The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-09-15
THE REDUCTION or NAVAL EX-
pEN9Ep

1ub HhDC CIION UT NA Y al BA-
EENSES.
No PLEA for economy should induce the
Government to discharge from the army OF
navy any officers in good standing or to re-
duce any from higher to lower grades. The
great superiority of our military over our
civil service is due to the assurance that is
held out to those who enter it that they will
be permanently retained, if they SO desire,
during life OF good behavior, with chances of
promotion from the lower to the higher
grades, as their merits may deserve or the
exigencies of the service permit. 1t is due
to the taxpayers of the country, however,
that hosts of unemployed officers should not
be retained upon the pay-rolls of either the
army or navy in times of profound peace, if
it can be prevented; and as officers
who have been regularly commissioned
cannot with propriety be discharged the
retiring law should be vigorously enforced
in letter and spirit. The number of the
higher grades should be reduced by prohibit
ing promotions, and new officers should not
be admitted except on a system that will pre-
vent the service from being overcrowded.
The evil of a superabundance of officers is
more severely felt in the navy than in the
army, and there now exists in that branch of
the military service state of affairs that calls
for some decided action on the part of Con-
gress.
There are now in the navy, provided the
promotions caused by the death of Admiral
Farragut are confirmed by the Senate,
admiral, l vice-admiral, 3G rear-a dmirals,
so commodores, rs captains, 1O5 commanders,
and 1856 lieutenant commanders, or total of
4S3 officers entitled to command fleets and
vessels, for force of about eight thousand
men. In the army the officers of correspond
ing grades only number about 225 for force
of $4,000 men. In the navy there is one COM
manding officer to every sixteen men, and in
the army one to every 227 men, dispropor-
tion that is out of all reason, even admitting
the differences of the two branches of the
service by which a certain number of men
in the navy represents larger force than it
does in the army.
If there was ample employment for all
these gentlemen there would be no cause for
complaint, but there are many more officers
than are wanted to maintain the navy at the
highest state of efficiency desirable, and it is
a notorious fact that it is next to impossible
for the Secretary to find employment for
majority of them. Under the present law of
Congress the officers of the navy are retired
in regular routine when they arrive at a cer-
tain age, and are entitled for the balance of
their lives to one-half of the highest sea pay
of the grade of retirement. Under this ar
rangement there will be thirty-six rear-ad-
mirals retired between the present time and
January 1st, 1880; add these to the twenty
one now on the retired list, and there will be
ffty-seven, and if we allow 33 per cent. for
deaths, then there will still remain
at the end of the present decade
81 retired rear-admirals drawing $4,000
each per annum, or imposing upon the Gov
ernment an annual expense of $111, 900. By
the same calculation there will be on the first
of January, 1880, 70 commodores, who will
collectively draw $192,5 500 per annum from
the treasury. Thus the Government will be
at an annual expense of $303, 900 for the sup
port of two grades alone of retired naval
officers who are not expected to perform duty
except under extraordinary circumstances,
and who if ordered upon duty will be paid
double the amount of their retiring salary.
1t is no injustice to the many worthy naval
officers who, under existing arrangements,
will be retired as rear-admirals and commo-
dores during the next ten years, to say
that this is burden the taxpayers of the
country ought not to be expected to bear.
A partial reform can be effected now by
abolishing the grade of admiral, which the
death of Admiral Farragut has made vacant;
that of vice-admiral when it shall be vacated
by the death or resignation of its present
occupant, and by prohibiting any more pro-
motions to the grades of rear-admiral,
commodore, and captain until the number
of officers in those grades shall be very much
reduced below what it is at present In this
way injustice will be done to no one, while q
very large sum of money will be saved and
the efficiency of the navy in no wise impaired
AS matter of course the officers of the navy
are solicitous to have the present state Of
affairs maintained without change, but it il
the duty of Congress to consult the interest.
OF the country rather than those of individu
ais, and if the expenses of the navy are Gu
down in the manner we have indicated no one
will have legitimate cause for complaint.