The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-03-09

= 2 & z & : ~ So
cial sources. are correct. and may be
easily verified.
This table shows that we have, ship
FOR ship. at the present time, three times
ever twice as many as France, over so
per cent. more than Austria or Russia,
fha 0DSr q p Per cent find mOre tb than nro either
lazy. this proportion is nearly doubled.
II is almost universally recognized,
afoat and ashore, in great civil estab-
where in the merchant service, that the
duty or running engines can be most
economically and efficiently performed by
practical mechanics rather thar by men
or scientific attachments. Broadly speak
ing, the situation as regards the engi-
neers in our service Is neither one thing
or the other; we have too many if the
practice of foreign navies and the mer-
chant service be followed, and we would
have a trifie too few to have each and
every ship, big and small, lave a quota
had not Secretary Herbert wisely rec
ognized the ability OF chief machinists of
the navy and ordered that they be given
an engine room watch. Under the pro
posed law we would haye many more
tnan there could possibly be any use fer.
As only 40 per cent. of the engineers
are at sea, the remainder. with the TWEEN
~ fyIn os,c engineers cadets. form a reserve,
~ ~ OL2C VI olAJ
expansion of the fleet, could go to sea-
their places being taken by retired engi-
neer officers. In addition to this number.
any number of engineers of the proper
practical knowledge could be recruited
from lake and coastwise steamers, ma
chine shops and lighthouse, coast survey
and reserve steamers.
There is no fear of any dearth of en-
gineerS TO run engines; indeed. one of the
objects of this bill on which most stress
Is laId as that 1t pretends to provide for
OF4n11aTpc NJ nt4a1 -
IS a well known fact that the mechanical
engineering and electrical schools are
turning out graduates now faster than
they can be used, so lit is small wonder
that colleges rally to the B of this
measure, and axe petitioning and memo
Iiaiizlng Congress in great umbers for
It's passage It will be shown later on,
however, that the bill does not give them
much for their influence. The influence
of colleges and big engineering firms has
been secured, after four or I'VE years of
have resigned ~(disgusted with work not
suited to their scientific education) and
such colleges and firms.
n separation of the scientific from the
practicable part of naval engineering On
board ship is also of vital concern to the
enlisted man. Il has been shown that in
foreign navies lit is possible to rise To
warrant and in some cases Commissioned
rank; but this will never be possible in
our navy If scientific engineers are to
stand all engine room watches. The man
nope Of enlisted men is to gain warrant
rank. This is possible in the seaman
branch Of the navy, but not in the en-
gineer branch; and it can only be secured
and restricting the number of Commits
stoned engineers to the number necessary
70 design, construct and s~uperintend ma
SGnlnery. In the position Of Warrant
Oflcer, the enlisted men will find open
to them positions that are honorable,
when carry good pay, n which insure
ample reward for faithful service. Al
present the machinists do the work bL,-
do not get the reward.
An examination of the effects of the
bill shows ~conclusively that the benefits
g colleges have been zealously misstated.
Ihere are now at sea and at the Naval
Academy about rs naval cadets who will
be available in a few years for commits
sions in the Engineer Corps. This bill
provides that % of these cadets are to be
commissioned at once, which would leave
only 105 engineers to supply plus the an
nual waste, which would be less than
ten annually. TIE commissioned officers
IN hve or SIX years. As n half the
officers to be appointed must come from
the Naval Academy. the number possible
so,d take af from graduates Of technical
vacancies would be filled, would be rs or
SO. Taking into account the sizes OF
the cadet classes. there could be not
more than ten appointments from the
colleges of the whole country. After the
commissioned grades are flied. under the
provisions OF the bill, there would be left
sach year for all the colleges of this
Truly a hollow bid for their support!
One section of the bill would retire
nearly all the engineer officers as com
modores. which would cause a consider
able increase of the expense Of the retired
list. BY the increase of Engineer Cadets
at the Naval Academy, the additional cost
f for cod Their EDUCATION would rznge from
fourth year, and would remsfn at that
additional cost for several years. until
the corps was full, when it would fall
The first year after the passage Of this
bill, there would be in addition to the
above, forty cadets at sea at a cost of
1900 q year; ,o the Uoo second year 50 cadets
years there would be about so at a cost
of $4,000 per annum. The maximum
cost of section u, IS. IA of tn House Bill
s190l, 900. and the m minimum cost exceeds
800, 900. The bill ccntemplates a con
siderable increase Of pay of engineer
officers fwho are already paid more than
the line officers of the same rank}. and a
slight increase of the pay Of a few line
oficers The additional expense would
cost Of the bill viii range between s4i4.-
600 and $5G1 GOO per annum, without the
slightest increased efficiency of the Navy,
but without doubt a decreased efficiency.
the discretionary power of the Secretary
Ct g,,r the navy os perso Il snsa wS;cn a vo, Second I'd
similar in to. ard as sosard as having
Army. It transfers much work from other
hureaux to. the Steam Engineering
Bureau without ~apparant reason, II
ton of a man-of-war which would be
VERY harmful to discipline and might
easily bring disaster on the ship. The