The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1855-12-11

Our : ust Attempt At Naval Reform . FAi-
neutrality-suspicious. Disorganization.
The presentation of petition in the United
States Senate from Commodore Smith, remon-
stIatiDg against the action of the Naval
Board, in placing him upon the retired List,
opens the ball in the campaign about to be
waged in Congress, against the proceedings OF
the commission. However free the report or
the Board might have been from the suspicion
of favoritism, it would have been exposed to
the imputatons of the friends Of those who
think themselves aggrieved, but in that case
the public would have rendered justice to the
purity Of the motives that dictated it, and
would have disc0untenanced any attempts to
impugn its decisions. With evidences how
ever, of want Of discrimination SO glaring as
TO render inevitable the conclusion that zeal
for the interest Of the service did not, in all
instances influence the judgment Of the
BOARD, and with the significant fact that in
giving it their official sanction the Secretary
of the Navy and the President endorsed the re-
port, with the strongest condemnation that
could be decently pronounced upon 1t, the
members of this immaculate commission will
neither have the satisfaction of having their
labors appreciated by the service nor Of re-
ceiving that support from public opinion
which they might otherwise have counted
upon.
All the attempts that have been made to
effect O reform in our naval service have,
some how or other, proved unfortunate. 1t is
not that the necessity for extensive changes
in the system was ever contested: on that
point all our leading politicians have been
agreed. The obstacles to carrying them out
seem to resolve themselves into the difficulty
of devising measure which would reconcile
| the claims of justice with the proper efficiency
| Of the service. This embarrassment is not
| peculiar to u.s. 1t is the same in the naval and
| military services of other Powers In aristo-
cratic countries, where the nobility monopolise
the higher military and naval grades the evil
of continuing upon the active list large
supernumerary staff Of aged and incompetent
officers must be contentedly submitted to.
With us no such necessity exists. We have
neither family interests to consult nor class
prejudices to overcome. We have only to
make an honorable provision for those whose
age and infrmities incapacitate them for SER
vice, and to compel their retirement, to render
our active list what it should be--the most
effective in the world. Strange to say, we have
hitherto found it impossible to accomplish so
simple and straightforward an arrangement.
Every step that we take to effect it seems des
tined to be accompanied by some wholesale
act of injustice and invasion of individual
rights, which neutralize all the adyan-
tages that might be derived from it.
Since the early days of our navy, when an i'm
perfectly developed system produced us such
splendid officers as the Decaturs, the Hulls
and the Perrys, we have mado no rool improve
ments in its constitution. We have on the con-
trary, consecrated by misdirected efforts all its
deficiencies and abuses Satisfied with the
achievements of the men who fought our naval
battles in 1872, we allowed the spirit of old
foeyism to permeate through all branches o.
the service, from the heads Of the naval depart
ment downward, and clinched the evil in 1916
by our bungling attempts to reform the evils
that had resulted from such state of things
1t is now admitted that the principle of pro
motion by seniority can never work well in
either the naval or military services, unless it
NC accompanied Wy VHSCtiNC pIVNiSlOuS lOI tHC
periodical wedding out of aged and infirm Off
GERS. To do this, such q retired maintenance
must be accorded to the latter as will be worthy
of the country and Of their long services Any
other conditions of reform would only degrade
the service, and render it ungrateful as pro-
fesson We do not allude to questions of in
competency arising from moral defects, because
the existing constitution of our navy provides
remedy for all such cases Convinced of
these facts from its experience of its previous
attempts at reorganization, Congress endea-
vored in its naval bill Of last session to frame
a measure by which an effective and searching
reform might be accomplished. There can be
no doubt that the intentions of the trainers of
that law were good but as the result has
proved, they could not have hit upon plan
which was more likely to defeat their objects
In the first place, the very constitution of the
board was vicious, and entirely opposed to the
spirit and form of our institutions. The crea-
ton of a secret tribunal to decide upon the
characters and fortunes of men upon ex parte
and hearsay evidence, and without giving
them an opportunity of defending themselves,
was thing in itself SO monstrous, and so en-
tirely without precedent in a free country, |
that it could not but inspire general dissatis
faction. Under the most despotic governments, |
no such arbitrary proceedings have ever been |
attempted Even the Star Chamber and the |
Inquisition afforded those who fell under their
ban an opportunity Of being heard in their de-
fence. Not so with this republican Council of
Fifteen, which promises to attain as lasting a
fame as that of the celebrated Venetian
Decade. They neither called the accused
parties before them, nor did they trouble
themselves with examining into the truth Of
the charges made against them. When we
state that according to an accurate calculation
of the time occupied ia their sittinps and of |