otion to a
Lieutenancy when he was about 30 years of age. For a time he was in
charge of the Schoolship Saratoga, and later was located at Charleston
Navy Yard, and also with the receiving ship at the League Island Navy
Yard, Philadelphia. After this he went to Paris as Naval Attache at the
American Embassy. He was similarly Attache at the American Embassy at
St. Petersburg.

Admiral Sims was relieved of his European assignment in 1900 and joined
the Asiatic fleet, and while abroad studied the methods of British
gunnery. When he returned to America later he inaugurated reforms which
increased the efficiency of the gunnery in the service 100 per cent. His
successful efforts led to his appointment as Naval Aide to President
Roosevelt. He made a report on the engagement between the British and
German naval fleets at Jutland which was startling, and declared that
the British battle cruisers had protected Great Britain from the
invasion of the enemy.

When he reached the European waters in command of the United States
naval forces, with a destroyer flotilla, and the British officers who
greeted him asked when the flotilla would be ready to assist in chasing
the submarine and protecting shipping, Admiral Sims created a surprise
by tersely replying: "We can start at once." And he did. Admiral Sims
married Miss Anne Hitchcock, daughter of Former Secretary of the
Interior. The couple have five children.

Major General John J. Pershing, of the United States Army, Commander of
the forces in France and Belgium, is one of the most picturesque figures
in American military circles. "Black Jack" Pershing is what the officers
call him, because he was for a long time commander of the famous Tenth
Cavalry of Negroes, which he whipped into shape as Drillmaster, and
which saved the Rough Riders from a great deal of difficulty at San Juan
Hill in the Spanish-American War. He was also at the battle of El Caney
where he was given credit for being one of the most composed men in
action that ever graced a battlefield. He served with signal results in
the campaign against the little "brown" men in the Philippines; was in
charge of the expedition which chased Villa into Mexico.

General Pershing was born in 1864 in Laclede, Missouri, and is tall,
wiry and strong. Every inch of his six feet is of fighting material. He
is a man of action and has a penchant for utilizing the services of
young men rather than staid old officers of experience. Pers