The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-27
NAVAL STAFF RANK.

The present Congress should by all means,
before its adjournment, bring the naval staff
and line controversy to an end by passing
law giving the staff officers the positive rank
that will place them on an equal footing with
the staff of the army and secure them the
social and official privileges to which they are
entitled. The controversy tina! has now been
going on for number of years has caused
an immense amount of discomfort
and i Generalization in the navy,
and 1t never can be settled
in manner satisfactory to all parties unless
Congress defines the position of the staff
officers in such manner that there can be
no future question about it. All previous
enactments of Congress and all orders from
the Navy Department that have sought to de-
fine the position of the staff officers, and to
accord them the position to which they were
entitled, hevo boon loosely wvrleu that
the line have had no difficulty in violating
their spirit if not their letter, and if any
proof were needed that the staff should be
protected by positive law that will admit of
no controversy, the action Of the
Navy Department in degrading them
from the rank they had previously
held, after Admiral Porter came into power,
would be of itself more than sufficient.
If this question merely concerned the per-
sonal comfort and convenience of certain
officers of the navy, it would still merit the
candid consideration of Congress; but as the
present condition Of affairs materially affects
the efficiency of the naval service by prevent
ing competent men from joining the differ
ent staff corps, by driving from them officers
whose services the Government cannot ford
to lose, and by causing intense dissatisfaction
among those who remain, it is the plain duty
of Congress to remove all Legitimate cause of
complaint. Since the conclusion of the war
the designations among the surgeons have
been so many that the medical corps is now
reduced to an extent that is injurious to the
service, it being found impossible to per-
suade competent medical men to enter
the navy as the matter now stands.
| The engineer corps has suffered
to a nearly equal extent, many of the most
accomplished and talented engineers whose
names are in the "Register" of 1865 having
resigned, preferring to seek their fortunes on
shore rather than to remain in the navy,
while they were not sure from one day to
another what were their rights and privileges,
or whether they had any that the line officers
were bound to respect Many of these officers
could easily have been retained if the status
of the staff had been what it should be. and If
Congress takes the proper action there will
probably be but little difficulty in
supplying their places with gentlemen
of equal attainments. While the
staff corps have thus been depleted there
are so many line officers that the Navy De-
partment cannot fud employment for them,
but, in face of this fact, it is seriously urged
upon Congress to continue the useless grade
| of Admiral, with its emoluments, for the
benefit of an officer who has proved himself
before the whole country to be wholly i'm
proper person to enjoy the additional honors
that it is proposed to confer upon him.
At the last session of Congress a number
of bills for the settlement of the staff rank
! question were introduced, the best of which
in many respects was that of Representative
! Stephens, of New Hampshire. The obiec
tionable feature of this bill is that does not
do the engineer corps justice as it makes the
number OF chief engineers less than the num-
Der of full surgeons or of full paymasters.
| Otherwise it gives the stan officers all they
have a right to ask, and does no Injustice
whatever to the line. If Congress should
pass this BILL the staff and line quarrel that
has caused so much ill-blood in the navy
would be settled beyond dispute, and we hope
sincerely that the present session will not be
allowed to pass away without definite action
being taken upon it or some similar measure
| that will serve the same DurDosa