The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-05
The Navy Personnel Plan.

The report of Assistant Secretary RoosE-
WELT sets forth very clearly what has been
accomplished by the board which has been
considering the personnel of the navy. The
bill e%mbodying the boards conclusion is a
long one, and Mr.. R~oosEvELTs explanation
of it still longer; yet it is possible to pre-
sent briefly the general results reached.
These results are chiefly concerned with
three subjects, namely: the removal of the
chronic conflict between staff and line. the
increase of promotion, and the condition of
the enlisted men. The first purpose, so far
as the engineers and the line are concerned,
is accomplished by the novel and radical
stroke of amalgamating the former with
the latter. The cadets at the Naval Acad-
envy. hereafter to be called midshipmen,
are to be commissioned at once on complet-
ing the four years of study there, the pres
ent two years course at sea being abol-
ished. They will all belong to the line,
yet all will have been instructed in en-
cheering. Meanwhile there is a carefully
arranged system for transferring the exist
ing engineers to the line, although it may
be specified that they are to perform en-
gineer duty only, since otherwise they will
Jake up llnt uuIieb. lulS part u tHt pun
is supplemented by the creation of a body
of 100 warrant machinists, having good
pay, reinforcing the engine-room strength.
This ingenious and radical method of do
ing away with the controversy in regard to
the titles and the positive rank of staff
officers Is supported by the entire board,
with the exception of one member, and,
since both line and engineers are repre-.
scented on the board, the solution should
appeal strongly to Congress. There are
other staff officers, such, for example, as
the medical and the pay officers. to whom
the plan does not apply; but the purpose
has been to simplify the change as much
as possible.
Next comes the question of increased pro-
motions. This is solved by a method which,
in some form, has been proposed repeatedly,
namely, that of selecting, each year, in Ger.
tain grades, enough officers for retirement,
in order to cause, in lack of casualties
from other sources, a specified number
of vacancies, and hence Of promotions
thereto. The number of promotions con-
templated is thirteen annually among the
Commanders, twenty among the Lieu
tenant Commanders, t~wenty-nine among
the Lieutenants, and forty among
the Junior Lieutenants. The selections
are to be made by q board, but not more
than five Captains, four Commanders, four
Lieutenant Commanders, and two Lieuten.
ants are to be retired in any one year. To
mitigate individual hardships Of the plan,
the retired officer will have the rank and
three-fourths of the sea pay of the nexthigher
grade. Three of the board dissent as to the
method of making the vacancies, although
all are anxious to nave more promotions,
even by artifcially creating vacancies in
some way.
The third leading measure relates to the
enlisted men; and, besides making their
term of enlistment four years hereafter, 1t
gives them retirement for service and
other privileges now granted to soldiers,
while there Is a new provision regarding
increase of pay on establishment The
creation OF the grade of warrant machin-
lists, already spoken of, also comes under
this head of lettering the condition of the
enlisted men.
Tothese principal changes are added sun
dry others sufficiently important to be
mentioned. First is an increase in the
total number of officers. Then comes an
increase of pay, founded ON the fact that
the engineer officers now receive more pay
than the line. so that In amalgamating the