The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-03-06
Admiral Sampson and the Navy.

Charles Morgan, gunner on the
cruiser New York, Admiral Simpsons
flagship during the war with Spain,
recently applied to the Admiral for APP
pointment as ensign, under the law
permitting the promotion of six gun
ners to the first grade of commissioned
officers with its opportunities for fur
Their advancement.
Admiral Sampson forwarded the
gunner's application to the navy de-
partment, commanding the applicants
professional ability, his gentlemanly
bearing, and stating that if he were
commissioned an ensign che would
probably compare favorably, both pro-
fessionally and in personal conduct and
bearing, with other officers of that
grade, as far as technical education
would permit" The gunner's habits
and morals were above reproach.
Admiral Sampson conceded that this
gunner was qualified for the promo
ton provided by law. He was one of
the best type of "the men behind the
guns" who made the fire of the Amer
lean batteries at Manila and Santiago
30 fatally effective against the Spanish
ships, and to whom the glory of that
conflict, on the water, in a distin-
guished measure is admittedly due. In
prose and poetry, in public prints and
official reports, the praise of the man
behind the guns has been sung and
proclaimed, and in recognition of his
merits, and of the fact that he presents
exceptionally excellent material for
commissioned officers, Congress has
opened the door for his entry to the
ranks of the higher grades, with the
approval of men like Secretary Long
and Admiral Dewey. But Admiral
Sampson objects. OF Gunner Morgan's
application, he says;
While it is true that these men are
selected from large class of men of
very unusual ability, which distin-
cuisines them as perhaps the profess
sional equals of their officers as far as
their technical education stands, it is
also true that they are recruited from a
class of men who have not had the 80
clal advantages that are requisite for
a commissioned officer.
The admiral Celebrates his objection
by suggesting further that sin time of
peace the navy's function consists to a
certain extent of representing the
country abroad, and the navy's repre-
sentatives, therefore, should be men of
at least refinement" He comedies
that there are few among the rank
and file, or the non-commissioned
men, "who could fulfill this require
ment," but, ''once commissioned they
will have the same social standing as
other commissio officers" and ''the
consequences that would arise from
their acceptance of social invitations
might not rebound to the credit OF the
navy or the country which the navy
represents" Therefore "the proper
place" for these men OF at least equal
ability and qualification with the grad
yates of the Naval Academy, with
whom, Sampson says, "they would com
pare favorably both professionally and
in personal conduct and bearing" sis
that of leading men among the crew,
and not as representatives of the coun-
try in the wardroom and steerage."
Admiral Sampson has done the coun-
try service in his frank statement OF
his objections to law of Congress for
recognition of merit among the crews
of the navy, and in giving his res-