New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-02-25
MORE NAVAL ENGINEERS NEEDED.
A VAST INCREASE OF MACHINERY AND DE-
CREASE OF OFFICERS TO RUN IT.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: Senate bill 7S5 blouse bill $3.50. introduced
by Senator Squire and Representative Wilson re-
spectvely contains several features relative to
the reorgan ion Of the engineer corps OF the Navy
While not attempting here any general presentation
of points relating to the bill a whole, wish TO
call the attention of your readers briefly TO some
reasons why the Navy needs more engineers
In 1882 when a start made In the rehaolutatioh
OF the Navy there were in commission about thirty
five vessels aggrcgatng about twenty-five thousand
indicated horse power. Broad plans were under con-
sideration for increase in the number ana power
of the ships of the Navy At this time the growing
Importance of machinery versus sails was clearly
seem bu; in spite OF the necessarily growing I'M
portance Of the eng and his duties, the NUMBER
of officers In the engineers corps was very largely
reduced. This was piece of legislation which mas
never been and never can be justified It's cohse-
quences have been not only seriously detrimental
to the best good of the service at large but nave
also reacted with crushing severity on individuals Is
leading in several cases to overwork, nervous anu
physical exhaustion and breakdown $780,.
The number Of ships in commission Is about
thirty, aggregatng about two hundred thousand N
dcated horse power, or about eight times as u rn
as in 1882 and yet under existing law IL ~ Pm n
creased and increasing amount Of power by CORPS
OF engineers depleted by the law above reierreu 10
and by casualty to about one hundred and seventy
three or about one hundred less than the NUMBER
The condition is therefore, briefly as follows:
The machinery OF a warship is vitality necessary 10
It's efficiency and fighting capacity inc o,cers WIZ no
design care for and superintend the operation or
this machinery should be ample In NUMBERS TOT the
duties required of them.
The physical history Of the engineer corps OF tnc
Navy for the last few years shows conclusivey that
this Is not the case. Most Of those on whom tnee
burden has fallen most heavily are men VINO served
faithfully in the Civil War and whose reward thirty
years later been an overlooking or WORK urier
which several have broken down at an age wnen
they should be IN the prime of their maturity ms
has made the duty still more severe Tor those re-
naming and thus the natural tendency IL worse
ra Their than better An examination or tnese points
will show concusively that the present ana pros.
pectve numbers In the corps. especially IN view OF
The new ships nearing completion are entirety IN
ADEQUATE TO do the duties imposed on them and that
the condition has reached point where some meas
ure of relief is mperativey demanded
warshps and nothing can excuse a policy which
denies to the engineer corps a sufficient number Of
cniccrs properly care for the machinery Of these
shps and maintain II in state Of efficiency The
,lan duty of Congress Is therefore 10 provide the
CORPS with sufficient personnel, and no true friend
~ the Navy will be satisfied with anything less Than
the modest increase called for in this bill which
ryes the numbers in all grades at 3 or only SO
more than the number allowed In 40, when me
amount OF steam power TO be cared Tor was only
about one-eirhth the amount We now have. the
necessity Is plain and urgent the remedy proposed
lr he only ono adequate. and CONGRESS cannot arord
allow tho present session 10 clanse "lNout rrOr
able action on this measure w. +. DT'RAND.
Professor Of Marine Engineering, Cornell Cni-
versity