Evening star., 1928-12-05
CLASH IMPENDING
ON ARMY PROGRAM
Two Conflicting Bills Recon-
mend Changes in Pro-
...
motion Scheme.

LII tIle TuSn OF leglSldCl0n Scneduleu
for the short session of Congress, none
is more important from the standpoint
of some 5000 officers of the Regular
Army of today than the two bills now
before Congress providing for recon-
mended changes in the Army promo
ton scheme. Consideration of the two
major bills now before Congress, on
which hearings were held at the last
session, will again bring up an 8-year-
old tight within and without the War
Department, in which considerable feel
ing has been aroused because of the
claimed inequitable features of one of
the measures.
Legislation sponsored in the Senate
by Senator Black of Alabama, and in
the House by Representative McSwain
OF South Carolina, is characterized by
some 1900 officers, who have been in
the Army since the outbreak of the
World War, as directly leading toward
their forced retirement from the serv-
ice. This legislation is in conflict with
legislation along similar lines sponsored
by the War Department, whose terms
OF. promotion, however, are vastly diff
ferent. Secretary of War Dwight F..
Davis, has submitted an adverse report
on the Black bill to Senator David A.
Reed, chairman of the committee on
military affairs, who Is sponsor for the
War Department bin, which would re-
wise the promotion system of the Army
in a manner which fits in with War
Department recommendations.
Situation Briefly Outlined.
The situation, briefly, is this: The
War Department bill, officially pre-
sented and. with the backing of the
chairman Of the Senate military affairs
committee, is designed to give officers
IN, IN tn the Army promotion based upon
length OF service. 1t affects every Of
ficer, in every service.
The Black and McSwain bills are de-
signed to rearrange the promotion list
on the basis, it is claimed, of selecting
certain officers and jumping them over
the heads of others. These men are
officers who served during the World
War, but who did not come into the
Regular Army until July, 1920, and
members of the classes of West Point
who have been graduated since the
war. Action on the War Department
bill is claimed by its proponents to have
been interrupted and held back by
controversy on the bills introduced by
Black. e.. -. -. -
Meanwhile charges of lobbying on be-
half of the promotion scheme under the
Black bill have been Shunted back and
forth in Army circles in the Capital,
with proponents of the War Depart
ment measure claiming the opposition
have organized lobbying campaign
and have hired paid lobbyist from the
receipts of assessments of So each levied
on the officers who would be favorably
affected by passage of the Black
measure. A u, g., ..
World War Hump" Problem Cited.
Intermingled in the problem is the
So-called World War hump" in the
size of the commissioned personnel of
the Army, by which several thousand
officers commissioned during the war,
remained in the service after the con-
fiict, thereby greatly increasing the
commissioned personnel above the nor
NAL output of West Point in time of
peace. This problem will be normally
handled, it is claimed by retirement.
A minority report from the committee
on military affairs on the Black bill,
declares the latter measure is essentially
class legislation fostered by particular
groups of officeres, who seek a high
place on the promotion list at the ex-
penSe of others "They seek to have
an incident of the service that is favor
able to them," the report says, deter
mine their positions on the promotion
list no, matter who may, be adversely
affected. s>s&
"The legislation will be disruptive to
morale and will promote disintegration
in the commissioned personnel of the
Army. 1t will be the first instance of
position Of officers being changed or
Jumped on the promotion list and but
hp0innfnn n q n an
the part Of various groups to attain
preferment.
This legislation Is contrary to the
consensus in the Army. as reflected In
the reports Of So boards of promotion
list officers convened throughout the
Army, AZ of which were opposed to a
revision of the present promotion list"
Promotion List Dates From 1920.
1.-THE present promotion list dates
back to- 1920, when the Army re-
organization act became effective. The
fundamental unsoundness of the BILL"
the report continues, ''lies in the pro-
vision that all of the 5000 officers
shall now be arranged according to the
rank they happened to hold in 1920.
For those officers who were already in
the Regular Army it would be the
,, height Of injustice to arrange them,
even among themselves, on the basis
of the grades they happened to hold
June 80, 1920"
So, within the usually quiet circles
of Army commissioned personnel a
warm fight is going on over the
always slow business Of promotion pro-
cedure. Those who would be affected
by the provisions of the Black bill
about 1900 off1cers-claim they will
have to leave the service Immediately
if the measure Is passed. The pro-
ponents of the Black bill claim they
should not be placed behind the men
who remained in the service after the
World War And behind the scenes
| the friendly scrap goes on.