The Portland daily press., 1882-12-06
Wednesday & Thursday, Dec. 9Th & 9TH.
The Revenue Marine and the Navy

The Revenue Marine and the Navy.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy is
paper of interest and merit, and the sug-
gestions made therein will command wide
attention and for the most part general ac.
quiescence. But to one of the recommenda-
items made-the transfer of the Revenue Ma
rine and Life-Saving Service from the Treas
ury to the Navy Depa tment-we must take
exception. That Service as now managed
is most faithfully performed, and no weigh
ty reasons are offered why change in its su-
perVsion or its perSo nneL should be made.
The Revenue Marine is one of the most eff
flcient branches of the public service. The
work it has done, as compared with the cost
of its maintenance, forms record that it
may well be proud of, and which ought to
commend it 70 the favorable consideration
of Congress. Quiet attention to duty is its
rule of conduct. 1t enforces the revenue
and navigation laws, prevents smuggling,
assists the Life Saving Service, the Light
House Board, and the Fish Commission. Its
ships are constantly cruising and always
ready to assist commerce in any emergency.
1t has two hundred officers, and thirty-fve
vessels, all in commission. The record
shows that these vessels have saved every
year property valued al So 200, ,000,-or more
than thrice the entire expense of the Ser
vice. In ten years they have assisted over
1900 vessels and saved some $50 lives be-
sides making over 10000 reports or seizures
for violations of law. A striking evidence of
the above lies in the fact that the Revenue
Steamer ''Woodbury'' has cruised along the
Maine coast,-at our own doors, so to say
over fourteen thousand miles during the last
eighteen months, and within that time has
rendered assistance in twenty-five cases,
saved four lives, and over $120,000 worth Of
property, or more than three times what it
has cost to run her.
1t is now proposed by some of the young
er officers of the Navy to transfer the Reve.
nue. Marine and the Life Saving Service
(which comes under Revenue Marine inspec-
tion) to the Navy, This doubtless arises
from desire on their part to enlarge their
field of active duty and furnish positions for
some of their large surplus of idle officers
We cannot view the project with favor. The
services are both nautical, but their duties
are widely diverse. The one is naval, the
other civil The work of Revenue officers
lies in enforcing laws and performing duties
which come under the supervision of the
Treasury D apartment, and have little or
nothing in common with naval work or du-
ty-while the converse is true of the Navy.
The present corps of Revenue officers are
admirably fitted by years of toll and expert
ence for the places they fill; their service is
essentially coast service, and they are
trained especially to 90 asst navigation, prof.
cheney in which requires constant practice
and long experience.
Since 1887 Revenue Cutters have cruised
along the coast during the winter months
for the relief of distressed vessels,-except
for brief period when the Navy tried, and
abandoned the work as impracticable-and
so well does the Revenue Marine perform
1t, that every year the Treasury Department
receives numerous acknowledgements of it
from underwriters, owners and masters of
vessels, as well as from foreign governments
and many officers of the service possess
testimonials and decorations bestowed in
recognition of their services.
Naval officers, on the contrary, are not
practically familiar with our coast: they are
essentially deep water sailors; a military
service trained for naval warfare, and bv
that very training untitled for positions un-
der the civil departments. Furthermore the
transfer would not be economical. As at
present conducted the personnel of the Rev
enue Marine is limited-under naval man
agoment its numbers must be increased: ::
and filling the vessels with officers and men
in proportion to naval requirements, must
largely increase the expense, while there is
not only no reason for supposing that the
work would be nearly as well done as it is
at present, but every probability that it
would not.
The argument that the surplus of Naval
officers must be maintained, and therefore
must be employed, is not only unsound but
it loses all its force when it is found that
such employment as is proposed, contem-
plates depriving Jealous and efficient corps
of public officers of positions to which they
have given from ten to fifty of the best
years of their lives, and for which they are
especially fitted, and replacing them with
gentlemen who, whatever their merits as
Naval officers, are not, and will not for a
long time, if ever, be qualified to take their
places. The experiment has been tried in
the past and it did not then work; and we
see no reason to suppose that it would sue
ceed any better now. The Revenue Marine
and Life Saving Service belong just where
they are, and should not be transferred
to or recruited from the Navy.