Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-11-24
1888, 1t4O & 1t42 M lRKET ST.
Store viii Be Open in the Evenings Until
After the Holidays.

which the Spanish guns and gunners
were ineffective, our guns and gunners
were SO effective that before the range
was or could be reduced the Spanish
ships were either seriously crippled or
their crews demoralized."
Capt. Crowninshield declares that
| the experience of the war has been an
other demonstration of the Importance
| to the nation of sea power. He says
that from the first the only apprehea-
sion felt in this country was on account
of the Spanish navy. 1t was Cervera's
ships that were feared-we did not fear
! the Spanish army-would not have
| feared it if it had been three times as
powerful unless it had been supported
by a navy powerful enough to have
formed an efficient convoy and brought
| it to this coast. On the contrary the
| Spanish navy, even without the Span
ish army, would
HAVE BEEN A MENACE,
| though it had consisted of only one
first class cruiser. Until that cruiser
had been blocked, captured or Destroy
ed any unprotected point on our coast
and all of our seaborne commerce
would have been at it's mercy, and no
army, however efficient, could have
protected us from it. 1t required a
navy for this work, and an effective
navy"
Touching upon the combined opera
lions of the army and navy, the report
says that happily all points of differ
ence which arose between the COM
manders during the campaign were
| satisfactorily solved by victory. One
glazing defect of the system of joint
operations was found, however, in the
| matter of transporting and conveying
troops, and it is recommended that to
secure smoother handling of such a
campaign the navy be by law charged
with the transport service.
The navigation bureau recommends
! that Congress authorize the
| INCREASE OF THE NAVAL FORCE
to 10000 men for general service, and
| 2,5C0 apprentices, and an argument is
made to show the absolute necessity
| of some such increase unless the re-
| serves on the receiving ships are to be
reduced below the danger point; an
evil that was very closely approached
during the last war To carry out this
recommendation the report recon-
mends the passage of House bill No
! 10,403, which also carries with it an
increase of ninety-nine in the number
of line and engineer officers and of one
hundred warrant machinists, all very
much needed
The report does not enlarge upon the
necessities of the service in regard to
| personnel Captain Crowninshield be-
lieving that the department and Con-
gress are both so well acquainted with
the requirements of this detail of naval
organization that the statements of the
bureaus needs will be sufficient to Sc
cure action by Congress.
OF the volunteer officers it is said
that they rendered valuable service
during the war, but that they can never
be the equal in professional attain
ments of their brothers of the regular
! q 1iClt lnt 10 III Of he
tive training impaired to the latter
A TRIBUTE IS PAID
| to the good work of the naval militia.
in manning the coast defense stations
and the vessels Of the auxiliary naval
| force and furnishing material for
crews for the auxiliary vessels serving
with the regular fleet. But for crews
aboardship in active service they fur
nished nothing more than material
and in the ordinary course most of
| them would have been enlisted as
landsmen and nothing higher All had
| to be thoroughly drilled and even the
/ officers with exceptions were found to
! De unQualneQ TO act as instructors.
Captain Crowninshield does not wish
| to be understood as undertaking the
| zeal of these men, but simply desires
( to point out fatal defects in the sys-
! TEN. He shows that difficulty was ex-
perienced in mastering the men in. the
| department having no right to call up-
on them and they having no respon-
| sibility to the Navy Department were
not subject to orders. Therefore the
| bureau recommends the passage of the
Cummings bill which provides in sub
stance for appropriations for the naval
militia on an entirely different basis.
This would provide for the creation of
national naval reserve entirely under
, the control Of the department, recruit
| ed from the seafaring classes. who
would be compelled to serve in war
| times under penalty of desertion. The
men would be required to report once
a year for drill, for which they would
receive one months pay.
Another recommendation is that the
system of rewards by promotion be