Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-09
KEPT FROM COMMAND
Ban Placed on Staff Officers
of the Navy.
Mr.: HALE'S GENERAL BILL
Would Immediately Settle the
Brownson- Rixey Dispute.
STOKES WOULD GIVE UP SHIP
Pay of officers Increased by Twenty
Per. Cent and That Of Enlisted
Men Twice as Much.
STOKES WOULD GIVE UP SHIP

The Brownson-Rixey bureau quarrel
will be settled summarily if general bill
affecting the navy, introduced today by
Senator Hale. becomes a law. 1t would
forbid staff officers from exercising COM
mand of any vessel in the navy, and Sur
! geon Stokes would have to relinauish
command of the hospital ship Relief.
The bill would prevent a prospective
| hump of tremendous proportions in the
navy by limiting to seventy-five the num-
Der of Annapolis graduates to be commits
stoned annually, but it increases the pay
of officers by 20 per cent and the pay of
non commissioned officers and enlisted
men by twice as much.
BY it's terms staff officers of the navy
are allowed to wear their titles as proudly
! as officers of the line. Commissions would
be issued to them by the President in the
same specific terms. There are also pro-
visions for the retirement of officers, prac-
tically in accord with provisions now ap-
plicable to the army. The bill thus covers
the ground of the Dick apron pay bill,
and further includes important modifica-
tions of existing law about the personnel
of the navy and the administration of the
department. The bill is as follows:
No More Permanent Boards.
THAT the entire business of the Navy
Department under the Secretary of the
Navy shall be transacted by the bu-
reaus and offices of the department as
now existing, and all reports and recon-
mendations of such bureaus and offices
shall be made direct to the Secretary of
the Navy. No permanent board of any
kind shall be hereafter appointed by the
Navy Department or continued In opera
ton unless expressly provided for by
law. after the passage of this act; but
from time to time. the Secretary of the
Navy may convene boards for temporary
service connected with the pending busi-
ness of the department
That officers in the various staff corps
of the navy shall hereafter have actual
rank and title as now established for
the staff corps of the army. Such Off
GERS of the staff corps of the navy shall
at all times have the title and designa
ton of their rank, and new commissions
In accordance Herewith shall be forth
with issued to them Provided, that this
provision shall in no case carry with it
command over any vessel of the Navy
Department: but such command shall be
exercised only by line officers.
Commissions for Midshipmen.
THAT hereafter from the midshipmen
who successfully complete the six years
course at the Naval Academy appoint
ments shall be made as may be neces-
sary, and in the order of merit at gradua-
ton, to fill vacancies in the lowest
commissioned grades Of the line and
other corps of the navy to which such
graduates are eligible for appointment
under existing law, and that the num-
Der of said appointments which shall
be made to the various corps of the naval
service in any one year shall not exceed
seventy-f1ve. Provided, that the forego-
ing provision limiting the increase in any
fiscal year shall not apply to midShip-
men who may have entered the Naval
Academy prior to January ], 1904, and
have completed their four years course
at the academy.
THAT the order of merit of graduates
of the Naval Academy upon final gradua-
ton, and the eligibility TO appointment in
the navy. shall be determined as now
provided by existing law and regulation,
and the assignment of graduates to the
various corps shall be made by the Secre-
tary of the Navy.
Provided, further. that If there be a
surplus of graduates above that necessary
to fill the vacancies in the manner and to
the extent hereinbefore authorized those
who do not receive such appointment
shall be given certificate Of graduation,
an honorable discharge and one years
sea pay: and hereafter any midshipman
whose position in his class entities him
to be retained in the service may, upon
his own application. be honorably dis
charged at the end of the four years
course at the Naval Academy. with a
proper certificate of graduation. The
appointments herein authorized shall be
made upon July 1 of each year, which
shall be regarded as the beginning of the
year for reckoning vacancies for the pur
poses of this act.
Retirement Of officers.
THAT when an officer has been thirty
years in the service he may, upon his
own application, in the discretion of the
President, be retired from active service
and placed upon the retired list. When
an officer has served forty consecutive
years as commissioned officer, he shall,
if he makes application therefor to the
President, be retired from active service
and paced upon the retired list. And any
officer of the navy who is now serving
or who shall hereafter serve as chief of
bureau of the Navy Department., and
shall subsequently be retired, shall be re-
tired with the rank, pay and allowances
authorized by law for the retirement of
such bureau chief.
Increase of Pay.
THAT the pay of all commissioned Of
ficers, warrant officers, midshipmen and
pay clerks in the navy and marine corps
is hereby increased 20 per centum. And