The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-28

Ia separate organization, They have
come into existence or at least into
Importance, with the development of
the modern, sea fighting machine, which
has taken place since the present act
was passed.
TO RAISE NAVAL MEMS PAY.
Really the most important effect of
the personnel bill, however, will be to
remedy the two evils above referred to.
The matter of pay is easily settled.
The bill simply says that the navy shall
receive army. pay, rank for rank. The
following table viii show what that is:
Army Navy Army Navy
Rank. Rank. Pay. Pay.
Second Lieut.. Ensign ......-..$l,400 81 200
First Lieut.. Lieut. (jr. gr.).. 800 2,000
Captain. Lieutenant -. J. 500 2,6W
Major. ............Lieut. Com. 250O 1900
Lieut.. Colonel. Commander =. 300 $500
Colonel. $1,000. Captain ........ 500 1880
Brig. General. Commodore -. $500 1900
Major Gen. Rear Admiral. I5OO 6,oOO
On the face of it, this does not look
like any great advance in the navy
| pay, except in the case of commanding
! officers: but the army law provides
that officers below the grade of briga-
der general shall receive an advance
| of 10 per cent in their pay for each
! five years of service; provided the to-
! tai amount of such increase shall not
/ exceed 40 per centum OF their yearly
pay" There is also an allowance for
quarters" as in the army, quarters
| in this technical sense standing for
living abode The new bill provides
also a slight increase in pay for all the
! 900 officers now in the service, as line
/ or engineer officers, and, of course, ap-
plies to the 100 new officers provided for
by its terms
REFORM IN PROMOTION SYSTEM.
The bill also attempts to provide a
! more equitable system of promotions.
It increases the inducements for volun-
tary retirements and provides for COM
pulsory retirement on the usual three
fOurths pay whenever that may be
necessary. The average age at which
officers will be promoted or retired out
of the various grades is as follows:
Rear Admiral ..-----., o.
captain : ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 0o12
Commander 81
Lieutenant Commander ..........-- 40
| Lieutenant 50
Lieutenant Gunior grade). ......... 70
Ensign .--.--.-.-......- .-.-......'' 20
MidShipman (naVal cadet. ......... %
The new bill is not all that naval
officers could desire, but it is at least
an improvement on the existing state
of affairs. Under it the young officer
may be reasonably sure of enough to
live on after reaching middle life, and,
what is even more important, in his
opinion, he may be reasonably sure of
ultimately reaching some grade of
command rank.
Theodore Roosevelt, then assistant
secretary of the navy. was chairman of
the board which drafted the personnel
bill. In submitting it to congress, he
said:
The personnel is the vitality import
! II
out the material in improving the per-
sonnet, for the result is that the per-
sonnet reaches such a pitch of perfec-
ton that it can respond to any pos
. sible demands put upon it. 1t is wise
to expend money freely upon the tools
with which the officer works, and the
most important of these tools is the Of
fcer himself.
'sAll that is done-the building of the
) ships, the training of the men, the edu-
| cation of the officers and the continued
struggle to perfect armor and instru-
ments of war, for which millions upon
millions are being yearly spent by al,
l the non-effete nations of the worlds
5 for one purpose. All efforts focus tc
the one crucial point, the hour of bat
tie where, when once started, the one
} mind-that of the captain alone-de.
: cides whether the vast machinery Of
T the bGttleship responds well or i'll tt
what is demanded by all the weary
l years of preparation. 1t will be an houl
5 of high tension, when the man in the
: fighting tower must not fail his coun.
2 try, and it is our duty to see that the
;. man placed there is so chosen and 81
4 trained that he can stand the grave
D test to which he will be subjected. W.
owe it to him that he should be prop
: erly paid. We owe it to the nation tina
e he shall be chosen by the exercise O
a the best intelligence and not merely b!
seniority.
:. ton of the personnel. If neglected, al
other efforts to perfect the navy viii
: be as nothing in the end. We must d.
!, away with every cause of weakness o
disorganization. The captain in tn
: fighting. tower must feel that ever,
: key he touches, whether it leads to tn
engine room, the dynamo room the tor
5. pedo chamber or the gun turret, deal
: with but one system, which responds t
his will with zeal and intelligence, an
with single minded devotion to the shi
which, at the moment, stands for tn
: country In view of how much there
y at stake. the nation should omit no eff
fort and be deferred by no ordinar
70 expense, in promoting the highest stat
" of efficiency in the personnel of tn
10 navy.
Il
'e monetary standpoint, l may point OF
that there has been no increase in tn
: salaries of the officers during the year
. which have seen a nearly tenfold increas
i in the value of the ships intrusted to the
n ! care. In the old days, a wooden sailin
- ! ship with its armament of cheap cas-
d iron guns, cost little more than one-tent
n of what a great modern battleship cost
l. We demand in the men who take chars
r of our modern ships a degree of prof
IF cheney in the various branches of the
# highly complicated profession beyon
=, comparison greater than what was fO
II merly demanded. We require them to il
lie cur heavier responsibilities and run grea
I'd er risk. end where their duties are
s. much more onercusSt SEEMS out right III;
j. they should be given the very slight il
i crease of pay asked for.
- Another reason why the governmeT
10 should not be niggardly in its treatmel
OF of the naval o3scers is offered by the VeI
fact that these men put no money vall
of on their services and disintereStedly sper
IF their best energies and risk their lives c
behalf o1 the government without though
. of money reward. In a nation like our
or which of necessity tends ever to develC
at the material side of life into undue prom
or inence. incalculable good is conferred /
o. the presence of a body of men. the flow
{ of the nation, who are trained in a we
= that would insure an ample remuneratiC
" if they chose to go into money-making
IN private life. but who throw aside Il
Mt practical certainty of private gain for Il
n sake of devoting their lives to uoholdir
n the honor and interest of the nation :
: q whole. Surely 1t is not only Just b
- wise to pay these men, so that what tbs
.. receive shall in some manner approal
9 what they really earn. AT present '
- pursue the opposite course, with the T
a. suit that many of the best men in Il
he service are continually being tempted
40 leave It. because outside they can ea-
= salaries almost Iudicrously dispropo
tionate to what they get as naval of
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