The times., 1898-11-26
Admiral and Vice ADMIRAL.

There is no objection TO reviyins the
grades of admiral and vice admiral.
There is every objection TO making them
temporary ard personal, according to a
former vicious practice. OF course. the
present object of Secretary Long in rec
ommending the temporary scheme is as
obvious as il is unpleasant His idea,
palpably. is to have Dewey made admiral,
because the American people would not
tolerate the promotion of anybody over
him. In reality the idea is to make him
warming pan for the purpose of slip
ping in the dnddering department favor
ite Sampson, as vice admiral. Dewey de-
serves the best grateful nation can give.
If the other deserves any thing at all it
is contempt and court-martiai, and we
are not sure that there would not be
poetic justice in the fate of Ananias to
follow
But the personal equation aside, navy
as large and respected as ours, ought TO
least two vice admirals, one to command
the European and another the Pacific sta
ton. Such charges are not given to Off
GERS of less dignity by other countries,
and it is an injustice 10 our navy to place
it in an inferior position in regard to the
foreign forces ii must meet in the way of
business, society or diplomacy. We have
elevated our representatives at tirst-class
courts to the rank of ambassador for an
exactly similar reason, and the rule
should equally apply to the navy and
army. In fact. if Alger did not hate Gen.
Miles as he does, we should have one gen.
| eral and several lieutenant generals before
another year. and that would be right. AS
remarked above, il is eminentiy desirable
| that Dewey should be made an admiral,
| but it should be as the occupant of reg
ular office to which there would be ma
tural succession. As for the Sampson vice
admiralty game, it is very probable that
the country will see that does not work.
Secretary Long does well to call atten-
ton to the injustice which frequently hap
pens in connection with rewards TO Off
GERS for conspicuous bravery or distin-
gu she j and merito lou; service He iys:
| The injustice of the present system of
| .ewarding officers for conspicuous con-
duct in battle and extraordinary heroism
| is so apparent that the department de-
| sircs to set before Congress the facts in
| full and to recommend change in the
| present law on this subject
| AS a result OF the recent war certain
| officers of the navy who deserved reward.
and who under existing law could have
| 1t in no other way, We're promoted over
/ the heads of their brother officers who. by
reason of the necessity for their services
| on other duty not less important, had no
| chance to participate in the battles of
| Manila and Santiago. Tkis worked a hard
ship in many cases and in some instances
| prevented officers who are of great desert
| from the chance of reaching the highest
| grade of the navy.
The promotion of certain captains who
participated in the battle of Santiago rem
ders 1t practically certain that others will
be retired as commodores who in the
] ordinary course of promotion, would 9TH
| erwise have reached the grade of rear
| admiral and been retired as such. This
| will make a difference in the retired pay
| of these officers of $50 year. in each
| case. and is indeed direct punishment
| to them. Whereas, having performed ar
duous duties during the period of the wal