Evening star., 1927-11-13
Army.


Headed by Brig. Gen. Golden LII.
Ruggles. assistant chief OF ordnance
:, board of officers has been appointed
To meet in the War Department for
the purpose of determining the type
of ammunition to be used in the 1928
national and international matches
and to make necessary tests for the
selection OF the same. The other Off
GERS appointed to serve on this board
are: Lieut.. Col. George c. Shaw, In
fantry; Comdr. Andrew ID. Denney, L.
:. ~; Lieut. Col. Townsend Whe-
len, o. D.; Lieut.. Col. Freder-
ick NJ, Waterbury. Ordnance Re.
serve; Majs. Sanderford Jarman,
&. A. c, Wallace l.. Clay, O. d
Herbert O'Leary, o. D.; Thompson
mage, L. S. NJ. c.; LittletOn w. T.
Waller, Marine Corps Reserve; Francis
w. Parker. jr., Ordnance Reserve,
Capts. James l.. Hatcher, 0. D.. and
Grosven0r l.. Wotkyns, o. d. Maj.
Clay will act as recorder of this board.
With all Indications pointing to the
leappointment of Mai. Gen. Charles
Nick. Saltzman AS chief signal officer
of the Army, his present term ex-
piTing on January /. considerable con
lecture continues to be indulged in
relative to limiting the foUr-year
tours of duty of the chiefs and as
sistant. chiefs of the technical and
supply branches of the War Depart
ment The mo redetail" plan, it was
pointed out in the War Department
last week. breaks the seniority of
lecOrd--that is, permits a junior 10
command a senior. it may be said
that the same is true when colonel
Junior to other colonels is made q
lrigadier generals or where brigadier
general Junior to other brigadier gen /
erals is made a major general Of the |
line. But such changes are perma |
nent. which does not obtain when a /
chief is reduced to colonel at the |
end Of four years.
In n day Of extreme technical re- |
quirements a proposal to further dis
criminate against the chiefs of serv-
ICES. it is insisted. in favor of the
line generals will simply decrease the
efficiency Of the supply and technical
branches and decrease their ability
"a meet the requirements of war. 1t
is observed in this connection, that
the present condition as regards the
ages of the chiefs and assistant chiefs
of the technical and supply branches
is completely abnormal. 1t is a re-
suit of the war Regular Army Of,
ficers point out. but in about 10 years
at the most this condition will COM
petely adjust itself OF the major
generals of the line on active duty to-
day 10 will have 4 years or more to
serve after January /. 1928; ) will
have more than 10 years to serve. and
/ will have 16 years to serve. or
the brigadier generals of the line,
30 will have more than / years
to serve after January /, 1923; 13
-
and 1 nearly 16 years to serve.
Particular interest is attached to
the fact that at the present time
there are u chiefs Of branches
with from to s years to serve after
the completion of their present tours
as chiefs. Take for instance. Maj.
Cen. Amos A. Fries, chief of Chemical
Warfare, who at the end of his pres
ent service will have served 9 years
as chief of that branch. Under the
proposal to limit the tours of duty
of the chiefs of the technical and
supply branches, he would be reduced
to the grade of colonel. with 5 years
to serve, and he would be degraded
two grades and would suffer a re-
duction of $2.500 year in pay. He
was an engineer officer before the
World War, and as such would have
heen in line for promotion to briga-
Gier general and major general of the
line. There are two major generals
in Gen. Fries class, namely, Fox
Conner and Malin Craig. Gen. Con-
ner is one year and seven months
younger than Gen. Fries. while Gen.
Craig is two years and four months
younger. Under the proposed plan,
these two general officers would go
on as major generals for 10 to u
years after Gen. Fries was degraded
10 colonel, and in addition they would
have the opportunity of becoming
chief of staff of the Army. a thing
that would be denied Gen. Fries.
Though slightly different, there is
similarity in the case of Gen.
Saltzman, who served with distinction
in the United States in the war and
since as chief signal officer. Under
the proposed plan he would be de-
graded to the rank Of colonel and
suffer a reduction in pay of $4,000
per year, while his classmates, Maj.
Gems. Dennis Nolan and Johnson
Hagood, would continue to serve to
years as major generals. In ad-
dition to this. il was pointed out in
conclusion, the following classmates
of Gen. Saltzman, with to IL years
to serve. are brigadier generals of the |
line and in line for promotion to |
major generals before they retire:
Brig. Gems NJ. B. Stewart, r. E. Cal