Evening star., 1919-05-11
Army and Navy News

| BADLY as that: nevertheless, that
,, of the extremists of both parties, for
the officer body may be said to be in
two parties on the question.
Ihe suggestion is made that Sc
iectlve promotion in the Navy has
not in practice brought about all the
good to the service that was expected
from the system. Some claim that
even the old process of elimination
through the operation of the OBJ
noxious "plucking board" was more
satisfactory than the present method.
The upholders of the old Navy system
is used. the result is that the men
who lose promotion are disgruntled;
ana 1t is better to have them take
thelr crouch out of the Navy than
10 remain in 1T, nursing the sore feel
ing. Army officers say that the same
principle applies in the Army and to
Army promotions. and they dread the
erect of possible-some say proba-
ble-favoritism. others say that the
rule OF promotion by seniority with
oue ts 3; dar more stringent processes for
the elimination of the inefficient will
produce a class of easy-going officers
most intent upon keeping a mega
lively clear record that will not pre-
vent their automatic upward move
ment to fill vacancy caused by
IL.
Some very interesting figures are to
be found concerning the West Point
graduates in the Army. First, as
compared with the product of civilian
universities, they stand about twice
as well in the percentage of grad
yates who have entered and become
successful in business life. Roughly
speaking. the percentage is about 20
as against 10 per cent; but this fact
may be in part due to the better
training which the strict methods of
the academy give and in some de-
gree to the fact that some of the
most brilliant men in the Army
those who are best fitted for business
llfe-are the ones who leave the
service.
Further. while all the men who
make the class are carefully selected
they are not all of equal capacity or
equally well prepared for the course.
The best statistics available show that
every class may be generally divided
into three parts-of which the top
third of the class will, with some no.
table exceptions. contain the men who
are most likely to be the brilliant, eff
eient or reliable men of the officer
body. the men who will take the ini-
tiative in Army reforms and organi-
zation. All officers agree upon this
further principle, that a system that
will result in securing for the Army
the oHlCeTS DSSI HltteO TO the pOSiClOnS
Is the system that the Army should
adopt 1t certainly seems as If some
method might be devised for placing
the best men where they can render
the most service. Senator Chamber
lain, chairman of the Senate military
committee, recently said that the
Army officers themselves ought to get
together and find some plan that will
be an improvement on the present
method of fixing promotion.
The personnel branch, a section in
the general staff has taken up the
problem and has under consideration
possible recommendation for the modi-
f1cation of present methods. 1t has
taken as an initial step a more care
full tabulation of each officers per-
show his fitness for any special duty
This may have little effect upon his
promotion. but it will go a long way
toward fixing his assignments to duty.
1t Is premature to speak of the plans
of this branch; for no one can do more
than guess at the size or the nature Of
the United States Army in the near
future. but 1t Is reasonable to expect
that 1t will offer some means for bet
tering the present unsatisfactory
conditions without attempting radical
Innovations. Its recommendations will
be looked for eagerly by the Regular
Army officers, but the question de-
serves careful watching by every one
who wants to see the Army efficient.
X X X X
The Navy did not have the opportu-
nifty it wanted for fighting on the
sea; but no