Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1918 — COMMISSIONS IN ARMY PLENTIFUL [ARTICLE]

COMMISSIONS IN ARMY PLENTIFUL

Privates Who Show Right Timber Will Become Officers Under Pershing. MANY LIEUTENANTS NEEDED Promotional Scheme Outlined at Headquarters Which Paves Way for Rapid Advancement of Men From the Ranks. With the American Army in France. —Apparently .the humble doughboy is comitg into his own in this war. A promotion scheme has just been outlined at headquarters in conformity with a recent general order from Washington which paves the way for rapid advancement for men from the ranks who display ability for higher commands. Arrangements are already made whereby noncommissioned officers who look like they are made of officers’ timber will be sent to the army candidates’ school on recommendation from their superior officers.' ( If they make good they will be assigned to vacancies as second lieutenants in replacement divisions advancing later to combat divisions where {momotion may be expected to be raTid n the event of heavy casualties among the officers.

Many Lieutenants Needed. In order to have sufficient officers in readiness at all times no limit is placed upon the number of second lieu 1 , tenants In replacement divisions, it being recommended that they have at least three times as many as combat divisions. Under the new general order divisional and other unit commanders-are to consider “only fighting efficiency Units” in recommending temporary appointments for promotion to line officers. The general order makes it plain that such recommendations must be based solely on demonstrated fitness and ability to command. Divisional and other unit commanders are instructed to investigate carefully all Officers’ records. All recommendations must be submitted to the commander in chief for approval. The six Hooverites who are visiting the American camp awoke the other morning at reveille, after spending the night in hay lofts and barracks, somewhat better acquainted with conditions under which the American soldiers are living. Too Cold for Pig. To begin with, this was to have been the story of how Everett Colby of New Jersey, slept - with a pig. Mr. Colby and the other representatives of Herbert Hoover wanted to sleep and eat under exactly the same conditions as the doughboys. Thereupon the press officers in charge of the arrangements “framed it up” on the New Jersey man.' They happened to' know that in a

certain village wherein militiamen were quartered there were ideal advantages for roughing it. Ten soldiers were billeted in a certain barn owned by an old villager who obstinately refused to allow the Americans to disturb his pig, which had been occupying the same hay loft with them for some time. The press officers arranged to have one soldier move for the night to give Mr. Colby accommodations next to the pig. Then the following morning the correspondents were to interview the Jerseyan on his impression of the pig and the pig on his impressions of his fellow lodger. But the pig’s owner had been left out of the calculation. The night was cold so the villager moved the pig into his own quarters, where there was fir 6. So the world will never know what Mr. Colby thought of the pig and vice versa.