Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1898-05-27
THE FLAG OFFICERS.
Professional Histories of Dewey,
Schlcy and Sampson.

Professional Histories of Dewey,
Schlcy and Sampson.
OF the three officers who are in com
mand of the fleets actively engaged in
war. two, Dewey and Schley, are COM
mod0rcS, and the third, Sampson, is q
captain. Commodores Dewey and
Schley are commanding under their
own broad remnants. Captain Samp.
son has an appointment as acting rear
admiral, a position of questionable
legality, and somewhat analogous to
military brevet rank. 1t gives him all
the privileges and power of Il rear-ad-
miral, but without the pay. All three
OF these officers have had the good for
tune to reach the command grades
early in their career and while still in
their thirties. Commodore Dewey en-
tered the navy in 1861, and reached
the grade OF commander in 1872.
Commodore Schley became n COM
mander after Is years, and Captain
Sampson after II years service. By
way of contrast, it may be noted that
there are now on the active list men
who have served Is years and are still
junior lieutenants.
The professional histories of Dewey,
Schley and Sampson are much the
same. All of them have filled the
posts to which they have been called,
as they gradually mounted the ladder,
with distinguished ability. All have
held positions which are regarded as
prizes in the service-for each one has
been chief of bureau in the Navy De.
partment with the temporary rank of
Commodore, long before seniority en-.
titled them to that grade. Schley
went to the far North and rescued the
Greedy expedition, and went to the far
South and commanded the Baltimore
during the Chilean disturbance. Samp-
son has made great reputation as an
ordnance officer; and no man has
done more than he to establish Amer
lean manufacture of American guns
and to make them, as they are, the
best in the world. And, as for Dewey,
the thunders of applause with which
the whole land is now ringing for his
magnificent victory at Manila drown
the more prosaic recital of his admir-
able administration as Secretary of
the Lighthouse Board, Chief of Blu.
reau and President of the Board of
Inspection, and even of his gallant
service on the Mississippi during the
civil war.
And as to their personality, it is as
different as we'll can be. Schley is
genial, dashing, American in his keen
sense of humor, an excellent disciple
marian, very skillful sailor, and ex-
actly the right man in the right place
when in command of flying squad
ron. Sampson has no nerves. It is
doubtful if he ever experienced the
emotion of fear, or has any conception
of what it is. He is quiet, reserved al
most to austerity. He is q highly
scientific and severe student, and in
deed has something OF that air. The
naval officers who have sailed with
him say that, as commanding officer,
he is ideal. His ships have always
been models of all that men.oi-war
should be, and that describes his fleet
now. He can be relied upon to put
13-inch shells exactly where they are
wanted every time, and to do it with
the steady and immutable certainty of
the rising tide.
Dewey is more of man OF the
world. He likes his club, he is fond
of hunting, he is very debonair. On
duty, lie is inclined to severity-and
every one under him knows that the
mark has got to be toed. His ships,
too, have always been typical-and not
merely in general efficiency, but in
every detail, for he has q very keen
eye to spot the slightest relaxation.
His great achievement proves that he
has that highest of all qualities in the
sea neutrality-suspicious. boldness. He
went into the harbor of Manila in the
blackness of night, when the enemy
never dreamed he would dare to do so.
He weighed all the chances of the sub.
merged torpedoes, and deliberately
took them. He Unanswered around
that bay after he got in with an aston.
ishing freedom, which showed that he
knew the depth of water at every little
shoal and reef. He smashed those
Spaniards at short range, and then at
long range, and stopped in the middle
OF the fight to recuperate, and then
went at it again and hammered harder
than ever.
Wasted Opportunity.
She-How dare You kiss me, sir?