The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1842-06-14


up the difference.
At this point Mr.. G. Yielded TO a motion that the
Committee rise; which prevailing the COMMITTEES rose
HocsE OF REPRESENTATIVES,, May II, 1912.
Mr.. CUSHING being entitled to the floor, which he
had yielded the preceding day on motion that the
committee do rise, continued his remarks
lie observed that, when the committee rose last
evening he was about replying to that portion of the
argument of the gentleman from North Carolina Mr.
Mckay which aPperained to the alleged excess
of the number of persons In the Navy beyond
what the law authorized the Department TO en-
ploy To meet that objection he referred in the
first place to the second section of the act of 1906,
| which provides that the President Of the United
States may keep in active service, In time OF peace,
many OF the frigates and other armed vessels OF
the United States in his judgment the nature of
the service may require, and to cause the residue
thereof to be laid up in ordinary convenient ports
and in the second place. to the second section of the
act Of lSl3 which provides that the President may
appoint such officers and employ the number of sea-
men which may be necessary for such vessels
authorized by law to be put in commission. These
provisions of law were permanent in their terms
they had never been repealed, SO far as he Mr. CO.
could discover and they must in fact be the law of
the land now; otherwise there was no law for the
employment and manning ships in commission. And,
if he understood the gentleman from North Carolina
Alright that gentleman seemed to admit that there
was no limit to the powers of the President under
these acts, except in the power of the Senate to
fuse promotions and In the constructive and implied
limitation to be derived nferentally from the annual
estimates of the Department, and the appropriations
for the service of each year made by Congress. In
pursuance of which idea, Mr. Mckay had presented
calculation, founded the estimates Of the De-
partment, to show how many men the Department
authorized to employ, and then proceeded to al
lege that by comparison with tabular statement of
the force of the Navy at the beginning of this year,
which had been recently laid before the Senate, it
would seem that there was on that day excess in
the service of six hundred men, of all descriptions.
Before proceeding to reply to this objection Mr..
G. entered into some explanation to the mode
adopted in the United States Of estimating for, and
making, appropriations. In England, the practice is
to pass temporary supply bills from time to time, in
the course Of the year, and then towards the end Of
the year, to pass general law appropriatng the sup
plies thus granted during the session of Parliament.
Thus, in the acts of $780, which he held in his hand
there series Of such supply bills, terminating
in a general act, which enumerated the successive
supply bills of the session, and then proceeded to
make an appropriation in one bill for the naval mil
itary civil and diplomatic and miscellaneous service
of the Government This was, in respects,
more convenient than our practice; with US the
estimates were made up in December for the coming
calendar year. in this way it was, of course mpossi
BILE for the Secretary OF the Navy to communicate
Congress, beforehand, the number Of men Who might
happen to be in the service at any future day in
the course of the year. If Congress would force
the Navy Department exact estimate of the
of each year. it would have be done at the end of
the year, and not at the beginning. He should show
hereafter how inconvenien the present practice
in other respects. He mentioned it now with view
to its application to the excess of men alleged by Mr..
Mckay.
Mr.. c. said the answer to this allegation of the
gentleman from North Carolina was to be found in
the necessarily uctuatng nature of the personnel of
the Navy. The public service required that ships on
foreign stations should come home after two three
years service, as the crews were enlisted for limited
periods; besides which, the vessels must return to be
repaired and further it was not to ;be expected that
the officers to be exiled by being kept abroad
through life. Now it would not do to bring the TO-
reign ships home from their cruising grounds until
others were ready to relieve them-hence there must,
of necessity, be, at particular moments double
in the service, and at particular times Of
men, coreative to which, at other times much less
| number of men. For example, the Brandywine the
| ST. Louis, and the Marion, will be relieved
with amounting to 200 men, who will be dis
| charged and deducted from the number in
vice Then if the LIST of January, alleged by the
genleman from North Carolina, there an excess
Of 600 men, there would be, deductng these 200, a
deficiency of 600 on the lst of July, and thus the
| average number of men employed during the year
would be kept within the sum designated by the es-
mates there is way Of avoiding these fluctuations
in the service The greatest mischief would ensue if
proper not taken to relieve the crews
abroad as the expiration Of their term of service
approaches and the failure to do this, it was
well known in particular instances, had come
near to produce mutiny and the necessity of these
fluctuations in the service, and the fact that if at
time there more men, there will at another time
be less, constitute complete to this oblec-
ton of the gentleman from North Carolina.
This consideration illustrated also the necessity of
| having greater number of officers in the service
than were in employment at given moment. How
officers abroad to be relieved unless there
other officers to take their places; Gentlemen who
lie IF fuI nc
if those officers were necessarily idlers in the service,
to shut their eyes to the facts of the case and
to all the lessons of experience 1t not true that
there any such excessive number of unemployed
c. referred to the comparative state of the British
Navy. He showed by the Parliamentary estimates
of 1897, emitting higher grades
Total Employed aaoat
Captains $50 81
Commanders 1923 SO
Lieutenants 1881 Ash
This was conclusive to show that there was no
abuse, in this respect, in the American Navy.
And in the British Navy there are mary employ
ments for the officers. The gentleman from Geor-
gia (Mr. Gambe) had alluded the other day, to the
British mail steamers. He MIR. c., said that on ex-
animation of the British mail steamer Dee, friend
of HIS member of the House, assured him that she
had armament of guns below her deck, for ballast
capable of being handled in few minutes so as to
make complete vessel of war In addition to this,
MIR. G.. would ask who commanded those steamers !?
1t was perfectly notorious that they differed by
Lieutenants and Midshipmen of the British Navy.
MIR. C. also read from the Parliamentary estimates
before him the fact that for the year, Che held them
in his handy there appropriation of 91 267 900
for the mail steam packets, proving that they were
in part, an enterprise Of the Government
The gentleman from North Carolina, in arguing the
alleged excess of men in Navy, referred to the
of the British ship Ho,Oe three DECKER hay
ing complement of but 900 men, whilst in our SER
vice, says Mr.. Mckay, such ship has complement