Evening star., 1902-08-13
MRMOODrS REFORMS
What He Has Done to Bene-
fit the Navy.
OFFICERS SENT TO SEA
WERE NEEDED ON SHIPS RATHER
THAN ON SHORE.
Efforts to Recruit Enlisted Men From
the Interior of the
Country.
OFFICERS SENT TO SEA

"One of the forms of our administrative
| branch Of the government which strikes the
European statesman and layman as being
| incongrueus, as we'll an evidence of the
| resourcefulness and versatility of the
American nature" remarked an official IL
the War; State and Navy building today to a
Star reporter, ''is the fact that men are
| taken from the ranks of its citizens and
elevated to the highest positions within the
executive appointive power, or within the
| elective gift of the people, where they ad-
| minister, without previous training or
| knowledge of their work. the responsible
duties Of their high offices with credit to
| themselves and to their government as a
| rule.
| There are two conspicuous instances in
| the cabinet before the public eye where the
| same successful result has been attained in
| each instance, but by proceeding along en-
| tirely different lines as regards previous
| training and environment, and l allude to
! the Secretary of War, Mr.. Root, and the
Secretary of the Navy, Mr.. Moody. Each
| of these gentlemen is a the head of large
and Titaily important branch of the gov
| ernment, and each has been markedly
| successful in the administration Of his re-
| spective department from the start that a
brief analysis will prove Of interest.
Mr. Root went to the head of the War
| lawyer in large city, and, while he may
| be a sportsman as keen former Presi-
| dent Cleveland, or an authority upon arma-
| ment on a par with Herr Krupp, the
| chances are that his knowledge of guns
was confined to a twelye-gauge choke bore,
| If, indeed, he has shot one in recent years.
Thus, lawyer, whose mind and attention
must of necessity have been occupied by
the eXacting demands of a large law prac-
| tice, and not military man, or a general
| in the army, and an expert in the science
! of warfare, mimic, actual or theoretical,
Will go down into history of the
| strongest Secretaries of War who have ever
sat in the handsomely furnished room on
| the west side of this building.
The First Great Reform.
"On the other hand, Mr.. Moody brought
| with him to the Navy Department prac-
| tical as well as a theoretical knowledge of
| the navy and of naval affairs. A practical
| man infused with good ideas regarding
| his calling must make a success, and in
| taking the helm in his own hands, he NAV
| guide his trust by the dictates of a judg-
ment trained and broadened by wears of
| service upon the House committee of naval
| affairs, before which all important matters
| affecting the service must more or less
come
THE first step taken was the sending of
| shore naval officers to sea, almost revo-
| lutionary proceeding from the standpoint of
| the shore naval officer, and it was a pro-
| tttutIS hIicH CONFUSED the country with
| mingled wonder and satisfaction.
| Many men called from civil life would
| have followed the traditions of the depart
| ment and passed over the ticklish question
| OF allowing officers of the navy to do shore
| duty when the ships of the navy are so Sc
riously underofficered and undermanned. for
/ that matter, that they are put out of COM
| mission, or sent to sea with less than their
| complement. This act will go down to pos
| terity as a master stroke of the severance
| with one sharp blow the strands of red
| tape and misapplied services OF officers
| which in time would have developed and
| was fast developing, into an abuse almost
| too powerful to cope with. Taken in its
| present stage it was curbed, and on the
| day that the shore service of naval officers
| is reduced to its absolute minimum will see
| accomplished one Of the broadest reforms
| IN the history of that branch of the gov
| ernment.
The Second Great Reform.
with the enlisted strength of the navy
| several thousand men short, and with the
| completion of a fleet of naval vessels of
! the different classes in the near future
which will require still further large en-
| listments the department, realizing that il
| cannot recruit this future and present force
| from the eastern seaboard states and shore
| line, from which source 1t has in the past
| drawn most of Its seamen, has sent its re-
| cruiting officers into the interior, with the
| intention of securing landsmen and making
| Seamen of them.
I'm time of war the country would have
| no difficulty in completing the complement
| of the navy, it can fill its regiments but
| in time of peace and prosperity another
| question Is >presented. The government
| wishes Americans to man its vessels, but
| sooner or later, the patent fact will he
| brought home to Congress that the lot of
| the enlisted man in the navy mnst present
certain inducements to form an Incentive
| to enlistment.
Much has been said since the Spanish
| war about the man behind the gun in the
| navy but 1t is term which does not seem
to be applied to the man behind the rifle
| in the army. The army experiences no
difficulty In filing It's regiments, mainly be-
| cause shore duty Is one thing and sea
service is another, but it is also because in
! the army an enlisted man has an Incentive
| consisting of more than a fighting chance
| to win and hold a commission. In the
| navy this chance is under the law six as
AGAINST many thousands While warrant
| officers commission in the navy carries
| with it good pay and many privileges, it Is
not naval officers commission.
The Third Great Reform.
1.-THE Secretary of the Navy consequently
who can get in such close rapport with
| Congress as to induce that body to pass
such legislation as will elevate the standard
| of incentive in the enlisted service of the
navy approaching that of the enlisted serv-
| ice of the army will do more by that one
act than any of his predecessors.
''The great fighters among the officers of
| the navy in the Spanish war are unit in
| reiteration that it was the men they COM
manded. and not themselves, who won the
| battles and fought the ships. magnani-
| nous sentiment worthy Of high minded
Americans. Sentiment. however. is poor in
centive for man to take up a life work
| ''The social, official and service line of de-
| markation between the officer and the man
/ is more rigidly drawn. and has ever been
| SO, in the navy than in the army: yet 1t is
| admitted that 1t must be the men in our
navy who must fight our next great war.
| With heavy percentage of enlistments of
| American youth in the navy the reason
| why man cannot aspire and reach an ad-
| miraPs berth, as well as he may a major
| generals tent in the army, is one upon
which men have disagreed and will ever