The Evening critic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1881-1885, 1881-07-05
TUESDAY, JULY S, 1881.

lately appointed a Board of Survey, consist
ing of fifteen officers, to examine and report |
upon the present condition and future needs
of our national maritime force. This board
consists of nine line officers, three staff of
ficers and three naval constructors Strange |
to say instead of making his selections from |
the retired list of rear-admirals, in or
der to avail the country of the ripe
experience of men educated in the school of
sailing ships and thirty-two FOUNDER cannon
AIDES, as has been the rule hitherto, the able
Secretary has made up his board of compar
atively young officers, who are not only fa-
miliar with modern conditions of naval sci
icnec, but who may possibly be called upon
to command and navigate the ships which
are likely to be built as q result of their re-
concentrations
In the list of the line officers selected to
form this Board of Survey, we notice with
some astonishment the names of John
Rodgers, Crowninshield, Evans and Very,
whOare all young and active men, ardent stu
dents of the science and indurtrious devotees
of the practice of their profession. This is a
wide departure from the plan hitherto in
vogue in our navy. We anticipate from it
far more than ordinary results.
As we understand the object of the able
Secretary, it is to obtain by the middle of
November, in time for incorporation in his
report to Congress, an exhaustive statement
of the present condition of our naval cstab-
lishment, its relation of force and eff
cheney to the navies of other powers, and
the measures and policies which seem to
the professional mind requisite in order to
place the United States on some sort of foot
ing as n modern naval power. There can
be no question as to the i'm
portance of this task. 1t is q
work which may most opportunely be
undertaken now, in view of the fact that
the gigantic system of experiment and ad-
venture in naval architecture and arma-
ment which has been absorbing the atten-
tien and the financial resources of foreign
powers for the last sixteen years, may now
be said to have reached Il point at which an
interested observer like ourselves can, with
discretion, begin to avail itself of the ex.
cellences developed and to avoid the errors
demonstrated.
We deem it not hazardous to say that the
era of naval experiment, while not by any
means at an end, is so far advanced that
many permanent principles of construction
propulsion and armament, may be con
sidercd definitely developed and established
and it is time that our Government began
to make practical application, to the extent
of obvious national requirements, of the ex.
periencc which our neighbors have gained
by so much enterprise and such tremendou:
outlay. The character of the officers
selected by the able Secretary to com
pose the Board of Survey admits of no doubt
that their deliberations will embody the
most advanced learning and their conclu
siOns the latest approved wisdom of discrim
ination and selection from the numerous
theories, systems, and models that hav,
been elaborated during the era of expert
ment through which the great naval powers
of Europe have just passed. We are among
those who do not believe that an effective
navy can exist under the banner of a
power destitute of merchant ma
rine. The question whether the merchant
marine must preccdc the navy or the navy
may be the pioneer of the merchant marine
is one that we will not attempt to discuss at
this writing. So far as we are conversant
with the settled views of the officers com.
posing the board under discussiOn-and our
personal knowledge embraces the majority
of that distinguished body-we do not hcsi
tate to say that they are no less fully alive
to the necessity of resurrecting our defunct
merchant marine than they are to the ad.
visibility Of remodeling our obsolete navy
to meet the changed conditions of the time
i'll which we live. We look for import
ant results from the deliberations, researches
and conclusions of the board and shall
watch their progress with absorbing inter
est. We hope they will conclude to make
their sessions more or less public in which
case we shall ask the privilege of being
represented at their councils by special re-
porter The current summer is not likely
to furnish any line of news of greater pub
lie interest and Importance than the deib-
erations ofthis Board ofSurvey.
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