The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-03-04

lyeys. Besides, nautical surveys Of the chief
parts OF our coast exist and it Is useless TO ~
1 peat them. Indeed, those made by Des Barrea,
under the authority Of the British government
before the revolution, are Of tho same quality
us such repetitons would now be. geodetc
survey such as is in progress is absolutely neces-
sary. No country 10 the world has made such
survey Of its coast by the employment Of its
navy.
s. When in 1884 the coast survey was trans
ferred to the Navy Department by the President
who had by law at that time the regulation Of
the work, it was argued that as the photography
was about to be commenced, great facilities
could be furnished for it by the Navy Depart
ment, and that these would be more willingly
provided, if the work were entirely placed in the
control of that department. The transfer was
hardly made before all the objections stated by
Mr. Hassler against it were verified. The regu-
lations Of the Navy Department were inappca-
bic to such work---its system of accounts
equally SO and so far from harmonious action,
there was constant Earring of all the elements,
until the retransfer to the Treasury Department,
at the end Of two years, by President Jackson.
That this arose from the organization OF the
Navy Department, and not from personal infiu-
ences is evident from the facts that Mr.. Wood
bury was Secretary of the Navy when the trans
fer was made, and Secretary of the Treasury
when the re-traDsfer took place, and that the
same superintendent was sustained under both
organizations. The serving of officers of the
army under the Navy Department is an anomaly,
and the usages and rules Of military depart
ment are not understood by civilians, and inn
pose restraints often found irksome and not adj
vantageous to civil work The expected ia
cities were so far from being obtained that the
: first vessel required for photography was pur-
chased, notwithstanding Mr.. Hassler's remon-
STRANGE, from the funds of the coast survey his
earnest appeal to have the repairs necessary fur
nished by the Navy Department was denied, and
the Attorney General, on being consulted, pro-
nounced the same to be contrary to law Nor
does itappcar, from the correspondence between
the superintendent and the Navy Department,
that the details of naval officers were readily
procured, while the only officer of the line of
the army upon the work was withdrawn by the
i War Department.
The experience, then, of the transfer of the
coast survey, rs organized in l834-the en-
ployees composed, as now, of civilians, officers
of the army and of the navy--does not tell in
favor of such n transfer.
From 1919 to 1882, the responsibility Of con-
tinuing the survey was, by the repeal of the law
authorizing the employment of Others than army
and navy officers, thrown upon these two de-
partments. Detached surveys of rivers and
harbors were made from time to time, and hy-
geographic Reconnaissance Ctermed surveys Of
the coast of some of the States but no general
or connected survey of the coast was attempted,
nor did the detached surveys yield fruit which,
taken rs whole, was creditable to the Navy
Department or the country. An inspection of
the charts of the entrance of Chesapeake bay,
of York river, of she coast of South Carolina,
and Others, will satisfy any one on this point
The inetliciency of such a desnltory plan Of
operations was just what might have been ex-
pected from it,
What the character Of the results was, is
stated by the Hon. Samuel l.. Southland, Secre-
tary of the Navy in 1928, in reply to the Com
mittee on Naval Affairs of the House of Repre-
sentatves OF the maps and charts obtained
under the act of 1918, Mr.. Southland says:
"They do not furnish satisfactory survey of
the coast for the following reasons:
az. They exhibit detached parts, unconnected
with each other;
~. Are generally confined to the shores, and
do not extend sufficiently far into the ocean;
49, Were, many ofthem, made by incompetent
, men, with incompetent means;
al. They were governed by no fixed and GER
tain principles, or guides, in ascertanng the
latitude and longitude of the principal points
and positions;
"5 They do not embrace the whole coast
"For these and other reasons they are unsafe !;
and, in many instances, useless and pernicious."
Mr. Southland was of opinion that no further
powers than those given by the law of 1907,
with an appropriation adequate to the object,
were necessary to obtain satisfactory survey
Of the coast.
In his report for 1928, Mr. Southland further
remarks
"Seyeral resolutions have Mt various times
been passed, directing the department to cause
! SURVEYS to be made They have been
made during the three last years, and the re-
suits communicated to Congress as they were
/ received These surveys, although
executed as well as the circumstances in which
the officers were placed would allow, and have
probably been sufficient to answer the object Of
the resolutions, yet they do not afford materials
for an accurate chart of the harbors and the APP
proaches to them, and assist but little towards
a perfect knowledge of our coast which can
only be acquired by that scientific survey of the
whole, the Importance of which have yentured
to urge, and would again respectfully suggest"
Mr.. Southland was q firm, true, and decided
friend of the navy, and yet his convictions are
expressed in language too plain to be misunder
stood Nothing has transpred since to warrant
the assumption that the scientific organization
then demanded, and now in successful operation,
is rot necessary to fulfil the requirements of sci
encc, and the wants Of the country, commercial,
naval and military.
The fact that these charts, as published, are
not in general use on board of naval vessels,
carries with it the opinions of the navy as TO
their inadequacy, and the superiority of those
charts which private enterprise has supplied over
them Made from the results obtained by navy
officers, it might be expected that they would be
kept in use by the Navy Department, and by the
officers employed to distribute charts to the ma
tioua vessels.
In regard to the economy of these detached
surveys, Secretary Southland says
"These surveys, with others, which, from time
TO time, have been made under the direction of
the department. have, to a certain extent, been
useful but they have also been very expensive
in proportion to their usefulness. Made under
special appropriations and special acts of Con-