May 28, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



857 



his pay, etc., as abore, will amouat to over 

 $18,000 and with his retired pay will provide him 

 an income of about $130 per month. 



But even this by no means exhausts the possi- 

 bilities of a career in the ranks of the army. For, 

 if, say during the first three enlistments the 

 soldier diligently applies himself to study in the 

 army schools which are provided for him and 

 advances sufficiently to become a master elec- 

 trician, or if he have a musical turn and become 

 a chief musician or sergeant in the band, his 

 savings at the date of retirement will be just 

 short of $24,000 and his total monthly income 

 will be almost exactly $170. 



None of the above cases are exceptions — all are 

 within easy realization of the enlisted man who 

 enters the army for a life business with a deter- 

 mination to succeed and prosper. Furthermore, 

 at the date of retirement he will be in the prime 

 of life and able to add to his capital and income 

 for many years. Observation leads to the belief 

 that very few laboring men or mechanics achieve 

 a measure of success equal even to that possible 

 for the soldier who remains a private during his 

 entire career, and the easy possibility of the 

 higher grades exceeds the average of success of 

 the learned professions. 



Men in business and professional life may con- 

 template a greater measure of success than this, 

 but in doing so the great majority of them in- 

 dulge only in pleasant dreams which are never 

 realized. They suffer the dangers of fire, bank 

 failures, industrial depressions and all the other 

 enemies of success against which the professional 

 soldier has the integrity and permanency of the 

 government to protect him. 



If the soldier does not desire to remain in the 

 army for the full period of thirty years, he may 

 quit at the expiration of any enlistment period, 

 or he may purchase his discharge at any time 

 after one year's service if he be not undergoing 

 pimishment or is not on duty at or under orders 

 for duty at a foreign station; and if he chooses 

 to save his money he will have between $300 and 

 $400 at the end of a single enlistment. Surely he 

 will not have wasted his time. After twenty 

 years' service he may enter the Soldier's Home 

 which is maintained by the federal government in 

 the District of Columbia, and there spend his 

 days in comfort. 



Inquiry elicited the facts, -whicli were to be 

 expected, ttat a very similar outlook en- 

 couraged the enlisted man in the navy. 



It seems to us that these extracts speak for 



themselves. The only requirements of ad- 

 mission of a man to all of these possibilities 

 is simply that he be of sound body, of good 

 moral character and be able to read and write 

 English (?). 



In comparison with what is required of the 

 college professor the teaching profession has 

 not a tenth of similar advantages to offer. 



We can not retire without losing all claim 

 to a pension, if we do so before a certain large 

 number of years of service have passed. 



The average teacher retires an old man 

 after his energies have been used up in the 

 furtherance of the public good that repays 

 him so meagerly. 



The pension, when it is obtained, is not 

 nearly so large, in most cases, as that received 

 by the soldier who, besides, oiuns a goodly part 

 of the contributing capital. 



All this' is about the enlisted man. The 

 officers have, of course, a more remunerative 

 future before them. 



The young cadet on graduation receives a 

 minimum salary of $1,700 as second lieu- 

 tenant. If he becomes first lieutenant or 

 captain, which may occur very shortly, or at 

 least the salaries of which grades he may re- 

 ceive shortly, his salary rises to $2,000 and 

 $2,400 respectively. The salary of a major is 

 $3,000. AU salaries are subject to a ten per 

 cent, increase every five years for twenty 

 years if promotion should by any accident not 

 take place long before that period is ended- 



Besides these amounts the officers are al- 

 lowed quarters and light for themselves and 

 families and the privilege of obtaining all 

 supplies at wholesale rates through the com- 

 missary department. 



When in course of duty the officer must 

 reside outside of the army post, the govern- 

 ment allows him an extra amount called com- 

 mutation of quarters, of respectively $24 per 

 month for second lieutenants, $36 per month 

 for first lieutenants, $48 to captains, the 

 amounts increasing by $12 a month for each 

 grade. 



Adding this to the nominal salary and a 

 percentage saving of one fifth or twenty per 

 cent, in the cost of provisions, we have the 

 totals for a newly graduated cadet or second 



