into the
fighting machine when the call came.
Departmental commanders wers
ordered to get men for the corps.
They found that virtually no one de-
sired to join. The War Department
blamed the apathy on the fact that
no machinery was created for the
organization of the corps There was
no advertising except that which APP
peared in occasional news items from
Washington AS result few men
applied for commissions.
When the Department found that
the vacancies were not being filed
the Departmental commanders were
prodded Thereupon they began to
accept men who could rot have pass
ed stiff examinations. Applicants
could almost pick the commissions
they desired
They Prove Incapable.
When the United States entered the
war all~of these men were ordered to
the reserve camps for training. Many
of them Immediately showed that
they were incapable of being prepar-
ed for the commissions which they
were supposed to hold Others show
ed that they could hold commissions
of no sort Many of them were al
lowed to return 20 civil life quietly.
Others declined to accept the sugges-
ton from the instructors that they
were untitled for the service.
Yesterday an order issued by the
Adjutant Generals Office reduced
twenty officers from ranks ranging
from Colonel to Captain to that of
Second Lieutenant in the Quarter
masters Corps
This is one of the indications of the
manner in which the weeding-out
process is being carried on.
In the first reserve camps there
were $4,000 candidates for commits
sions. Fifteen thousand of this num-
Der were dropped before they COM
pleted their course. OF the $4,000 who
we're given provisional commissions
more than 1000 were dropped last
month. 1t is estimated that this num-
Der will be trebled before the National
Armies reach France.
None Sure OF His Position.
The War Department desires to i'm
press upon reserve officers the fact
that their commissions are virtually
provisional and that they may be re-
lieved or reduced at any time In
other words, no man is sure of his
position until he goes aboard trans
port for France.
The Department has discovered that
many men believe that once they have
been granted commissions they are
assured of positions AS a matter OF
fact. TO use the words of an army
office, they are still in the grammar
school and may be plucked at ans
time