New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-26
My WLrH Sly UNLFORMS.

| The naval officer has been good deal harassed
OF late. Congress- III order to diminish the gross
! dispropOrtion between the size of the Navy, the
number Of men. and the number of officers, has
been checking the rate OF promotion. The Secre-
tary has recently declared N official order that
| the officers wife shall not follow him about the
world in his cruises, ana that If she does the hns-
band shall be punished fDr her offence And be has
| lust been rescued, for a time at least, from the
danger OF being Obliged to pay lor six rev uniforms
out of a moderate salary. The order to this effect
had been prepared with great care, and publish
pamphlet form with elaborate pictures for the en-
| lIghtenment of taiors. 1t had even been approved
by the Secretary and the tailOrs rubbing their
hands in anticipation OF orders for something like
ten thousand new uniforms, for the regulations
would have applied Co about .7D0 officers. few
| days ago. however, Admiral Nichols, the Acting
| Secretary announced that the order would not 70
into effect until the Department 80 directed. The
officers hope and believe that nothing more will DO
| heard of II, especially as the pamphlet is said 10
be disappearing from circulation. But 1t still
exists. The tailVr's shears instead of the sword of
Damocles, hang tho naval officers head, aud
he does not know when the shipping may begin.
The average citizen who finds two or three suits
of clothes as many as he likes to have the trouble of
wearing, and more than he cares TO pay fer may be
|
use for Nix The gentle graduation i'll their quality is
we'll indicated by the official nomenclature pro-
posed which Is us follows: Special full-dress; fall
d-ess social lull-dress; dress undress service
dress. If the officer was not thoroughly dressed by
the time that he had passed through these various
stages OF clothing it would not surely bo the fault
| of the naval man-mlliners. Special fn-dress. 1t
appears, was to DO worn OH occasions of special
ceremony and at general muster the first Sunday
of every month. Its most important feature
be the special fu-dress cOat-a portentous gar
ment which the order describes in bali page of
print. The remainder of the special fu-dress uni
form Is made up from the fulldress uniform, which
In its turn Is To be occasions of ceremony,
rs in making the first visit in each port to officers
of lag-rank, aud on social occasions to which
officers are invited in their official capacity aud at
which evening dress would be expected. This
uniform consists of full-dross coat. which Is duly
described. aud is always to be worn open, iul-dress
trousers, fuidress waistcoat, sth cooked hat epau
let's sword, full-dress belt, and swOrd-knot The
sword bolt IL to DO Uhe wastcoat In this
uniform. The mind falters ut the thought that
sume careless officer might wear his sword. belt
under his walstcoat but 10 doubt il would bu
made obligatory officers TO dress with copy of
the regulations hanging beside the mirror. with
accompanying diagrams and Autographs, and the
wear the wrong waistcoat under the right coat.
could hardly be great.
The social full-drcss to be permitted by command
ing officers occasions Of strictly socia, nature
would be the full-dress uniform without the stiff
cockeu hat epaulets. sword belt swOrd-k knot and
with plain blue trousers. The dress uniform would
be worn on all occasions of ordinary ceremony, in
boarding msn-of-war, in making the first isit in
port to commanding officers and at Sunday lnspec-
ton except Oh the irst Sunday in the month, when,
as has already been sad, the special fulldress
would be worn. The dress uniform would comprise
frock coat, blue white trousdrs stiff cooked hat
or helmet as ordered by the senior officer present,
epaulets, sword, etc. The undress uniform drops
little in it's esthetic effect and social grade There
would be epaulets; the head would bear cap or
helmet. This would be worn when reporting for
duty, when serving courts or boards, except
boards of survey, and when calling officially
foreign offers below communicable. The service
dress would be worn ut all times not provided for
bv the other ive uniforms. land has character