Evening star., 1928-09-09
Army andNavyNews

the scholastic entrance requirement.
to the academy is seen in the declara.
ton made that naval officers must bs
efficient, that they are responsible fol
the lives of thousands of men and that
they must be as efficient as is humanity
possible in the performance of theil
| duties. In support of this high scholas-
| tic policy. it Is pointed out that should
| the scholastic bars be let down, large
numbers of young men might be able to
enter the academy, but would not be
prepared to keep UP the work once they
were enrolled in the academy Even
tually. they would have to be dis
charged for failing in their scholastic
work and be sent home, the cost OF
which to the Government would be
tremendous
Speculation continues in naval circles
relative to the Office OF Judge advo-
cate general. It is understood Rear
Admiral Edward H. Campbell, the pres
ent incumbent of that office. whose
four-year detail will expired August 80,
1929, will be assigned to sea duty at
his own request this Autumn and in ali
probability he would relieve Rear Ad-
miral David F. Sellers from command
of the special service squadron in Gen.
trail American waters, who would be
appointed Judge advocate general AS
the Nicaraguan presidential election
will not be held until November 4. it is
improbable Admiral Sellers will be re-
lieved from his present duty until after
that time. The situation is further
complicated by the fact that there has
been some discussion of the desirability
of retaining Admiral Campbell as judge
advocate general during the approach
ing session of Congress beginning De-
cember and concluding March 4, in
order that he could appear before the
committees during the consideration of
personnel and other important pro-
posed legislation, with which he is thor
oughly familiar. No announcement will
be made in regard to the place. it is
believed, until after Secretary Wilbur
returns to Washington this week.
Interest is still being evinced in the
appointment Of the next surgeon gen.
eral of the Navy. but up to the present
time no announcement in this respect
has been made. Rear Admiral Edward
R. Stitt, who is in his second four-year
term as surgeon general of the Navy.
will conclude his detail November 30.
This is expected to be settled by the
Secretary when he returns to Washing
ton. The four-year terms of three other
bureau chiefs will expire next year
namely, those of Rear Admiral William
A. Moffett. chief of the Bureau of Aero
nautics, on March 13: Rear Admiral
Charles Morris, chief of the Bureau OF
Supplies and Accounts. on April 29, and
Rear Admiral Luther E. Gregory, chief
of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, on
December %.
Army.
With the increasing number of grad
yates from the General Staff School
and the Army War College, the avail
able members of the General Staff
eligible list have become more numer-
Gus and the War Department has net
ficerS to the staff. Considerable criti
cism has been directed against the War
Department relative to the General
Staff redetail system in the past but
when Maj Gen. Charles p Sum-
neral became chief of staff he initiated
a policy of only assigning officers to
the General Staff who had not previous
ly been so detailed Secretary of War
Davis approved this policy, which has
been vigorously followed out by Gen.
Summerall.
During this year there have been de-
tailed to the War Department General
STAFF 81 new members who had not
previously had such service, and Of this
number were colonelS, were lieuten-
ant colonels and % were majors. TAX
ing into consideration that the total
number of Regular Army officers on
tks General Staff is 3S, it will be seen
that the turnover this year Is about AZ
per cent. It is not to be expected that
the turnover each year will be as large