No Need For Expansion Or Speed-up Yet in ROTC

Despite the increasing intensity of the defense program, the Navy and War Departments have not issued any orders to speed up the output of reserve officers, according to officials in both Harvard R. O. T. C. units.

This means that since the applications are all around more numerous than last year, the weeding-out process and amount of "attrition" will be more stringent than ever.

As a result of sending a mimeographed notice to all Freshmen concerning the merits and advantages of its course, the Department of Naval Science augmented its usual number of candidates by 100, bringing the total application list to 400.

Navy Allows 260

The Harvard unit of ensigns-to-be is allowed a quota of 260, fixed by the Department of the Navy, but unlike the Military Science Department, no Freshmen are admitted to the course who are not expected to finish. To date there are approximately 101 Freshmen, 70 Sophomores, 59 Juniors, and 56 Seniors enrolled. These include the 26 men allowed to follow the course for College credit only.

The process of choosing first year applicants for Navy Sci. is generally more rigorous than that for Military Science, since physical requirements are much more exacting. This year, the Naval R. O. T. C. at Harvard secured an extract of each students preparatory school record for use in deciding whether or not he should be admitted.

Many Dropped from Mil. Sci.

The quota fixed by the War Department for the field artillery unit at Harvard is only for third and fourth year men. Thus a large number of Freshmen and Sophomores generally begin the course, but at the end of the Sophomore year as many are dropped as necessary to keep the number of Juniors and Seniors to 118. This year there are 71 Seniors, 47 Juniors, 190 Sophomores, and 215 Freshmen.

The Military Science quota is based on an estimate of the number of reserve officers desired. All the R. O. T. C. units in the country now turn out an approximate 10,000 trained men a year, which the War Department apparently considers sufficient for the time being. The number is increased further by selectees who gain commissions through the government training program. The output of Naval officers is necessarily much smaller, and the 27 units in various colleges only produce 7200 men every four years.