The sun., 1892-05-10
THE NArY Hse1sEEn CORPS.
The Arguments of the Opponents OF II
Pending Measure Tor Its Increase.


The Arguments of the Opponents OF the
Pending Measure for Hts Increase.
WASHINGTON. May e.-The controversy over
the proposed increase OF tho Engineer Corps
OF the navy gathers strength, and number
Of the line officers are doing all they can to
defeat tho project. The argument in its favor
was indicated in these columns recently. so
that II Is only fair to present tho other side.
The bill under discussion provides for total
OF BOB commissioned engineers. against a
total OF 1872. according to tho official register
issued at the beginning OF the present year.
The existing law provides for reduction OF
the Engineer Corps to 10. 80 that tho pend
ing bill would add 1873 to the number fixed
upon as the ultimate maximum OF TINT law
and III to the actual number on the recent
official list.
Tho opponents OF Increase show that there
are forty-three vessels OF the new navy COM
pleted or under construction. and that the last
OF them will he finished in 1894. by that time
IL Is expected that the last OF the wooden craft
will have been condemned as beyond repair:
but there will remain four iron gunboats, and
the opponents OF tho present measure are
willing to concede tho thirteen single-turret
monitors rs part of the effective force. making
a total of sixty. But. as among the naval
strength OF foreign powers with which COMPARE
sons arc instituted torpedo boats and tugs are
not included deduction OF these is also made
for our navy. although that would drop out
only five. leaving total OF fftyfv ships. At
least. one additional vessel will be provided
under the pending Naval Appropriation bill.
but comparisons OF course. must be made with
tho force already authorized.
Dividing the number 303 by 55. we have In
our navy the proportion OF 5.5l commissioned
engineers to ship. England. with $50 ships.
has $50 eng ineer officers. or n proportion Of
1897: Germany has Oh ships. with 62 officers.
or .10 to ship: France has 262 ships, outside
of torpedo boats. and $50 commissioned engi-
neers. or n proportion Of 81 to n ship. this ex.
trenely small ratio being due to tho fact that
tho machinery Of tho smaller vessels is in
charge OF non.commissioned machinists.
Italy presents n marked contrast, having 203
officers for 81 ships. or .. 33 to ship Yet even
Italy is far surpassed by our navy. which. with
1872 engineer officers for So ships. would have
a proportion Of 3.49 to ship. and. with the
1903 proposed in the pending bill. would have
5.5l That is to say. in the latter case our
navy would have nearly three times as many
to ship rs ENGLAND. and nearly i've times as
How is it that foreign navies. which have
mach hinery as costly as our own. requiring as
much skill for watching and running 1t. get
y So sew TINT hen
number OF machinsts OF warrant and petty
officers rank Promotions are from the latter
Germany. for example. no vessel had at late
date more than one commissioned enEineer,
sSsfns sn' FSsN%H sssS tns dss tS
1;l29; the Pfeil Of 1.3S2. and The Mars
in January of last ye@r that had no commits.
stoned engineers The whole modern ten
dency in foreign nares is to increase the
number enRlln-rOOm n
lists. under the supervision of the commits
psnns iii ne spssm d ss
better chance of promotion aud n better class
Of maehinists; and. further; that the great
cers and many subordinates:
This is the ns 1 in 20 e, Of
serving y; these vessels shows that tho system
% shs Enssy service the number o, engineer officer.
has been decreased Amos. steadily for many years
o iss s sAi wss hs Of sss
Seess While he estimate. FOR prov,d. fof fos
room sr.iteer. ha. | been increased from s'I 81 in
1asa sa4 II hs The Ts
m sf a
s these Ss eFers Tss sT n,. s
the dirscon Of grest efficiency in the subordinate sta
An additional humber Of commissioned oticers on
GHao os .r % p So an ve Se
,hs ssHnomy e g.ss N our war vessels Is Of
war considerable increase OF their number must bo
made for vessels the fact be noted that of the
present officers OF that cors almost 70 per
now. in time OF peace. engaged in duty on shore This
large hummer could be called upon for duty board
ship in such an emergency. and their places shore
hed by the President from engineers on the retired
list the authority for such detail being now vested in
him by law.
The war vessels OF foreign Governments have ma
chinery certainly rs complicated as those OF own.
and surely tho practice that obtains in the manage
10 the maximum OF efficiency and the minimum OF
pense regard to the personnel OF the engineer force
Is well worthy OF the attention Of our lawmakers
Finally. the opponents Of the pending meas
ure argue that it will cause an Increased ex-
pense OF S2lG3O0 a yenr. and probably this
will be a potent plen vi tn the present Con-
gress. AS was recently pointed out in these
columns there Is also n fight over the provi-
sion in the, PENDING bill for giving engineer Of
tcers absolute rank. and this is doubtless real
ly the milk in the cocoanut, SO far as the oppo-
sition OF the line officers Is concerned. But
Congress Is none the less likely to take tho
statistics they have furnished as a ground for
not mourning the increased expense.
1t is proba ble however. that the engineer
officers will be able to carry the point of end
ing the reductions In their personnel with
Juno 80. 1891. as provided In Senator Chan
der,s biz. For that purpose. 9t least. the
the present force OF officers Is too small.
supported as it is by Secretary Tracy. seems
likely to prove effective.