Evening journal., 1922-08-23
ny First Step in Ouerthrow Of Government

bers of faithful non-commissioned
officers will have to retire with ar
| insufficient income to permit them
to live decently They must seek
work at an age when they are in
most cases no longer capable OF
learning something new.
Hundreds of efficient officers with
long, faithful service, will have TO
retire at a lower grade than would
be the case if allowed TO finish their
service. This means. of course, that
the pay which they will have to sup
port themselves and their families
will be far below what 1t would have
been.
Many of these officers, like the
old non-commissioned officers, will
have to seek employment OF some
kind at an age when they are not
fitted to undertake something en-
tirely new. The injustice to these
men, who will always remain loyal
as bad as it is. is less than the effect
which such injustice is already hav-
ing and is going to have upon the
younger men now in the service, or
the still younger ones who, under
different conditions. might have en-
tered II.
Young Officers Leaving
Numbers of relatively young Off
GERS with sufficient experience to
make them already of extreme value
to the service. and with a long
future of great value before them,
are getting ready TO leave not be-
cause they dislike the army. not be-
cause they are not entirely loyal to
the United States, not because they
Will not remain that way, but be-
cause they are confronted with the
necessity to recognize the fact that
a reasonable success in the future.
which carries with It a reasonable
ability TO provide for their families.
Is being denied them in many cases
and in others may be taken away
from them by similar action of
Congre.s at a time when they are
too old to enter the competition of
civil life successfully.
A Typical Case
An excellent example of the state
of affairs which obtains is furnished
by the views of a colonel who visited
during the past week
for no other purpose than to see If /
could not be done TO pre-
vent the elimination at least of !
officers.
Il have no fear of elimination"
said the Colonel, for an examination /
Of my efficiency record shows that !
am above. the average. Yet l would .
not be as great a loss to the regl-
nent which l am commanding as
would be elimination of my captains
and battalion commanders. Even
he threat of this is having de-
noralizing effect upon my regiment.
Ind II there Is a considerable loss of
he junior officers in my organization
I will take me or any other com
nander years to build it up to its
present state Of efficiency. 1t sickens
ne to think OF losing some of my
younger officers who have worked
so hard to bring up, the morale of
their units. No one who Is not
with troops can fully realizo |
the effects Of the threats that the
proposed reduction is having on odi- (
GERS and men in the field"
Mr.. Anthony OF Kansas. Mr.. Sisson
of Mississippi, and Mr.. Stafford of
were the leading spirits
n the acts OF Congress which have
given such n blow to the morale of
he armed forces of the United
'tates. Whatever their motives. the
esponsibility is theirs. Mr.. Madden ].
# Illinois. is almost equally guilty
What are the business men and
'ther responsible civilians going to
n hor,t