Naval Officers - Their Heredity and Development #254998

A nation at the beginning of a great war, after prolonged peace, is executing a great increase of its naval and military forces. For these forces officers must be selected in large numbers, as many as Officers for each division of men, or officers for men. So, too, in the naval organization every Ship has its commander and lieu tenants, and there are captains and admirals of the various grades for the command of groups of Officers. Each of these Officers holds in his hands, as it were, the lives Of from 100 to men. Obviously it is a matter of the gravest concern that they should be properly selected. Yet the number is SO vast and the personal knowledge about the appointee on the part of those who must appoint is necessarily Often so slight that every assistance in the general method of making the selection may well be carefully considered. In time of actual battling, selection for advance ment is made on the ground Of performance the inferior officers fail, the successful ones are given the higher commands. Our Civil War showed this clearly. It also showed the melancholy fact that the selections made at the outset were often inadequate, and many a colonel and even general confidently appointed at the outbreak of the war was recalled as a failure. The method Of selecting exclusively by trial and error is a sure method, but one that is frightfully wasteful of lives and property. What is the best method of selecting untried men for positions as officers?