Evening star., 1935-07-03
ARMY PROMOTION
MEASURE TO PASS
Success in House Next
Week Seen for Bill Fa-
vored by President.
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.

and morale of the Army, correcting
glaring injuStices in the promotion
system and in comparison with the
Navy and Marine Corps, and provid-
ing appropriate rank for mobilization
requirements, Is expected to pass the
House next week. 1t has already been
passed by the Senate and reported
favorably, in identical language, by
the House Military Affairs Committee.
This measure was proposed by Sec
retary Dern of the War Department,
who emphasized that promotion in
the Army has reached stagnation,
which, if permitted to continue, will
have an exceedingly bad effect on the
morale of the commissioned personnel
and upon the efficiency of the service"
Congress has recognized this situation
for at least 10 years and has con-
sidered various relief bills.
President Roosevelt personally
studied the details of this bill and had
conferences on it with War Depart
ment officials. He gave it his ap-
proval, saying that 1T appears de-
sirable from every viewpoint"
Both Senate and House Military
Affairs Committees held extensive
hearings on the bill, with Senator
Coolidge of Massachusetts and Repre-
sentative Hill of Alabama making re-
ports to their respective chambers that
it should pass. The only known oppo-
sition is by Representative Hoeppel
of California, editor of a monthly
paper for enlisted men, who served
in the Army 20 years as an enlisted
man and 20 months as an officer"
To Speed Promotions.
Explaining the bill, Secretary Dern
says: 1T will accelerate the promo
ton of every officer below the grade
of colonel. No inclease in general
officers is provided. Many officers will
reach the next higher grade eight
years earlier than they would under
existing law and thereby will be placed
in positions of responsibility more ap-
propriate to their age and ability. No
efficient officer viii be deprived Of his
commission. No officer will lie ad-
vanced over his senior except in the
appointment of colonies to the grade
of general officer as new provided by
law"
Representative Hill speaking for
the House Committee. stresses the
fact that sit is imperative that the
promotion stagnation in which the
commissioned personnel of the Army
finds itself, be relieved" He points
out that thousands Of officers, with
fine World War records. have not ad-
vanced in Is gears beyond the grades
in which they were originally COM
missioned in the Regular Army subse-
quent to the war Numerous majorS
and captains are in the age brackets
of generals and colonies. Many lieu
tenants have reached the ages Of ma
jorS and captains. From all studies
made by the War Department, officers
should reach the grades of colonel.
lieutenant colonel, major, captain and
first lieutenant upon completion of
26, 20, Is, 10 ard years service,
respectively; in other words, at the
respective ages CT SO A, 80. "a and
27 years.
Promotions Few.
Explaining the jam that now blocks
orderly promotion, Senator Coolidge
says: Following the World War, the
enlargement of the Regular Army
made necessary the appointment of
some 5000 additional officers. These
appointments were made from those
emergency officers who had demon
strated their fitness by active war
service, in most cases combat service
at the front. Since being thus COM
missioned, in 1920, very few of these
officers have been promoted, most of
them having served for Is years in
the same grade, and will so continue
for years unless there is remedial
action. This large group of officers,
with service differing by not more
than year and a half, create a So
called 'rump,' with the result that
with normal annual attrition rate
of commissioned personnel of per
cent, or approximately 400 per year,
those at the top of the hump are
separated from those at the bottom
by the equivalent of Is years of serv-
ice. All of those officers entering the
service since July /, 1920, are behind
this hump with no prospect OF
early advancement"
Representative Hill, in pressing the
bill in the House, calls attention that
there are in the Army today 3,288
captains and 253 first lieutenants, 80
years of age and over, who under
normal conditions should now be
occupying the grade of major; 1,103
majors, 1893 captains and IT first
lieutenants, A years of age and over,
should now be lieutenant colonelS,
and AS lieutenants colonels, 232 ma
jors, 391 captains and 2 first lieuten-
ants, so years of age or more, should
now be colonelS. There are 813 Sec
ond lieutenants, aged 27 and over,
who should now be first ieutenants,
and 1,541 first lieutenants and Sec
ond lieutenants, "a years of age and
above, who should now be captains.
Many officers, largely captains and
Neutenants, have no hope whatever
of. obtaining reasonably high rank
before their retirement for age.