New-York tribune., 1907-12-30
ARMY AND NAVY NEWS.
rFron1 The Tribune Bureau.1


CAUSE OF NAVAL CONTROvERSY-The hos
ptal ship Relief at the Mare Island (cal)
Navy Yard, is the vessel around which there has
been such vigorous controversy in the Navy De-
partment. leading to the resignation of Rear Ad-
miral W. H. Brownson, L. 5. N. from his place
as chief of the bureau of navigation. The Relief
until 1902 the hospital ship of the army. and
bears title appropriate to its functions. that OF
floating hospital. 1t is the first permanent hospital
ship which the navy has possessed, and Is the only
one which the service has or is likely to have As
far back as 1905 oooo expended by the Navy
Department on the vessel. with the expectation
that she would he put into commission fmnle-
diately She has remained idle at Mare Island IN
spite OF the repeated recommendations made by
the surgeon general of the navy of her pressing
need In service The point was raised that the
shin should perform in time of peace those func-
tions which under the same circumstances she
wouu called upon to discharge In time OF war
The Relief is adaptation and from the aspect
of a model is sadly wanting. II has been stated nE
the medical officers that 1t is no more posSioie 10
take an old shin and convert her into a model
hospital ship than it is to take an OLD mouse ana
transform il into model hospital ashore It Is
the plan of the surgeon general OF the navy 10
obtain two hospital ships OF moderate size OF
fvpe such as was used in the Japanese navy III
the recent war. 1t is estimated that these VIII
cost 81 5OOeCN each. and one would be located on
the Atlantic and the other on the racine ihe
plans contemplate a .hip with a capacity lor tnIee
red natl
by the surgeons as important contribution TO
naval efficiency since it shown and admitted
recently by the surgeon general OF the japanese
navy that the progress toward recovery OF 'he
cases which transferred to hOspltai %! ho7
rtI ships was much more favorable than in those
sent back by the so-caled ambulance transports
The hospital ship Relief will be commanded oy
Surgeon Charles F. Stokes. u s NJ an OFFICER ol
high reputation in his profession ana one lo
whom naval officers, both of the line ana s'ait'
entertain the highest respect The selection Oh d
commanding officer for the Relief which mas
carsed SO much controversy. is most fortunate Iol
Surgeon stokes besides being a medlcai oncer u
rare ability, is A of tact, d'screuoii anu
courtesy.
COMFORTS OF KHAKL-Suggestions are re-
peatedl.- made to the War Department III i
doing away entirely with khaki as material i
army, uniforms and substituting for summer "e'i
and as a. dress for the tropics a hghter "esi' 0i
the olive drab uniform now worn IN 'hc VIM"
and at places not in the tropics Ihls Is heiu -
he in the interest of uniformity at least OF coior-
The War Department has given some consloel la'on
IN tho Dropositjon and has come TO the conciusoh
that there is no special advantage IN any one
of this sort. The olive drab Is d "ooileH
adapte1 to stations where there IS coiuei
than exists in the Philippines OF in Cuoa. "h.'e r
khaki has proved its value as corrior'aoie ~
p,ent for troops who need protection from ti -
Rot uniforms meet the requirement OF "isi9i
with the minimum opportunity OF iurhI'iiis
target for tho enemy
EXPERIMENTS FOR THE NAvY.-The chief
Of ordnance Of the navy. Rear Aonlrdi ~
,,sn -,.bor he aouears before the House anu
cara.e naval committees explain his bureau es'i
mates will make a special plea for tte appiop'l
Tie n of $4,000 permanent tuna 10 oe uA ~
lpon for the purposes or e&periiieh' -.
Tavv Department has had no such means AT IT'S
,,osar axcentinS various contingent funds under
the different bureaus. which afford little oppoi
tunty to carry the work This is III tue i %
a suggestion which has been made oY Coiiiiflaiu
" 8 Sims who is the naval aid to the fresiuen''
besides being inspector OF target pracuce III 'i
navy 1t so happened. however that 'he , naS@I
chief of ordnance had thought of the need or sueh
a fund and had recommended It's provisions de 'i'
same time that Commander Sims mace MS Susee'
ton II was coincidence OF thousflt' anu So "
show that service sentiment has an appfecla'oh U
,ha Mood of some definite and ample provision for
making tests which shall establish Improvement
on a basis of practical knowledge ihs'eau VI m
theory This is what is done abroad ana WHAT ID
a+tamoted TO some extent under the War Depart
- .h-o,,gb IN. agency of the board of ordnance
a,d fortfNcation which has annual appropria-
tion of 10000 for this purpose
HALL OF RECORDS NEEDED-There is a
possibility that there will be a hall OF recoros Lor
the government. The officials Of the carnegie III
stftute have interested themselves in the PROPOSE
49,, - bova written the President for some in
.ornation as TO the extent Of the space Wnlch
would he occupied by the storage OF the mass OF
official PAPERS of sorts which would ma turiiy De
sent to such a place The various executive ue-
nartrants are responding 10 a call from the P~esl-
don't for information in detail concerning tne Z
ords which are now kept in out-of-the-Viy places
The accumulation of records which are or no ''l-
mediate use and which consulted rarely wouin
I'LL a large building. All Of the departments hdNo
large quantities of documents. which are not con-
suited more than once twice a year. II at all
In the War Department these are stored IN the
attic and in the basement. besides USING rooms
in a number of rented buildings In the neishoor-
hood Most Of the other departments resort 10 'he
Same means of getting their official records ont or
the wav of the current files
CANNOT IMPROVE --LATEST PLANS--The de-
signsrs Of varships In the Navy Department have
not taken up the plans for the new battleships out
il has been practically decided that the next YES
sells TO be built will be duplication or the Dela-
ware class In armament. armor and protection IL
Is considered that that class of vessel represents
the hest which can be produced. with possibly some
minor changes which do not affect the chief char-
acteristics or change the increase of displacement
1t will not be necessary to draw plans in that
event. and the adoption of the drawings OF the
Delaware class for the next batteshfpS VIII fach-
tate the completion OF the ships authorized at the
present session Of Congress. 1t will be possible 10
gain much headway by not changing the plans
"