Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-03-11

nope tney VIII push " W NNAN-asas -"
further advocacy Of the righis and Just
claims Of the staif, We paid y The following
letter written By senior anrEeon Of the
United States navy, and Invite for Il care
full perusal. II was writtehteh February
10, and its publication has been delayed In
consequence Of pressure upon our columns,
but as the question Is TO be now again taken
up In committee We make room for 1t today
IEsAyLsI % ls79.
Ssas n E,d'eissS ana ssre.rT, Nav Depart
mat. Wdshfn0ton. d o. s-..- IN. q
the published letter Of General Sherman, Of
the 18th instant, on the subject OF "sta1
rank, and your letter 10 General Sherman,
Of the l7th Inst, ''thanking hin for his just
aud liberal yiowa.D AZ " A'.'
General shsrmau's letter ends the ques-
tlon Of pusluve staff rank, and n, hRpplly,op.
Fortune, atamoment when Congreesis about
10 confer actual rank on ataH officers Of the
navy, az II did some years ago on thoae OF
the army, The statement q TIE General,
| that "ln tho army all our stan officers have
actual rank" and his opinion that, Ton the
whole, our army system seems 70 work
we'll In practice" affords encouragement 10
| the stan oflcars OF tho navy TO hope that
| Congress will complete Ia good work BY
| applying 10 them the legislation, which, We
arc assured on the highest authority,
''seems to work well in practlce'' In the
army, surely q safe precedent Tor Legislation,
for aught that has been shown TO the contra
/ ~. Well, then, might you express 10 Gene.
raj Sherman the sstlsfactlon which you and
other officers Of the STAFF corps derive free
bis exposition OF his Views, and the usagea
/ Of the army, as sustaining all, and more
than the naval staff corps have ever asked.
When, In 1916, Mr.. Secretary Bancroft
conferred rank on medical ofiicsrs, (which
rank was leEallEed In 1884 By Cougress,)
llne officers objected to the degree OF rank
given, az unjust to themselves, but chiefly
70 any stat rank, as Involving command,
and thereby interfering with the "absolute
control Of line Officers" this too notWith-
standing the provisions securing precedency
and command 70 the commanding oflicers.
| The STAFF rank, Whatever ID Mas, WIS some
| times respected by line officers, In which case
every thing went on smoothly on shlpboardj
but, unfortunately, II was sometimes ignored
on one faneiful pretext or another, 10 the
| disturbance Of harmony and good feeling
among the officers. Line writers affected 10
ignore the military character OF stat oftleers
By calling them civil officers, nor. combat
ants, auxiliaries, &C., and 10 belittle their
rank BY speaking of Il as asslmllated, or rel
alive only, not positive nor actual, none OF
which terms are afhxed TO them by the law,
which, as has been repeatedly pointed out 10
the line, names them ''slah Officers" giving
the designation "clvll Officers" TO an entirely
distinct class Of officers. The law knows no
rank as asslmilated rank, and no officers as
auxiliAries. This persistent nicknaming Of
stat officers and their rank up TO the prescut
time Is a persistent dlscourtesy, not TO say
characterization. "a- % .a. 100
The rank given 10 sta1 officers was " rank
WITH" which line critics contend Il lesA than
Crank Of" the former from lts comforting
| no command, being harmless TO discipline
and therefore no otherwise objection able
than as 1t encouraged in the stan claims not
worth the llne's respecting whilst the lat
ter embodied command, and could not safely
b given to tho Gtaf. This ls q late dlscov-
cry for, till now, crank With had al
/ ways been as strenuously objecsed 10, a. In
VolTiug command and lmpairing discipline,
a. crank Of" now ia. One msra taek, aud
/ the critical obieetors wfiibo All right. he
amy haA grown accustomed to the positive,
| or actual, rank Of the stat, which works so
we'll In practice that the contentious and
mlsuuderstandlngs which frequently occur
red prior to Its creation, are no longer heard
Of No reason has been shown why similar
legislation for the navy should not result In
similar benefit.
Line critics have been unfortunate 10 the
choice Of disparaging eplthet for slab
rank by calling Il assimilated. II II Is,
what tney have always contended that Il was,
shadow not substance, pretenee not reality,
mere worthless name, meaning nothing
aud comforting nothing they should have
called IL AssINuLArKp rank eounteriel,
spurious rank cheat, fraud, Line RANK
ia the navy can be asslmlIated to line pDk
In the army; that OF admiral 10 that Of gen.
erhl, because OF like character their likeness
constituting their asslmilationi but disslml'
lars cannot be asslmilAted. All rank, be II
ever 90 absolute, must, In one sense, be rela
tive. A lieutenanpl rank Is relative to q
captains, like his height or age, whilst, ps'
%, IL Is absolute. Line writer's, therefore,
were mistaken when they chose the word
relative" TO disparAge and bellttle the
rank Of staff oflcers, a. II its relation 70 line
rank necessarily implied that Il was less
The relation IL mutual, and each cannot b
less than the other.
The dictum that rank involves command,
(the alleged objection 10 staff .ank) hAl
BEEN 90 often reiuIed that the line arc prob
ably lefI alone, TO enjoy monopoly OF thel
belief H. indeed, there are not come tlsseu
tets sysn among among Inc geptlemsr
= claimed 10 be OF their own porsuasion.
But they cannot eonycnientlT dlspens,
with the dlctum, which continues 70 be I
necessity, how often uoeVer refuted, for, dis,
armed Of This weapon, what other have they
With which to light down ataii rank. When
what they have yarlously called "relatiVe'' OF
"assimilated" rank was given us, they de-
nounced Il a. interfering with their com.
mands, and predicted much characterization
as the consequence. Happily their CON-
mand was not lnterfered with, and no insub-
ordination resulted, notwithstanding the
proyOcations offered by their frequent ig-
mornings OF stat rank. Now that, In conse'
quenee Of this Ignoring Of our former rank
Congress IL about 70 give us eaoseantiVe OF
actual rank that sAnnot beigporedt Qnsteac
Of the former Imaginary o. esai,nalalsd rank
the line drop their opposiuou 70 Inc latter
as now harmless, and deprecate only IN
positive OF actual stan rank a. 90 bnghun!
10 naval discipline, BY It's interfering Will
nne commands. Inc Gay PROBABLY no,
distant when they Will come 70 believe "a
latter as harmless as they nave ALREADY
} cone 10 beheye the former aud WI
: drop their opPoshlon 70 also, under w
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