Omaha daily bee., 1905-12-05
manders TO be commanders, and Of leuten-
ants TO be lieutenant commanders.

manders TO be commanders and Of lieuten-
ants TO be lieutenant commanders.
Engineers and the Personnel Biu.
The deplorable disaster TO the L. s. 3.
Bennington, In July last. revived the AMI
mated discussion as TO the merits OF the
sonnel bill" and led to many suggestions
looking TO the provision Of more, OF NOR NOT.
competent, engineers Tor the navy l ~
engineer-in-chief, to which l respectIully
invite your attention. trust MS views
will receive the careful consideration TO
which they are entitled from the congress.
1 must add however, that / do not share
these views, although recognize fully the
necessity for some action to deal with
the serious situation which he very accur-
ateiy describes.
The provisions of the personnel bill in SO
far as they affect the engineers are based
upon the theory that line oficer Of the
navy must now be- a competent sailor. Inc
machines of propulsion IN our snips az rs,
which the ship Is not merely moved. put
guided, ventilated, heated and Fought
and an officer in charge of any dlvlsi9n
OF a warship must now be an expert III
engineering. II was therefore contemplated
by this act to make every line oh1cer an
engineer and also every engineer ofncer
a line officer and experience with It's work
ing has not indicated. any insuperaole ulm-
Guilty In attaining these ends, provided the
law is administered with fxity OF purpose
and a total disregard Of prejudice,
The real difficulty. as noted Ny the en-
gineer In chief, arises In competition WIN
the engineering service on shore. The stu
alton, In this respect is already embarras-
sing. and will become a source OF weakness
and danger TO our navy unless II shall De
think II must be borne in mind that the
occupations OF building and repairing mar
Inc engines and of operating them on board
ship are separate and distinct. agree
with the enRineer-in-chief that 1t is an
advantage for those engaged IN one OF
these occupations to have some knowledge
nj nj
a decisive consideration.
To speedily attain the end desired. we
must reinquish some theoretical advan-
tages and I therefore submit for your
consideration and that Of the congress the
advisability OF promptly organising a ser
| duty only, corresponding to the civil en-
| gtneers now employed at our naval sta
tons. l feel confident that corps Of this
character could be readily recruited from
| graduates from the best schools OF ensin-
eering in the country, and that after a
several naval yards. under the instruction
| Of officers belonging to the former CORDS
| of engineers they would be fully qualified
/ to replaces these officers, upon the retire
ment OF the latter, in all forms OF shore
duty 1t will lbe noted that by this sug-
gestion the alarming scarcity OF competent
within a very short time, whereas the
/ system suggested In the report OF the
| engineer-in-chief. to which I have re.
/ ferred, could bear fruit only after period
( OF many years.
The Naval Academy.
A very painful incident has recently at.
| tracted public attention to the Nava
| academy and caused grave concern to the
/ department. One of the mldshipmen there
died, early in the month of November
as the result of injuries received in a fist
| fight with another nidshipman. The de
partment felt bound to order the trial OF
| the latter by court-nartial and In view
| of this fact / refrain from any further
/ comment on this particular occurrence; bu'
| 1t may be we'll to make perfectly clear thu
| attitude of the department with respect
] to similar prearranged encounters between
| midshipmen. since this attitude has beer
| apparently misconstrued and therefore un
| justly criticised in certain quarters
| There may be something to be fairl,
! said in favor OF permitting such conflicts
just as there may have been sonthing e
be fairly said In favor OF permitting
| dueling. but such considerations, IL the,
exist, address themselves properly to thu