Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-10-03

in the fighting overseas. Almost all
the second neutenancies should now
be filled in this manner-by promotion
from the ranks"
Excerpt From General Order.
Now here is an excerpt from gen
eral order No. %, issued at he
American expeditionary forces in
France on February Is. 1913, and ef-
fective ever since then:
Tn order to provide for the re-
placement of second lieutenants In
the combatant troops of the Ameri
can expeditionary forces. there has
been established the Army Candidate
School, where selected soldiers will re-
ceive a three-month course OF IN
struction to fit them for commits
sions as second 1ieutenants in the in
fantry, cavalry. engineer and Signal
Corps. Branches of this school have
been similarly established for the in
struction of candidates for commits
sions in the field artillery, and for
commissions in the heavy artillery:
"A candidate to be eligible for this
course of instruction shall be phys
ically sound and of good moral
character, not less than twenty.one
years nor more than forty years OF
age on the date of graduation of his
class at the Army Candidates School
lean Expeditionary Forces.
1.-The dates of assembling OF classes
will be announced from time to time
from these headquarters, whereupon
regimental commanders and officers
commanding smaller separate units
will order suitably qualified soldiers
who have been recommended by their
without fdrther instruction from
these headquarters. to report to the
commandments of the various schools"
Order Automatically Amended.
Then follows a list of schools and
the number of candidates that can be
assigned from each regiment or bat
talon every month. Now the above
order was automatically amended on
August 81 last, when Congress. in
amending the man-power law, made
the draft ages eighteen to forty-five
and at the same time let down the
bars so that men under twenty-one
could be commissioned. The para
graph which promptly applied to the
general orde. 80 is to be found in sec
ton of the law, and reads as fol-
lows:
THAT soldiers during the present
Emergency, regardless of age and ex-
Isting law and regulations, shall be
eligible to receive commissions in the
Army of the United States. They
shall likewise be eligible to admission
to officers schools under such rules
and regulations as may be adopted
for entrance to such schools, but shall
not be barred therefrom or dis
eliminated against on account OF
age"
Thus the boys of eighteen and nine
teen now in France who have seen
service, whether they have a college
training or not, can enter officers
training schools. and the proof of the
privateS are being commissioned as
second lieutenants by Gen. Pershing
today at the rate of 1000 per month
That is as many as can be spared
from the ranks without diSorganiZa-
ton. and conceivably the number will
be increased as more troops arrive
from America and the schools are ex-
banded.
But Col. Roosevelt is mistaken when
the Students Army Training Corps
are to be preferred to the men COM
missioned in France. The men now
being tried out as candidates for COM
missions are to be incorporated in the
new divisions to be raised in the
United States from the new draft
armies. The divisions to be trained
here. To put into effect Col. Roose-
velts ideas would pe to release large
fighting line, bring them back to the
United States and put them in charge
of the new drafted troops, thus spoil
ing the divisions overseas, and seri-
ously interfering with the plans for
organization and the economies OF
tonnage, which are paramount