GENERAL ORDERS, No. 53. WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, April 28, 1911. 1. The regulations published in General Orders, No. 84, May 1, 1909, War Department, regarding the examination and appointment of persons in civil life to be second lieutenants in the cavalry, field artillery, and infantry, having been amended, by direction of the President, as follows, are published for the information of all concerned: 2. It is required by law that vacancies in the grade of second lieutenant occurring in any fiscal year shall be filled by appointment in the following order, namely: First, of cadets graduated from the United States Military Academy during that fiscal year; second, of enlisted men whose fitness for promotion shall have been determined by competitive examination; third, of candidates from civil life between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-seven years. Candidates from civil life will be selected by competitive examination from those designated by the War Department. Applications for designation should be addressed to The Adjutant General of the Army, indicating the branch of the service for which the applicant desires to compete and must include a signed statement showing his date of birth, whether he is married or single, and whether or not he is a citizen of the United States by birth or naturalization. No candidate will be designated who is married or who is not a citizen of the United States, and no candidate will be designated who is not eligible for appointment on date set for the examination. No person who has been a cadet at the United States Military Academy or a midshipman at the United States Naval Academy will, under any circumstances, be commissioned ahead of his class, or corresponding class, at the Military Academy. 3. Candidates will be authorized to report for examination at such military posts in the vicinity of their homes as may be designated in each case, and the examination will be conducted by a board to consist of two medical officers and one or more line officers, appointed by the post commander. The duties of the medical officers shall be confined to inquiring into and reporting upon the physical qualifications of the applicants, and the duty of the line officers shall be to supervise the mental examination, which will be written, the questions therefor being furnished by The Adjutant General of the Army to the senior line officer of the board. The physical examination will be conducted first, and this will be followed by the mental examination, which will take place in the presence of the line officers of the board, at least one of whom must be 2 present at all times during the mental examination. Each examination paper will contain a certificate from one of the line officers of the board that the applicant has undergone the examination in his presence and without assistance from any one. Examination papers when completed will be forwarded with the certificate of the medical officers to The Adjutant General of the Army. Marks upon both the preliminary and the competitive examination papers will be awarded by the War Department. 4. Those candidates who are applicants for mounted service will stand their examination at posts where it will be practicable to inquire into their suitability for mounted service. At posts where such candidates are to be examined, the post commander will convene a board of three officers for this purpose, and upon the completion of the competitive mental examination prescribed in paragraph 9 of this order, this latter board will examine the applicants for mounted service and will report upon their suitability therefor, taking into consideration only proficiency in riding, horsemanship and size, when this is such as to indicate present or future unsuitability for mounted service. This report will be forwarded to The Adjutant General of the Army by the post commander, together with the other papers mentioned in paragraph 3 of this order. The report will set forth the names of the candidates in three groups, as follows: First, those considered specially qualified for mounted service; Second, those considered qualified; Third, those considered not qualified. 5. Moral character.-All candidates shall submit to the officer conducting the mental examination testimonials or certificates as to their moral character and fitness for the position of a commissioned officer and these testimonials and certificates will be forwarded with the examination papers. 6. Physical examination.-Any applicant who fails to pass this examination will be rejected, but, should he so desire, he will be permitted to undergo the mental examination with the distinct understanding that such examination will not confer upon him any right to appointment should his physical disability finally be regarded as disqualifying. Examination as to physical qualifications will conform to the standard required of recruits, except that any applicant whose degree of vision is less than 20/40 in either eye, or who is color blind for red, green, or violet will be rejected. The physical examination will be made complete in each case, even though a deficiency 3 be discovered, so as to ascertain whether any other defects exist. It is highly desirable that where a candidate is rejected for any physical cause the cause of rejection should be so clearly established as to be conclusive of the reasonableness and propriety of the rejection, and in cases where physical fitness appears doubtful the board should require the production of such testimony as to the medical history of the candidate and of his family as may be obtainable. 7. Preliminary mental examination.—Each applicant who is physically qualified or desires to undergo the mental examination notwithstanding his physical defects, except those exempted under the provisions of paragraph 8 of this order, will then be examined mentally in the following subjects: 1. English grammar and orthography, both to be judged by all the papers submitted by the candidate. 2. Mathematics, to include algebra, plane and solid geometry, and trigonometry. 3. Geography and history, particularly of the United States. The scope of the mathematical subjects will be that usually considered necessary as a general foundation or preparation for undertaking a scientific course of study such as is covered by the following, or any other recognized textbooks on the same subjects of an equivalent standard, viz: New School Algebra-Wentworth. Plane and Solid Geometry (Revised)-Wentworth. In marking the examination papers the following relative weights will be given to the subjects enumerated in this paragraph: Grammar and orthography, 2; mathematics, 6; geography and history, 2. Candidates who attain a general average of 70 per cent in all of the above specified subjects will be considered as having passed a satisfactory preliminary examination. 8. Applicants who are graduates of recognized colleges or universities and those who are graduates of institutions of learning at which officers of the Army are detailed as professors of military science and tactics of classes A and BA will, if they desire, be exempt from the preliminary examination described in paragraph 7 of this order, and, to this end, they should submit to the War Department diplomas, certificates, or other evidence of such graduation when applying for the letter of designation referred to in paragraph 2 of this order. If exempted, candidates will be so informed in their letters of designation. 9. Competitive mental examination.-On the completion of 4 the preliminary examination each applicant will be examined mentally in the following subjects: 1. General History. 2. Elementary French, German, or Spanish, as the applicant may elect. 8. The Constitution of the United States and the organization of the Government under it, and th, elements of International Law. 4. Advanced optional subject. Under this subject the applicant will be examined upon one of the following, as he may elect: a. Higher mathematics to include differential calculus, integral calculus, and analytical geometry, or or b. A thorough working knowledge of any modern language, c. A general knowledge of the English language and of English literature. The scope of the examination in general history will include so much of the history of the United States and of ancient Greece and Rome as is contained in good high school textbooks on those subjects, and the important facts in general ancient history and in the history of mediæval Europe to the end of the fifteenth century; also so much of the political, social, and economic history from the end of the middle ages to the present day, and the fundamental principles of civil government historically considered with special reference to the United States as is contained in the following, or any other recognized textbooks of an equivalent standard, namely: Any school history of the United States. Outlines of the World's History-Swinton. A Political History of Modern Europe-F. Schwill. The Development of Modern Europe-J. H. Robinson and C. A. Beard. Readings in Modern European History, Vol. II-Robinson and Beard. The Development of the State-Dealey. The scope of the examination in elementary French, German or Spanish will include the construction of the language, ability to read and write the simple forms, translation from English into French (German or Spanish) and vice versa; the knowledge to be as extended as that which would ordinarily be acquired by a college student taking a course of instruction extending over about 200 recitation periods of an hour each. It is covered by the following, or any other recognized textbooks of an equivalent standard, namely: 1. Grammar: 5 (A) Elementary French. Aldrich and Foster, Elementary French (or) Marchand, French Idioms; Martin, French Verb. 2. Composition: François, Introductory French Composition, François, Advanced French Composition (or) Weekley, French Prose Composition (London, W. B. 3. Reading: * (a) Plays: Molière, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Les Précieuses Ridicules, L'Avare, Le Misanthrope. (b) Prose proper: The works of Chateaubriand, Hugo, Balzac, Maupassant, or of any other standard modern author. (c) Poetry: Lamartine, de Musset, Hugo, Sully-Prudhomme, 1. Grammar: (B) Elementary German. Whitney's German Grammar or Thomas's Practical 2. Composition: Collar's Eysenbach, Graded German Lessons. 3. Reading:* (a) Plays; One or two plays each of Lessing, Goethe, and Any modern plays of standard character. Heine, Die Harzreise; Hoffman, Meister Martin der (c) Poetry: Goethe, Herman, and Dorothea; Heine's poems; *The indications under "3. Reading" do not mean that all the authors mentioned will be required nor that all of a given author's works must be read. The scope is made purposely broad, so as to cover possible variations in the course of study pursued by the candidate. |