lieutenant it is found that the oldest lieutenant of the Medical Corps had, in round numbers, five years of commissioned service; of the Engineers twelve years; Cavalry twenty years; Infantry twenty-four years; and Artillery thirty-one years that is in 1898 the senior lieutenant of the Artillery Corps had spent thirty-one years of commissioned service in the grades of first and second lieutenant. The Act of February 2, 1901, did practically nothing to remedy this condition, and the laws which have followed, including the Act of June 3, 1916, made little improvement, so that the situation which confronted Congress at the time of the passage of the Army Reorganization Bill was considered serious. It is a recognized fact that any profession must hold out some reasonable hope of advancement if it is to attract men of ability to adopt it as a career. The remedy in this case has already been suggested. An increased percentage in the upper grades and a corresponding decrease in the lower grades is bound to cause a more rapid flow of promotion. Of course Congress could not create officers for the mere purpose of stimulating promotion so a careful investigation was made to determine the duties which officers of the Regular Army would have to perform in order to be sure that these duties were commensurate with the grades provided in the proposed distribution.

That the conclusions reached as a result of this investigation are essentially correct is borne out by the detailed studies which have been made since the passage of the Act as shown in distribution table on next page. That the distribution adopted will insure a reasonable rate of promotion cannot be definitely proven. An actual solution of this problem is not possible as a

sufficiently large number of cases do not exist on which to base such a solution. The percentages adopted were arrived at after a consideration of the distribution of officers of the Line of the Army under the Act of June 3, 1916, which clearly provided too few in the field grades; of the distribution of officers of the Medical Corps under that Act which just as clearly provided too many in the field grades; of the distribution of the officers of the Corps of Engineers under that same Act and of the distribution of the officers of the Navy. The distribution in the Engineers and the Navy was about the same and seemed to insure about the proper rate of promotion, so the distribution adopted in the Act is very nearly the same as that in the Navy.

The actual distribution of officers at the present time is not the same as the distribution shown in this table. There are three principal reasons why this is so.

In the first place, because of the system of promoting officers prior to July 1, 1920, from seperate lineal lists for each branch; because of unequal legislative increases in the various branches since the Spanish American War; and because of the different principles which governed the distribution of officers in grades on the separate lineal lists, a situation developed during the course of years which at the time of the passage of the Army Reorganization Act found the younger and less experienced officers of the Army in some branches in the higher grades while the older and more experienced officers of the Army in other branches were still in the lower grades. When the new system of promotion was put into effect July 1, 1920, the in those bulk of promotion was

which has had the slowest promotion in the past, receiving the greatest amount of promotion on July 1 in spite of the fact that the strength of the Cavalry was actually decreased by the Act of June 4, 1920, while the Field Artillery, which has had the fastest promotion in the past, is receiving little promotion in spite of the fact that it was practically doubled by the Act. This results in having in the Army now a large number of officers of high grade who are commissioned in the Cavalry and a comparatively small number of officers of high grade who are commissioned in the Field Artillery. The Act of June 4, 1920, provides freedom of transfer of officers from one branch to another and also authorizes the War Department to prescribe the organization of the various branches, so that the problem of bringing about a proper distribution of the experienced officers of the Army in the various branches of the service is one gradually to be solved by War Department regulations formulated in accordance with the policies and principles laid down in the Act of June 4, 1920.

In the second place, the commissioned personnel of the Regular Army was practically disorganized by the war. Regular Army officers were assigned to all sorts of duties in the great war Army and when that Army

was demobolized these officers found themselves scattered about through the remaining military establishments without any logical arrangement in a 'peace time organization, and to get them properly distributed now in accordance with the duties and functions of the Regular Army in time of peace will require a great deal of time because of the many difficulties which

still confront the War Department in such matters as completing unfinished war work, on account of lack of sufficient mileage and transportation appropriations, and because of the discomforts and personal expense involved in the frequent moving about of officers and their families.

In the third place the National Guard and the Organized Reserves are only in the first stages of organization and the assignment of Regular Army officers to these duties must be gradual as these forces develop.

That such a proper distribution should be effected however, in the shortest possible time is imperative for many reasons. In the first place, there is an actual shortage in the total number of officers authorized by law and required to carry out the Regular Army mission. This actual shortage can be somewhat counterbalanced by a proper and correct distribution of the officers that we actually have. In the second place, an incorrect or improper distribution of officers in the various grades means that some officers of high rank are performing duties that should be performed by officers of less experience and lower rank, and that other officers of less experience and lower rank are performing duties which should be performed by officers of more experience and higher rank. In the third place, Congress provided the number of officers in the various grades on the theory that they were to be engaged on duties appropriate to their rank. The problem of organizing the Army and distributing these officers to their various duties is left by Congress to the War Department and the War Department should make every possible effort to bring about a proper distribution. In the fourth place, the officers themselves

are better satisfied, perform better work and thereby add to the efficiency of the Army as a whole when they are assigned to duties commensurate in responsibility and importance with the rank and grade which they have. The Act of June 4, 1920, provides that officers may be transferred from one branch of the service to another on their own application but specifically states that an officer shall not be transferred from one branch to another without his consent. The intention of Congress in this matter was that an officer should not arbitrarily be transferred from one branch, after long years of service, to another branch against his will. In other words it was a provision dictated by a consideration of the personal and professional feelings of the officers of the Army. At the same time Congress did not intend to and did not take away from the President the authority to assign officers to duty in accordance with the exigencies of the service. In now bringing about a redistribution of officers, the War Dejartment is actuated by the same identical principle. It is firmly believed that the officers of the Army when informed of the situation. which confronts the Army will respond in the effort that all must make to correct as soon as possible the temporary illogical situation, which now exists as a result of the adoption of the Single List succeeding the unfair and unscientific system of promotion which obtained in the Army up to July 1, 1920. This problem of distribution must be solved. Those who have made a study of the problem of National Defense, who realize the importance of developing a sound, sane and conservative military policy, and who understand the relation that the Regular Army bears to the development of such a policy, believe that the Army can

solve these problems in accordance with the principles and policies of existing law. Many, however, who, due to multitudinous other duties, have not given careful and detailed study to the intricate problems of National Defense, do not understand the relation of the Regular Army to this problem as set forth in the latest Army legislation and as illustrated during the World War.

Many do not understand the special functions that the Regular Army has had to perform in mobilizing the man power of the nation, and again in demobilizing the great war army, created in 18 months and smoothly and with extraordinarily little disturbance dispersed in 12 months after the Armistice, and further its function in disposing of the enormous assemblage of assemblage of materials, equipment and facilities that had been gathered together to conduct a major

war.

The unthinking, therefore, or the uninformed might in haste commit the country to a policy of starving or depleting the Regular Army below a functioning capacity and to an extent that, especially in the case of the commissioned personnel, could not be repaired in years of carefully studied legislation.

Realizing the danger of misunderstanding due to the present accidental and for the time being illogical distribution of commissioned officers in the several arms, and the importance of a proper distribution, the War Department and the Chiefs of the arms most seriously affected, are now taking steps to enlist the cooperation and support of officers of the Army in bringing about, by suitable voluntary transfers or otherwise, a redistribution to the several arms to accord with the intentions of Congress, the interests of the Army and the interests and desires of individual officers.

Ordnance Activities of Interest to the Infantry

BIPODS FOR MACHINE RIFLES

The manufacture of bipods for the Browning machine rifles has been completed. These bipods will be given a test along with the test of the Browning machine rifles. The manufacture of a small lot of Browning machine rifles has been completed and they will be given a service test within a short time.

IMPROVED RIFLE STOCK

Twelve special rifle stocks with pistol grips for the model of 1903 rifle have been manufactured at at Springfield Armory to the dimensions suggested by the Experimental Department of The Infantry School. These stocks are of two types, one being manufactured from the model of 1903 gun stock blank and the other being manufactured from the model of 1917 blank, which is somewhat larger. Five of each type of stock assembled with the rifle have been shipped to the Infantry School for test.

CARTRIDGE CLIP

Orders have been issued adopting for .30-caliber, model of 1906, ball cartridges, the clip known as the Ashworth Clip. This applies to future manufacture only, as the stock of clips now on hand is sufficient for several years at the present rate of cartridge expenditure.

BUTT STOCK FOR BROWNING

AUTOMATIC RIFLE

for the Browning automatic rifle was made by the Machine Gun Section of the Small Arms Division, and submitted to Camp Benning for test. It has been tested and a favorable report made thereon. The improvements made were the lengthening of the butt stock 3/4 of an inch to give the rifleman more freedom in firing the rifle, rotating the butt stock to the right five degrees with the buffer tube as an axis and reinforcing of the forward end of the stock to prevent season cracking. The War Department has approved the recommendations of The Infantry Board to substitute this design of stock in future manufacture of Browning automatic rifle stocks instead of the standard stock as now used.

THE .50-CALIBER MACHINE GUN The development of the .50-caliber machine gun and its accessories is proceeding very satisfactorily and the indications, from a preliminary test recently made, are that it will perform equally as well as the .30-caliber gun of this type. A special study is being made of the type of rifling and chambering most practical for this gun. The design and developments of a beltloading machine, a suitable ammunition belt, and a heavy tripod for this gun have been initiated.

TELESCOPIC SIGHT MOUNTS

FOR U. S. RIFLE