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Show : ; - To Qslerize Army and Navy se? sed$s I I BY JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS Less Than Ten Years. (copyright 1900 by John sifrcth watkbiB) H . , . 1 olcnr:tiion ot tlic :irmy -inn navy : ;5 rivorninciidpd !' t ht pnsifliil :ind j ,nlhnti-iilh iircfrl ltv the secretaries I JrfUr sintl o" tl" "avy. ' 11 rili'i:tl Himiniilion ' is t.Ii iifit ial drfit'n.'itiop of tlic -process, flrid il .S1 if5i.rnnl lo weed ouf-nnl6sir:illo' of-' of-' r5 f,istT limn, present rel in.Miioiil 'hivs liO Blaolc Anjlcl. work in ( tjcotliT. fjW ' eliniinntintr t(jem. Mine oflioerj: nve not. in tin ordinary it ';iirj0 of promotion, l-cooming gi'iiornls f ".jflminls enrly enough in lift'- to t Ave ihrni thorough experience in oom-lJnn,linj: oom-lJnn,linj: armies or-floeta before 1 hey vlUct rclire. -! The average ofticer snouM become- a rtpfnin when four years. :i major' when iifvm veais. a lieiiien.-ini eolonol when fijim 'vc.'irs -""l ' 'f'onol when five Vars vounge- I ban - lite aces at 'which He now readies I hose grade-. So opi.nes k.yt fcv-rflary of war. Tn other vonlf. he f ';Di.' his aiewgo ollicor lu . become a I (jptiiiii al 31 instead of .:-!$. as at prcs ( 0 lie also wishes this average ofil- (ff lo became a major ai. PI. instead of i l i"l. as- now; a lieutenant colon el" at L ",0 inftoail of al "T, and a colonel 'at r ji. inj'tcmrl of al TiO.-Ihe ago when. Ibar ; fji'ik is reached tinder existing condi- I Our Admirals Older Than Jap3. 3 The iih vv wants a proportionate sift jP iPr out. for .Secretary clever Jim'ls 4"'tat our average rear admiral is over r jcvcii and a half venrs older thun the f'suraif British, is ."even and iwo thirds ro.rsJ)Wer than the average fiermnn sr.'l-Dcarly eight and a half years older i than the "average Japanofi; ling ofticer of equal ranlc. Indeed, t his lispari iu ' i iic ages of our naval officers and thos K ri foreign governments was noticed 1 1 -Jarinir (he recent circumnavigation, of fi r gloho by our fleet, and' especially ft rjs This seen in Yokohama, where there . rcrt three vice admirals aired, re? pec -j ilirdy, f)0, 51 and 50, whereas the ayor-ajr ayor-ajr 3(rn of our rear adipirals on the nibe sha about ISO, or fourtei'n years Her than the -Japanese rear admiral i i,venl. ' Tu learn the average age al. which lie vrntU s greatest militnr- lenders ' Vive been nt their best. .1 sea relied ; itrtiigh the war department library the ether day and came upon General King's "'Famous and Jieeisive Watt iks. ' As only a military man eould j analyzes the world's most, notable ! ioJ importanl conflicts, from Marathon iom through n'liciont, uiedieval and p&Joni tunes. After cataloguing the ( commanders al these battles I have, at fonsiiierable labor, ascertained as.fa,r as I h Iheir ages al t he time of lke rnnflicis, anrl from (bese data , ho made ?onie computations as to the rtbtirc ages of tho conquen'iis.and the Msqucrcd. Yomig Officers Nearly Always Victor. . The younger commander has defeated lie older commander in" uvo.v fpnr-Jftiis fpnr-Jftiis of tho great bailies of the world. ILJhu deduct ion is based upon statistics rf twenty-nine of the batllcp ou Gon-ml Gon-ml King's list all of t hose where I ho i'ate?nf I he principal participants could JljEbe obtained, ; t The average cnnoneror defeated, a : Sain twelve j-eai's older than himself. LTi;? jcrafic conqneror Jias bceili 1? i ,. pwiMfhl. while till' average eonmlandor on the unsuccessful side h:fs beeu ,1,7. In other words, (be average field commander com-mander would seem to bo at his.bcsl, at . Alexander the Great was, however, but when he defeated Darius at Arbela, tobamincd II., bit 2" when he eoiKjiiored t'onslaiil'nie al Constantinople. Constantino-ple. Oetnviiis onlv 21 when ho and jMarc ) Antony beal Rrutu5 and Cassius al Phil : lippi. and Hern bard but 2Hxwhen ho van- (ii.ln'd Wallenstein at liUen. A I .'!! William I he Conqueror won the battle of Hastings, while de Pouillon was still a year younger when he took Jerusalem. , :7 Guslaviis Adolphus Won at Leipzig, I'Vler the Great was .victor al T'ullowa and N'apoleon was the conqueror a I .leua. while the lnl named won Austerlitr, lh same age at which Uavoul vanquishetl al Anerslndt, . When Kifhard of the I, ion Heart carried Acre, Edward III. took Cresv am! Sheridan won Five Forks, while ,1' lainininus when victor al Cvnosce piialae was hut .'III, which was "a year more I ban Seipio Al'rirnnus eould boast ol when he was the winner at Zainma. And Hannibal and Xanolcon were each oJ when l.hey won their respective victories vic-tories of Cannae and Marengo. Great Conquerors Arc Young. Washington was .pisf al this average nge of conquering generals 13- -when appointed commander in-chief of the eoniinenlal army, ami Granl was a ear younger when niaile commander of all the union armies. Rut iVnnoleon, by the time he had readied that. age. had conquered Europe, had reigned eight years as emperor, had divorced Josephine Joseph-ine and bad been married Iwo vo:rts to .Maria Louisa. Caesar became ruler of Rome Ihree years before arriving al ihin aire of -lo and his military renutalion had long been made: while Alexander llic fireaL. beore be wis within ten vears of this average, had conquered Ihe world and been vanquished by the last enemy Ayhieh overtakes man. He died al 33. winch is five vears les-s than the a er-agc er-agc when lionlenanls become canlains jn our armv. Indeed. Caesar passed out before he had arrived at tho age when our nioiors become Hentei-ant colonels, while Napoleon died al about the ago when our captains become majors. Only Captains When at Their Best. .Our average American officer now has still eight years to serve as a captain by the time be reaches I his average age of history's greal vielors. Even undor the proposed Oslorization scheme' he would vol. have one year to servo as a captain before reaching this age. Now. as lo the modus operandi of the Oslerization scheme proposed bv Ihe arnvy,- In the first place, lho physical examinations exam-inations under existing law will be ex-tonded ex-tonded to officers in the field grades, and each' who is found to have an "incapacity" "incapac-ity" that has "resulted from bis own misconduct' shall bo honorably discharged dis-charged with on o year's pay only, instead in-stead of being retired on (bree quarlers pay for Ihe rest of his life. And even those who pass this examination will be confronted at various successive periods with graver possibilities of elimination at special retirement ratcs. depending upon length of previous service. 'JO very year I here will be Osieri.ed about thirty-eight lieutenants, forty -four captains, fourteen ma jors, six lieutenant lieu-tenant colonels and three colonels of the line. The stall' is not to be affected by the now process. How Selection for Oslerization. The .100 and more delinquents are lo be selected for Oslerization in Ibis way: A I Ihe end of each year the rosier of infantry, cavalry and artillerv officers will be gone over, and if at least one-sixth one-sixth of the colonels, one-tenth of -the lieutenant colonels, one-twontioth of (he. majors, one-eighth of Ihe captains and one-fifth of the first lieutenants have not. died off, retired or beeu discharged, then a special retirement, board slia.ll be convened by the secretary of war to Oslerize enough officers of each of these ranks to leave tho vacancies ro-(mired. ro-(mired. And there is a safety valve which prevents too ranid promotion. Thus an officer who has been JieuLcnant coloucl less than three years cannot become be-come a colonel unless liis total eommis-sioned eommis-sioned service nxceeds t wcnt3'cight years: nor can majors, en pi a ins, first lieutenants and second lienleiianls be promoted until their commissioned service ser-vice totals, respectively,, twenty-Jive, eighteen, ten and four years. L'ct.ired pay for the Oslerr'.ud will not be at the present flat rale, of three-fourths. three-fourths. Jl will be nrrnnged on a sliding slid-ing scale Hint slides faster and faster the older"! he Oslerized man has grown in the service. But if he lias served less than leu years bo 5 given a cold "one year's pay" and is (old lo ask no more. Tf ho has served one year over ihis limit, or eleven, and is still a second lieutenant ho will get only $20 a month tho rest, of his life, while if ho baa made twelve- years and is a captain he will get. ."til 120 a yoar. If a major of twenty-seven years' service he will get $200 a month, and so on up lo thirty years' service, which gives any Oslerized Osler-ized officer tho present retirement rate of three-fourths full p;i3 "Without Partiality or Affection." Annual Oslerization boards must, bo composed of five members, all outratik- mg Ihe senior officers examined and all taking oath that they will Oslerize "without partiality, favor or affeelion." These findings must bo in writing and upon their recommendation the. president presi-dent must transfer the Oslerized to the "unlimited retired list." A similar sifting out scheme is being devised for the navy. .Heretofore young blood has beeu in fused into our body of admirals and generals only by .Tumping subordinate officers far over the heads of their elders. el-ders. Thus Hear Admiral Richard Wain-wright Wain-wright was advanced ten numbers for bis services at Santiago. So he was one of tho few naval officers who have late ly arrived al. Hag rank young enough to obtain anything liko adequate training as rear admiral before reaching retiring ace. And this advance led lo his selection, selec-tion, under Ihe ri'ccnt reorganization, as "aid for operation and management of fleet." the most responsible detail now to be given to a naval officer. Jn contrast with his case is that of G'np-lain G'np-lain Milton, who will becomo an ad- miral in January and retire in Octobcr ncxt.'an.'l who will thus enjov onlv ten months of flag rank Hccausc he'ia a victim of stagnation. ' - Anny'r. "Jumped Up'MScncrals. Tn the army Ihe notable cases where young blood has been infused inlo the higher grades arc I hose of Leonard Wood. J. lrr:inklin P.ell. Fred lMinslon ami John T'ershing. Major General Wood, who has jusl become, the ranking officer of the army, while, si ill in his forties, was colonel of tho "rough riders" rid-ers" when Ifooscvelt was their lieutenant lieuten-ant colonel and although only an assistant assist-ant .surgeon with, tho rank" of caiit.tin when the Spanish war broke out became be-came a major general of volunteers within seven months, a brigadier gen-oral gen-oral of regulars in less I ban Ihree years and a major general of regulars' in a i little more- Mian five years, or when VI years old. lie will he at the head of the n run until his retirement in 101? I unless some unforeseen event leads to the promotion of some officer bdow him lo the rank of lieutenant general. Had he not been advanced oer Ihe beads of scores of his one time superiors,! Maj. Gen. F. D, Grant, son of President Grant, and General Wood's senior by ten years, would now be the racking officer of the army. As it is he must r-;-liret in or ten years before Gen eral Wood foes out. Maj. Gen. J. Franklin Roll, who ranks just after Major General Granl. is likewise nine years younger than Major General Du-all, Du-all, the officer just below him. ITe rose from captain to brigadier genernl in 1901 when 45., .and after he became major general President. Roosevelt made 1 i hi chief of slafr over the heads of senior junior generals and lieutenant generals alike. His term as chief of stalT will expire in April when he will he succeeded by General Wood. Fred Funston, who at only -14 now heads the list of brigadier generals of the line and who xbercfore hopes to become be-come a major feneral at the retirement of General Duvall next January wns made brigadier general of regular's when only 'AT, this as a reward for hraven while only a volunteer officer in tho Philippines.. As he will not retire until 1020 he will apparently have eighteen 11 years of active service" after becoming Ijl major general and under normal condi- Hjl Lions should bo ranking officer of the IIH army for five years after General Wood's retirement. Pershing was pro-moled pro-moled from captain to brigadier gen- eral al. 40 for distinguished services 'H while with Kuroki "s army at Manchuria. and be is already fifth from the-top of jH the brigadiers' list, where he outranka an ofticer fourteen years his senior. tH |