Evening star., 1898-10-14
RADICAL CHANGES
| eater s| Greater stores HahsG Grershr&
How the Personnel Bill Will Affect
the New Navy.
STATUS OF THE ENGINEER CORPS
Its Functions to Be Transferred to
the Line.
SOME OF THE ADVANTAGE ES

From the Admiralty and Horse Guards Gazette.
We have received the following interest
ing letter, under date of August 26, from
the engineer-in-c of the United States
navy:
Sir: 1 have read with much interest, in
the issue of your journal for June g. the
article entitled The New Navy The lead
ing thought of this valuable paper is that
the navy of our day should be combatant
in all it's branches; that engineer officers,
with the large force under their control,
should be recognized fully by law-as they
are today in fact-as an integral part of
the military strength of the warship.
The principle involved in the old Latin
saying-tempora mutantur ct nos Inutamur
in iilis'-seems to be applied but slowly and
reluctantly to the organization of navies.
Times have changed, and seamen, to a
marked degree. have changed with them;
but an obsolete Observation-Disclosures
cedent-ridden-Hn4scrs still. The revou-
ton on the sea. which i'll little more than
generation steam has wrought, has not
been gwen thus far its due weight in the
legislation which provides for the govern
meHt, duties. rank and discipline of the
force at.oat. Vice Admiral Colomb de-
scrtbes effectit ely the conditions of the
p1cgent when nc says: What we have to
do in the navy is really to welcome the
coming. speed the parting guests''-the new
visitor being steam mechanism and forces
of all k!nGs," while the trusted friend which
says farewell the "seamanshic of the
past. But the admiral continues: Instead
o. frankly going out, shaking hands and
bidding goodbye to the parting guest, and
wishing him well and going down the steps
II meet the new and bring him in, we
are holding on to the coattails of the old
one and trying tC shake hands with the
&C ming guest with the left hand, or, per-
haps, with only one finger
An Inevitable Rcadjustment.
THE propositions set forth in the article
The New Navy with regard to reorgani-
zation are the same in kind to those which,
in more extended form, are now before the
United States Congress. In considering
such radical changes as those which the
latter contemplate it may be well to note
briefly the causes which have led to them.
1t seems but automatic to say that with the
entry into navies Of a new agent such as
steam there came as well inevitable read
justment of existing conditions Again
this new and ail-pervading force brought
In all fleets changes which were not only
fundamental. but were swift asr to be
abrupt AT the outset of the American
civil war sailing ships We're still affoat in
all nayies; at its close they were as obso-
lete as the galleys of Carthaginian days,
and in our time the war vessel has become
a machine purely, from fighting-toD to
Eilge. Finally, the effects of this revoIu-
ton were accentuated in the United States
navy by the fact that within the last iif-
teen years it has passed from decay to a
youth renewed. rising in its rehabilitation
from the twentieth to the sixth place
among the navies of the world
Col. RooseveIt'a Work.
Under such circumstances discord was
inpyit., tIa-tba frirtin-, OLD
der and the new. The line, or executive,
officer proud of his past achievement and
prestige, withstood steadfastly the engin-
eer. who, conscious, perhaps, more fully
OF the changed conditions, strove to secure
rlghtful recognition i'll rank and title as an
element of the combatant force. For over
Il generation this conflict has been waged
within the United States navy and before
successive Congresses. Many able and pa
triotic officers deprecated deeply and strove
in vain to reconcile the differences within
the force which was the nations right arm
on the sea. To the impair tiality and
breadth of view OF the present Secretary
of the United States navy. and to the vigor
and ability with which Colonel Theodore
kOOsevelt-untl recently assistant seGre-
tary-labCred in the settlement of this ques-
ton, there is due the probability that this
of more than thirty years is ended. In
the introduction in Congress of the per
sonnel bill, with the approval of over 30
per cent OF our line ana engineer OfflcerS,
protocols preliminary to lasting peace would
appear to have been executed.
The central idea of the personnel bill is
the complete amalgamation of the now dis
tinct bodies of line and engineer officers.
There will be no longer an engineer corps,
Per Sc, in the United States navy. Its funC-
tions will be part of those of the new
line, which will perform all duties above
and below the protective deck. The rea-
soning which has led to this proposition
cannot be given better than in the strong
ords of Col. Roosevelt: On the fighting
ship the fighting man must stand supreme,
Cniy he must know how to handle his tools
and must change as the ship changes, SO
that precisely as he once knew about sails,
now he must know about engines. Every
officer on modern war vessel, in reality
has to be an engineer, whether he wants
to or not. Everything in such a vessel goes
by machinery, and every officer, whether
dealing with the turrets or the engine
room, has to do an engineers work. There
is no longer any reason for having a sep
arate body of engineers, responsible for
only part of the machinery. What we
heed is one homogeneous body, all of whose
members are trained for the efficient per
formance of the duties of the modern line
officer. We are not making a revolution;
we are merely recognizing and giving shape
TO an evolution.
Composite Body.
Our engineer corps is, in it's origin, a
composite body At it's head there stand
a small number of officers appointed Gi-
rectly from civil lIfe and veterans of the
war between the northern and southern
states. Following these. there is a limited
section of officers who were educated at the
naval scnool as engineers purely. The re-
mainder and majority of the corps were
trained under the pIesent system, having
received for three years at the naval school
precisely the same education as that of
line officers, with special course in engi-
neering during the fourth and final year.
II is proposed under this BILL to absorb
all engineer officers in the line giving
to all military rank and title, but to limit
he duties of the first OF veteran section
as above, to engineering work purely The
officers of the second section will be given
preference as to whether they will perform