The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-10
THE MARQUETTE CLUB.
secretary Moody Speaks of Old and
New Navy.


New Navy.
chicago, Oct. 9.-The thirty-first an
..,,,ersary of Chicago's big fire was OBJ
-arved tonight by banquets, given I'M
za- the auspices of the Marquette Club
"a lake Side Club Speakers of ma
.ionaI prominence were present at both
tonouets. Secretary of the Navy Viii
liam H. Moody was one of the speak
srs at the Marquette Club banquet. He
~asnonded to the toast, THE Navy"
He said in part:
THE most imperative need of the
ravv to-day is of additional officers. I
cannot overstate this need. 1t demands
tbe instant attention of Congress.
..The requirements of the navy. it
will be seen, called on Jan. for 1851
officers. There were on the date named
OPS officers, including midshipmen. or
eo7 less than needed. 1t is true that
il time of peace there would be at
all times a large fraction, say one
fourth. of our ships out of commission,
undergoing repairs and improvements.
cunpose this to be so. it would reduce
the shortage by one-half, but still we
would be 300 short of our requirements
and with every effort and a detachment
from every possible point of duty on
shore where the officer may be de-
tached without imperiling the efficiency
Of the navy there is still, even in time
of peace, a present existing deficiency.
"But how of the future? 1t is the
mart of prudence to look ahead. 1t is
especially my own duty to speak and
sneak in no uncertain tones. We have
between 60 and 20 ships authorized and
in process of construction, many Of
them of the most important and pow
erful types. To man them all demands
4eS officers, again allowing the abso-
hte minimum number. allowing, for
instance, II officers to battleship, al
though Germany has 20, France 26 and
England 33 officers for the same type
of ship Allowing the same proper
ton of officers in transit, on shore duty,
sick and on leave. it will require G23
officers to produce the 49S demanded
bv our new ships. In the meantime,
officers will be dying or leaving the SER
vice through disability or by resigna-
ton. In four years it is estimated that
not less than $50 vacancies will be
created in this manner. We have,
GERS to be provided for our ships now
in process of construction which we
may expect to complete within four
years. This number, added to the 607
which we to-day lack, shows that in
four years, in order to officer our fleet
as it then will exist, there will be re-
CURED 1890 officers. more officers than
we have to-day.
This is leaving out of account the
officers that might be demanded and
that in the last war were actually
used to officer the auxiliary vessels
which would come into the navy in
time of war. This would at least re-
quire all of the officers released from
any ships which might be out of COM
mission. l believe that have under
stated rather than overstated the
needs of the service by the computation
which l have offered you. Whence are
these officers to come? l am informed
that in those four years we can expect
under existing conditions about 355
graduates of the Naval Academy. This
still leaves us more than a thousand
officers less than the proper compile
ment
Congress lone can deal with this
question. / believe it to be the duty
Of Congress to face it speedily and
courageously. l doubt not that il
viii be done. If it is not done and
action does not follow it will not be
many years before we shall see our
splendid ships decaying in our harbors
as idle as painted ships upon q painted
ocean"
The Iowa Platform and the Tariff
was discussed by Gov. A. B. Cummins
of Iowa