Waterbury Democrat., 1900-11-12
OUR CRIPPLED NAVY.
Urgent Need For More Off,
 cers and Men. 7
ASTRONOMERS SEyERELYCRITICISED
Chief CEoyTninshisl& of the NaviGa- ti0n Bursnu In His Annual Re- port Makes Some Star
 t1ing State eAants.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12.-The star 1 ting statement is made iu the report of | Admiral CrowninShield, chief of the nav | igation bureau, that the present per ssnEel of the navy wsvld forn barely ele-fsurth of the total establishment necessary to fskt a first class Eurs- Pexn power. It barely suEced for the | Spanish American war and no longer csa ke considered, the report says, az an effective nucleus about which a larger establishment could be formed in case of war.
 | The admiral regards this need of the navy for officers and men as most urgent. ! He says that the bureau can point to many cases where the service is being 1 karmed by lack of officers. The Naval i academy is suffering for want Of in ! StruCtOrs, and the present high standard | of trainip. cannot hs maintained. Ev- | cry bureau in the department is short of | officers, and the service, the report pre- diets, soon will fall behind in tk. strug- gle, first for leadership and then for equality, with the other services. The l ability of the SeaCoing corps officers l has greatly increased since the Spanish war, and lIany of the best officers are | being lost result of breaking down 1 from oyerWork.
 The admiral severely criticses the iz- effective effort of congress at the last session to meet immediate needs for off cers by authorizing the employment of retired otacers, and he demands the im- mediate repeal of that act. He claims i that the retired list, intended re- ward for faithful service, otherwise be- | comes Il hardship and a punishment. The l personnel act thus far has resulted iu | aE0rdiQg less officers than were oo the active list before its passage, as, while authorizing increase, it failed to pre- vide the means therefor, So there are now 1S1 vacancies in the list of naval ! officers when vacancies can be least af- ! forded. Therefore it i. recommended that for the next ten years appointnen ents to | the Naval academy be dSN sied, the pres | idcDt and representatives in con. ess ap- pointing tive instead of enc wherever authorized now and in addition senators being given the SRms privilege of ap- | PoiRtment as representatives. Then, ts | meet future needs, it is recommend d that whenever congress authorizes sn | increase of yessels to the navy it also provide in the same act fer au increase of officers and men to naa the ships. Ike | report says that England, which this | year lays down 15 war veGsels. voted ap increase of 4,24o officers and men ts the naval establishment ts man the ships. | while Germany, which intends doubling her fleet in the next 1G years, has pro- 1 vided in the same programme for in | crcasing personnel by. S0 officers and | 1,6ST men each yoar until the total in- l crease reaches 35, ,3s1.
 It is declared that it s HOW impossible to man the vessels of our navy already constructed with the present force not to mention those building or authorized. Congress is urged ts make any increase in personnel immediately available
 There were 2,452 desertioRs from the navy and SG deaths during the past fiscal | year. The eRlistnents aamb Der $. 122 from q total number of applicants of 4oS54. Over GS per cent of the Elea in the navy are native born, 1S per cent are natural ized, and per cent have declared ip-
 tentions. NiEety-tWo per ceat of the
 born.
 mild represf upon congress is csa-
 tained in the closing paragraph of the re-
 port, which calls attention to the dis couraging condition in which dstin guisA
 ed officers of the navy have beea left hJ not receiving any formal recognition fer
 their heroic services during the war with | Spain The report sAy8 that the navy had no part in ths unfortunate public 1 controversy which followed upon the
 presidents recommendation that certain
 officers should be prenstea and adds that
 thus far there has been Rs recognition ky
 congress except of theae who shared iA
 the victory at Manila and three who
 served elsewhere in the war.