The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-29
A WASTE or GUNPO WIDER.

IT is very important matter, doubtless, that
the most fraternal relations should be main
tanned between the army and navy, and it is
a matter for congratulation whenever the
officers and men of the two branches of the
military service meet for the purpose of hav-
ing good time and cultivating social as we'll
as official friendships. Is it absolutely neces-
sary to the well-being of the army and navy,
however, that when generals, admirals, and
other high officers of the army and navy visit
each other, all the big guns in ship or fort
should be fired in honor of the event?
This query involves considerations both
of propriety and economy that the
War and Navy Departments might
deliberate upon with advantage, or
if the subject is of too involved charac-
ter for the Secretaries and their immediate
advisers, it would afford an admirable theme
for discussion in the halls of Congress. A
few days ago we published an account of
great military and naval jollifcation in the
harbor of San Francisco, the chief feature of
which appeared to be the firing of salutes.
The hero of the occasion was Commander
William Rogers Taylor, commanding the
North Pacific squadron, who, thinking that it
would be conducive to enjoyment, started out,
accompanied by his staff and a number of in
vited guests, to visit the various Notifications
in the neghborhood of San Francisco. The
first place visited was Black Rock, where the
naval party was met by General Ord, who
caused a salute of eleven guns to be fired in
honor of the occasion. Commander Taylor
then proceeded to Alicatrez, where he was
received and handsomely entertained by
General Robinson, who also fired another
salute as his guests were departing The next
place visited was Angel Island, and the des-
patch says the visitors were received by
General Wilcox and staff ''amid the booming
of saluting guns" These proceedings, as
many of our readers are probably aware, were
strictly in accordance with the rules and regu-
lations made and enforced for the govern
ment of the army and navy, and all this burn
ing of gunpowder is an essential feature-in-
deed, we might say the most essential feature
of naval and military etiquette.
The officer in whose honor all these guns
were fired was not a Spanish grandee of the
fifteenth century, or Chinese mandarin, or
even the plumed and painted chief of some
tribe of savages. He is an individual who
considers himself much the superior of all
these, inasmuch as he is member of the
naval service of the foremost and most en-
hghtened nation of the globe, and is living
amid all the civilizing influences of the nine
teenth century. The occasion for all this
and the case certainly has a ludicrous aspect
when we consider that all this noise was made
merely because a naval officer chose to get up
jollifcation for himself in the harbor of San
Francisco.
The cost of firing salutes would be a curl
GUS matter for some investigating committee
to look into, and we imagine the amount re-
quired to pay for the powder burned every
year by the army and navy would startle
some of our Congressional fnanciers When
ever an admiral arrives at or leaves port or
station he is entitled to salute of so many
guns, the commodores to so many less, and
so on down the list, together
with regulations for salutes whenever
occasion can be devised to fire
them. All this takes a good deal of money,
for powder is not a cheap article, and it
moreover to outsiders has a rather ridicu-
lous aspect that Commander Taylor could not
visit the forts in San Francisco harbor with
out the occasion being celebrated by the
firing of thirty-three big guns.
This may seem small matter, but would
it not be worth while for Congress to inquire
whether this business of saluting our own
officers is not an expensive and unnecessary
luxury that could be advantageously dispensed
With without injury to the dignity or efficiency
/ of either the army or navy