Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-01-30

DDS ANNOYING TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS-.
Contrary to the general expectation, and,
indeed, to the program of the court itself when
it closed its doors yesterday morning the naval
court Of inquiry did not wind up its
affairs last night, but convened this
morning as usual at 10 o'clock and continued the
taking Of testimony. 1t seems that the court
reconsidered its first decision to call the cor
respondence between it and Senator Chandler
a "stand-off," and upon going over the ques-
ton very carefully in secret session yesterday
afternoon decided to call the Senator to.the
stand in order to give him an opportunity to
te II all he knows that it cannot be said that
any stone was left unturned to get at the
bottom facts. ..
SENATOR CHANDLER SWORN.
The court met very few minutes after 10
and a new recorder, temporary substitute,
was sworn. The Senator, after shaking hands
| with the members o. tNe court, was placed
un der OATH and Commodore Greer explained
that the court had been following the precept
| of the Secretary, which fixed the scope of the
| investigation to the period since the date of
| the resolution. The Senator, reading the Secre-
tarys letter of instructions to the court. which
| was handed to him. observed that it was dated
January 20, and
| HE WANTED TO KNOW
! why the court in its strict construction had not
limited its scope to what might exist since that
date. His remark was not calculated to elicit
much information, and after few unimport-
ant attempts at explanation on both sides the
| examination was proceeded with
| The court would be pleased, Senator, to
| have You state all you know concerning formal
organizations among naval officers not author
| lied by the Navy department and for purposes
not merely literary or scientific" said the
judge advocate.
| WHAT THE SENATOR KNOWS ABOUT IT.
''The first knowledge had of such an organi-
cation" answered the Senator, twas when Mr.
Richard L. Merrick called on me and informed
me that an association existed among the line
| officers of the navy This was in April 1882
soon after became Secretary of the Navy He
wanted to notify me that he was then and had
been for long time the regularly retained
counsel OF the organization for the purpose of
advising the line officers to their interests.
told him that did not consider that such an
| organization was an injudicious one When
the question Of the revision of the naval regu-
| latlons-abOut six months later-was
under consideration there were some
of the line and staff. Mr.. Merrick
presented to me written argument, and later
| on heard an argument from Hon. George S.
Boutwell, on behalf of the staff. l then said
| that thought such movements among naval
| ofhcers unmilitary and the employment of
counsel anomalous. l waived those objections,
however, for the purpose of admitting these
| arguments Some time later l instituted some
| inquiries i'll regard to this matter, which was
| inspired by the receiptof
ALITTLE RED-CovERED BOOK
such as this hold in my hand-it was called
Constitution and bylaws" and is dated 1867,
and inside is this phrase: ''This organization
shall be known as the Line association the
word line being written in ink. l received
this copy lately During a conversation at the
time with Commodore Slcard he told me that
there was no continuous organization among
the line officers. This information was new to
me and believing him to speak the truth
dropped the matter"
The Senator then pulled some papers from
his pocket, and selecting one from the bundle,
explained that it had been given to him. He
had sent copy to the Secretary soon after the
introduction of his resolution for he felt that
he should be aware of its existence. He
handed his copy over to the judge advocate,
who read it. The document was headed
CONFIDENTIAL CIRCULAR"
and was sort of manifesto from the line off,
association to the line of the service issued
soon after the annual meeting in October 1888.
1t spoke of the urgent necessity for activ-
ity in watching the course of legislation
and reported rather favorable progress
In the pushing forward of the
ensigns pay bill and another measure Great
opposition to these bills, it was announced had
been encountered from formidable source
which, judging from later illusions, was un-
doubleday the engineer corps. The circular
called for an annual subscription of
TEN DOLLARS FROM EACH LINE OFFICER
for the purpose of defraying the expenses of
employing counsel. Along the latter portion
of the circular were several rather caus-
tic remarks upon what was discreetly
termed the negligence of Congress
In regard to naval affairs. The author
of the document had evidently had no
very high estimation of the appreciation shown
by the average Congressman for the needs,
talents and Importance of the naval service
Appended to the circular was a blank for
names of subscribers.
WHAT THE SENATOR NEVER SAW
The Senator, continuing, said: During the
few years that have been in the Senate have
never seen any counsel claiming to represent
the line officers association. l have heard
that Mr.. Linden Kent was employed in this
capacity. but have never seen him there l
took great interest In the bill providing for
assistant chiefs of bureaus in the Navy DEPART
ment, and Lieut.. Com. Bradford. then acting as
slstant chief of the bureau of navigation saw me
occasionally and offered arguments in favor of
the measure When this circular came to NV
III
with the full knowledge of such men as Capt
Phythian. Commander Folger or Lieut. Coin
mander Bradford. whose names were appended
and felt that 1t was important enough to send
to the Secretary.
IN REGARD TO THE CowIE-THoMAs CIRCULARS
the Senator said that he had received number
of copies, some through the mail by unknown
persons, and others from friends He returned
a negative answer to the query of whether he
n racapt Of fba
tation of money.
DO you know" asked the Judge advocate.
''of any instance where any body of naval
officers have attempted to influence legislation
by any methods which you would consider as
derogatory to their characters as officers or
gentlemenY
Generally, no. At the same time I think
| that many of the methods which have been
adopted would not, if authorized by-any BODY
of officers, be considered as exactly right l do
not object to the employment of counsel by in
diyduas or by bodies Of officers to represent
them before Congress if the Secretary is in
| formed of the fact and gives his permission,
| nor do l object to the open solicitation of
| money from officers for the purpose of paying
| counsel fees. But do object to these methods
| if pursue1 secretly.
1T Is ANNOYING TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS,
and especially to members of committees after
favorably reporting measure and after it has
become a law, to find that counsel had been
employed in secret and to have them come
| forth after the work is all done and claim the
credit and the fees. We would not object to have
them come ODenIy he fore III and p-ocIoip, no IL