Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-12-28
CRITICISM AND COMMENT.
An Appointment BY The President
Excites Some Talk.
ADMIRAL BROwNSON AS CHIEF OF BIZ
REAu OF NAVIGATION.
The President Sends To Congress a Spe
cial Message On The Subject
Said To Be Inconsistent.

NO niue comment mas been Occasl on
ed-in Washington, at the Navy Depart
ment and elsewhere, by the announced
intention of President Roosevelt to APP
point Rear Admiral Willard II. Brown
son, Chief of the Bureau of Naviga-
tion next March.
The crying need of the Navy, in
the opinion of naval authorities. is
for younger officers in command rank.
The age of the British captain who
viii command the Dreadnaught is
about the age of some of our older
lieutenants and younger Lieutenant
commanders. American battleship
captains are ten years older than the
captains of other navies. The Presi-
dent has sent to Congress a special
message on this subject and transmit
ted tthe report of the Personnel Board
containing elaborate recommendations
for the remedy of this condition.
On top of this comes the announce
ment of his intention TO appoint TO
the Bureau of Navigation for a term
of four years rear admiral who
will retire for age next July. and
will therefore presumably serve for
three and one-half years on the retired
list as chief of the most important
bureau of the Navy Departmental an
Office which corresponds in authority
and importance TO the Chief of staff of
the Army.
IL the President would go through
the Navy list with a fine-tooth comb
il would be difficult for him to dis
cover an officer better suited for the
billet of Chief of Navigation than
Willard III. Brownson. In spite of
the criticism that was heaped upon
his administration of the Naval Acad-
emy by the Congressional committee
which investigated hazing there last
winter, the fact stands that Admiral
Brownson did most toward abolishing
not.only hazing at the Academy, but
that far worse evil "crihing'' on ex-
animation. ''Cribing'' had become
we'll nigh general nj the Academy
when Admiral Brownson became SUI
perintendent of that institution. When
he left there it was practically un-
known.
The conspicuous ability he used at
the Naval Academy was recognized by
his appointment as commander in
chief of the armored cruiser squadron
that was organized about the time the
splendid new cruisers West Virginia,
Maryland, Colorado and Pennsylvania
were commissioned. His service in
that billet has been thoroughly salts
factory, and he recently arrived at
Manila with this squadron and as
sumed the supreme command of the
Asiatic station.
All of this is to show that person
ally Admiral Brownson is an able
officer and would doubtless give the
Navy an efficient administration as
Chief Of the Bureau which has TO do
with the personnel. But he is not the
only officer thus fitted; there are half
dozen or more who are eligible for
the appointment, any one of four of
whom are equally competent for the
Bureau. The others are not so near
the retiring age as Admiral Brownson
and would be able to complete tour
of duty in that Bureau before reach
ing the age of sixty-two years.
To appoint Admiral Brownson TO
this Bureau the President must avail
himself of that section of the personenl
which permits the President to order
officers on the retired list to active
duty until 1912; this provision was in
serted at a time when there was a
shortage of officers lit was an emergency
provision, and the trainers of the
law never intended that it should be
used in the way that it will be if the
President avails himself of it to APP
point his intimate personal friend to
the Chief of the. Bureau of Naviga-
tion. The letter of the law is very
broad; its spirit is specific, definite
and well known to none better 'han
the President, who has served as As.
sistant Secretary of the Navy and had
much to do with the framing of the
personnel law under which the navy
is operated today.
When the Brownson nomination goes
to the Senate that body may well
question the consistency of the Presi.
dents argument about the danger to
the service from the fact that our com.
mading officers are so much older thar
those of other navies. Instead of en-,
deavoring to hasten the promotion ol
younger officers, the President selects
an officer who was within feu
months of retiring and places him il
the most important Office of the De
partment next to that of the Secretary
of the Navy, not only because he ii
an able officer. for there are others
equally able and equally available
who are younger, but because hs
knows Admiral Brownson personally
and has great admiration for him.
Little wonder that the announcement
of the appointment has created gen
eral dissatisfaction throughout the ser
vice, because it is regarded as al
abuse of the spirit of the law whicl
makes it possible.A