Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-12-03
NAVAL PERSONNEL.
Promotion Of Officers by Strict Seniority
Not a Good Principle.

| bespeak the most liberal treatment
for the officers and enlisted men of
the navy. At is true of them, as like
wise of the officers and enlisted men
of the army, that they form a body
whose interests should be close to the
heart of every good American. In
return the most rigid performance of
duty should be exacted from them.
The reward should be ample when
they do their best, and nothing less
than their best should be tolerated. 1t
is idle to hope for the best results
when the men in the senior grades
come to those grades late in life and
serve too short time in them. Up to
the rank of lieutenant commander PRO
motion in the navy should be as now.
by seniority, subject, however, to such
rigid tests as would eliminate the I'M
fit. After the grade of lieutenant COM
mander-that is, when we come to the
grade of command rank-the unfit
that only the conspicuously fit would
remain. and sea service should be a
principal test of fitness. Those who
are passed by should after a certain
length of service in their respective
grades be retired. or a given number
of men it may well be that almost all
/ would make good lieutenants and
most of them good lieutenant COM
manders, while only a minority will
be fit to be captains and but three or
I four to be admirals Those who OBJ
ject to promotion otherwise than by
mere seniority should reflect upon the
elementary fact til. no business in
private life could be successfully man
aged if those who enter at the lowest
! rungS of the ladder should each in
| turn If he lived become the head of
the firm, its active director, and retire
after he had held the position a few
months. On its face such a scheme is
an absurdity. Chances for improper
| favoritism can be minimized by a
properly formed board, such as the
, board of last June which did such con-
scientious and excellent work in elm
nation.
| If all that ought to be done cannot
: now be done, at least let a beginning
|
messages and in n special message TO
the last congress the necessity for leg
: iSlation that will cause officers of the
line of the navy to reach the grades
of captain and rear admiral at less ad-
vapced ages and which will cause them
to have more sea training and ex-
perience in the highly responsible du-
ties of those grades, so that they may
become thoroughly skillful in handling
battleships, divisions, squadrons and
fleets In action, has been fully explain
ed and urgently recommended. Upon
this subject the secretary of the navy
has submitted detailed and definite
recommendations which have received
my approval and which If enacted in
to law will accomplish what is imme-
diately necessary and will, as compar-
ed with existing law, make saving
of more than 100000 during the next
seven years. The navy personnel act
of 1899 has accomplished all that was
expected of it in providing satisfactory
periods of service in the several sub
ordinate grades, from the grade of en-
sign to the grade of lieutenant COM
mander, but the law is inadequate in
the upper grades and will continue to
be inadequate on account of the eX-
pansion of the personnel since it's en-
actment. Your attention Is invited to
the following quotations from the re-
port of the personnel board of 1906, of
which the assistant secretary of the
navy was president:
Congress has authorized consider.
able increase in the number of mid
shipmen at the Naval academy, an6
these midshipmen upon graduation are
promoted to ensign and lieutenant jun
Tor grade). But no provision has beer
made for corresponding increase in
the upper grades, the result being thai
the lower grades will become so con
gested that q midshipman now in one
of the lowest classes at Annapolis may
possibly not be promoted to lieutenant
until he is between forty-five and fifty
years of age. So it will continue I'm
der the present law, corgesting at the
top and cOngesting at the bottom. TIL,
country fails to get from the officers
of the service the best that is in then
by not providing opportunity for thei
! normal development and training. TIL,
! board believes that this works a seri
, GUS detriment to the efficiency of thu
. navy and is real menace to the pub
lie safety"
!. As stated in my special message +
the last congress, 81 am firmly of tn
opinion that unless the present condi
ton of the higher commissioned per
, sonnet is rectified by judicious legisla
ton the future of our navy will b
gravely compromised" 1t is also VI
gently necessary to increase the efl
cheney Of the medical corps Of tn
navy. Special legislation to this en-,
J has already been proposed, and trus
: it may be enacted without delay.
1t must be remembered that every
, thing done In the navy to f1t 1t to d
, well in time of war must be done Il
, time Of peace. Modern wars are short
, They do not last the length of tim
. requisite to build battleship and