Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-02-20
MEN TO MAN THE NAVY
A SuRxestion That the Naval Academy
BE Enlarged to Train Crews n
Well as Their Officers.

we'll ID 1nCAE oAACSNS
The present naval committee said a
naval expert to a correspondent Of the New
York Sun, lis doing makeshift work. 1t
will patch up a truce between officers who.
in the one hand. do not know a throttle
valve from a monkey wrench. ana on the
other. know as little about the dinerence
between a sextant and a range hnder-that
is, if exaggeration is allowable by way OF
illustration. But to get the ships crew on
a comfortable basis that was known before
the days of steam a radical change is need
ed. beginning at the honored naval acad-
envy. In fact, more than one change Is
needed there. The first. perhaps. is that
needed to make the training there Mt the
graduates to understand all about the WORK
ing of the ships they are to command. Ihe
captain must be a mechanical engineer. first
of all, astonishing as that assertion may
seem, or else he cannot get his ship to sea.
Then he must be a navigator to carry her
across the ocean, and he must be a gunner
and a torpedo launcher in order to work his
can ram the enemy is implied in his abil-
ity to navigate the ship. The academy
must turn out men to hoating
forts and not frigates. But because of the
Conditions that prevail in these floating
forts-because they are. from the stem TO
the sternpost. a mass of intricate machin.
eIy-something more than the training OF
naval school. 1t cannot be expected that
the change will be made quickly. but 1t
must be made. whether or no you VII.
SoLllS kiAtAS Ao
nish enlisted men as well as officers. :.
There are very few officers that Will
agree with this statement: but every officer
knows the need Of improving the quality Of
the enlisted men. l have not tried to elab-
crate a plan for furnishing the ships with
crews of naval academy graduates. but I
creditable to this republic that no enlisted
man in the navy can become an officer.
The existence of caste in the navy is an in
heritance from the days when press gangs
filed a ships crew and marines with fixed
bayonets were needed to stand between the
quarterback and the forecastle. To do
away with this condition of affairs 1t Is nee
essary only that the academy be made free
to all who would enter it. and that the
graduates go aboard ship. not as officers,
but as well educated mechanicS-in short.
as enlisted men.
1T is easy to see how a bill to increase
the appropriation for the academy would
cially such an increase as would give
enough graduates. in course of time, to
man the entire navy with mechanics. Blu
there is one. answer ready that is conclu-
sive. The first business of this government
is the education and enlightenment of the
people. Moreover. il the cadets were ap-
gress-if each member were allowed to
send ten to twenty where he now sends one
to the school-it is not unlikely that the
new measure would find unexpected favor.
And as for the opposition which the
present officers might make on the ground
that the present impossible line of caste
promotes OlSClpline OH DpaEt snip. II may
be said that no one knows better than hey
that education and the breadth of mind
consequent thereon, promote rather than
destroy discipline. Who. indeed. would be
brave enough to say that a ship manned
wholly by naval academy graduates would
be lacking in discipline? And as for the
ultimate popularity of this measure among
the people-as for the question as to
whether the requisite number of students
could be found. were all graduates to begin
their sea life as enlisted men. it Is neces-
gary npIv IN 1OOk ar the hOStg Of diSan-
pointed ones who attend these examinations
which are held at the behest of congress-
men who have only one appointment to
give. 1t is my belief. founded on long OBJ
serYation. and experience with apprentices
as well az country schoolboys. that thiso one
measure would fill not only our navy with
crews infinitely superior to anything afloat.
but it would give us such a host of trained
men as would serve to prevent war-to
prevent aggression by any foreign power
and it would do more than any other meas
ure to awaken what I may call n nautical
spirit among the people and SO to rehahiIi-
tate our long neglected merchant marine"