The evening times., 1895-12-06

1 hS hltcHdiuk tut tii, ucSi wi y
Of the navy as the consequence OF oyerwor
by the officers is a subject which will b
brought TO the attention of Congress.
Prompt action must be taken in the wa
OF legislation, or else terrible disaste
may overtake the vessels of the navy, tracs
able to the demoralized condition of th
corps.
DIR. Robert H. Thurston. director Of th
Schools of Mechanical Engineering an
Of the Mechanic Arts of Cornell University
who was formerly president of the Amei
ican Society OF Mechanical Engineers
in undoubtedly regarded as the abiest au
| thoriiy upon mechanical engineering II
the United States.
In speaking upon this subject he is fres
| from all prejudice and unaffected by Fer
sonal motives. If his words are tue {
disaster awaits our ships unless radica
change is made in the organization OF tht
4 navy. His advice should influence iegis
lation upon naval affairs. 1t Is the strCnges
that has been given upon; naval affair:
| during the past decade.
II was myself n member of the engineer
| corps" said he, during the civil war. and
| for q half dozen years or more after its
close, and many of tie men whose suffering
and death have been recently described
were acQuaintances, some of them per
sunal friends, and among these were sCmC
Of the ableSt and notlest men that the United
States Navy ever knew. and the proportion
Of noble and able men i'll the engineer corps
was always great.
~ know that the tale is not overdra wn.
and that much more might be said, will
full justification. The list of officers thus
needlessly destroyed might be greatly ex-
tended. for ii is not since the new navy has
been under construction only that the en-
gineer corps has been thus overwOrked and
overst raiDeti. This ia,er period has only IN
tensified q strain which has existed in O
mider form for many years, and the pres
ent crisis Is but the elimination of q
gradually and steadily increasing press ure,
which dates from the earliest days OF the
steam navy.
ENGINEER CORPS AND ITS WAR SER
VICE.
During the war men were ready TO
meet any and all kinds OF danger, hard
ship and imposition, and designations were
rare, but a n exodus be gan immediately after
wards from the ranks of this corps, which
has never wholly ceased, Men have, in
many instances, clung 10 their old en-
ployment, and still remain in service, able
men, helpful and efficient men, men Of
talent and culture, who might have done
much better in civil life, sometimes through
pure sentiment; oftener, l am inclined to
think. because sentiment was reinforced by
the sanguiDe expectation-never yet justi-
fled by the facts-that justice and wise
expedicncy would in time rescue them
from the obviously impending day of un-
bearable trial.
But the service has for q generation
past lost continually by resignation, and
its Iosses have included many OF its most
valuable Officers most OF whom might
probably have been retained had wisdom
and justice and good feeling marked the
legislation Of Congress and the policy OF
the executive department Of the service.
.'Of those who have thus resigned ] have
known many, and 1 do not now recall a
single case i'm which the officer thus return
ing TO civil life wasnot greatly advantaged.
from a business point of view, by the change.
Ir the existing crisis Is not promptly and
wisely dealt with every other member Of the
engineer corps who can find his opportunity
will resign, and hard service and the
weight of responsibility now thrown upon
everyone on duty, and in rapidly increasing
intensity, will pass the rest eth er over TO the
retired list or into the other world
1.-THE present condition in this depart
ment OF the United States Navy. at least, is
discreditable to the Naval Committee OF
Congress and to Congress itself, n reflec-
tion-less deserved, perhaps no less real.
however-upon successive administra tions
and especially the latter ones, and upon the
responsible heads OF the Navy Department
OF the last generation.
EFFORTS TO SECURE RELIEF.
'Ihave personally known the cngineers-in-
chief of every administration from 1861
to the present time, and know that every
one of them has faithfully represented the
condition OF the engineer corps to the Navy
Department and to Congress, so Tar as they
were permitted. for In many cases their re-
ports have been modified, withdra wn, or
actually, in whole or In part, suppressed by
higher authority.
whether such has been the case with
the present administration. do not know,
and would not, therefore, imply n suspicion;
but it Ia sin earlier years, when have kno wn
more or less OF the facts. always been diff
cult to secure fun and complete statements
of the testimony before the administration
and even more difficult to get the facts
before Congress.
"The present engineer-in-cbief has been
more outspoken than many of his predeces-
sors, but even his reports, so far as pub
lished. give no adequate idea of the nature
or magnitude OF the existing crisis.
His report lies on my desk, and observe
that he simply states that the number of
cadets In the engineer division now being
kFdCudUfi Tue dCtutiuy Is UOb suIIlCleQC
to supply the vacancies iu the corps caused
by deaths, designations and retirements.
Ii some means cannot be devised whereby
the engineer division at the academy can be
increased recourse must be had to the tech.
uical schools and colleges of the country to
fill the vacancies, as the number of engi-
neer officers is now less than allowed by
law aud very much less than the needs OF
the service require
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE EVILS.
"This statement reads very mildly, com
ing from Engineer-in-Chief Melville. and
my Interpretation Of 1t is that either he
has given up in despair OF securing a proper
and efficient service in the Engineering De-
partment and a creditable Engineer Corps
Or his usually outspoken and honest state
neuts and protests against this 1ong.pro- |
crossing debilitatioD Of the Engineer Corps |
have been themselves dehabilitated by Off i
ciai pressure. But in any case the response. |
hility for this fearful injury to the navy and |
to the country must lie with the Navy De |
artm~nt and Congress. The possible con-
sequences, aside from the destruction of the |
corps itself and of so many brave and able |
men 10 case of the outbreak of the war |
which SO many OF our statesmen are pre- |
iicting, are tremeDdous-a fine navy ruined |
nd probable failure In every naval cou-
test"