New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-10-07
EFFICIENCY IN THE NAVY.

Tn his regular annual report for 1890 the
Secretary of the Navy made public the result
of a most laborious and searching inquiry INTO
the condition and the needs of the service. The
naner aroused a far more vivid interest than
usually attaches to Departmental documents, Tor
the reason that it called attention to matter
which touched the pride and stimulated the
solicitude of every patriotic American. Secre-
tary Tracy sounded warning note as to the
decadence of the personnel OF the Navy. lie
showed that whilst the country is spending
millions upon effective ships and powerful ord
nance, it has been overlooking the concurrent
necessity for providing all this complex ma
chinery with the brains, the vigor and the in
tellectual forces indispensable to its proper
employment. His statement made 1t only too
clear that the avenues of promotion were
clocced : that the constitution and the customs
of the service tended to deprive the Navy OF
Young. active and jealous commanding officers
that enthusiasm was strangled by hopelessness
and that authority in most cases came at
time when old age and indifference had I'M
fitted men for its effective exercise.
One fruit of this significant utterance, and of
the subsequent agitation set on foot by THE
TRIBUNE in June last, was the appointment of
q Board ito examine into and report upon the
present etagnation of officers in the line of the
Navy and recommend such measures as may
seem desirable to regulate promotion and in
crease the efficiency of the Navy" The Board
was admirably organized, and in the report, sub
mitted few days ago, the officers chosen by
Secretary Tracy for this delicate and difficult
work have abundantly justified the compliment
imolied in their assignment. In a general way
il NAV be said that Captain Phythian and his
colleagues have set up two fundamental PROPOSE
tons
First-That the chief need of the new Navy
is an abundant supply of young, energetic, en-
thusiastc and efficient commanding officers.
Second-That in order to secure this sup
ply, the active list must be purged of unavail-
able material and the flow Of promotion inaugu-
rated upon permanently healthy basis.
These considerations directed the inquiry from
beginning to end. Innumerable details were
discussed, analysed and explained; light was
thrown into many corners hitherto mysterious
and obscure but it is perfectly evident upon
careful examination of the report that the eff
cheney of the service and the dignity and honor
of the country. were the ends sought by Captain
Phythian and his coadjutors. They found, of
course, the condition of affairs so forcbly de-
scrbed by the Secretary of the Navy in his
report officers at sea who ought to be Oh shore
and Governmental bureaus sWarming with subal-
terms who should be on board ship mastering
the ntricacies OF their profession. They found
elderly captains, decrepit commOdores and hoary
admrals on the one hand, and on the other
middle-aged watch officers already parting COM
pany with hope and ardor because of weary,
frutleSs years of waiting and subordnation
They found junior leutenants, who, in justice
10 themselves and to the Government, should
be in active training for command, sitting at
desks, not only forgetting the real purpose OF
their career in clerical drudgery, but losing
their zeal for it in the demoralizing ease Of
routine.
To put an end to this plradoxical situation
to classify the officers in the true interests of
the service; to achieve a reorganization which
will give to our ships the active, the ambitious
and the efficient, and leave for bureau work
and unmportant shore duty those whom age
temperament or physical disability has untitled
for promotion and command-these are the ends
TO which the members OF the Board have adj
dressed themselves. That they have done their
worI, intclliSently will be at once acknowledged
by every ono who digests the report. They in
dica,e explicitly the means by which incom-
petent and unavailable men may he eliminated
as obstacles to the promotion Of those who are