The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1917-05-30
PROMOTIONS IN
army AND NAVY ! "
Pershing Will be Made Lieutenant
General and Sims Vice
Admiral. 81
FOR REASONS OF DIGNITY
Otherwise They Would be Outranked
by Practically Every Foreign
Commander. q.

ment that president Wilson will con-
fer upon Major Gen. Pershing the
rank Of lieutenant general, during
the service of this distinguished SOL
dier at the head of the American
troops soon to go to France, has been
followed almost Immediately by the
information that Rear Admiral w. S.
Sims has been named as vice admiral
while in command of this country's
warships in European waters. "
The reason for this is not merely
that the men entrusted with the most
serious military and naval jobs we
have on hand shall be ranked and
paid in accordance with the, import
ance of these responsibilities In ad-
dition to the obligation of right and
justice towards the officers themselves
in that respect, there Is the national
dignity to maintain. If the respective
ranks of lieutenant general and vice
admiral had not been given to Per-
shing and Sims for the period of their
service in the foreign fields of war
fare, each would have been outranked
by practically every foreign COM
mander of a division or a fotilla.
Navy Ahead in Standardizing.
Our navy has made much more
progress during the past few years
in getting its titles into harmony with
the modern standard than has the
army. Of course, the thing has to be
done by Congress-, in the shape of
changes in the laws establishing the
various grades, their authority, and
their compensation; but the congress
sional action necessary to make these
changes usually reflects the amount
of energy with which they have been
urged by the war and navy experts
and by the civilian secretaries of those
departments.
In the navy the fine old title of
commodore was dropped some years
ago and was replaced with the rank
of rear admiral of the lower grade
The first nine rear admirals receive
approximately $4,000 a year; those
below the first nine, including the
officers who would under the former
system have been active commodores,
receive approximately $4,000 Great
Britain is the only other naval power
of Importance retaining the title of
commodore in active service.
There are no brigadier generals, ex-
cept by honorary and temporary des-
ignation, in any army in the world but
ours. Where we give active officers
the title of brigadier general, the
British and the other great nations
give the title of major general or
similar; but they have two,
grades under the major general head,
just as we have two grades under
the rear admiral head, and those of
the lower grade correspond to our
brigadiers, just as those below the
first nine rear admirals correspond to
the former commodores. One of the
first things we should do, military
men hold, if we would avoid embar-
rassment over amy titles behind the
Times, is to abolish brigadier general
ships and make all the men now hold
hat rank major generals of the lower
order.
Some Other Comparisons.
When Admiral Dewey died, his rank
If admiral of the Navy" died with
lim, and could be restored only by
oct of Congress. That rank carries
pay of $13,500 per annum. 1t corre-
spends to the non-existent rank of
in the army. The rank of