The Washington herald., 1908-01-06

placed under the charge Of. or the COM
mGnd Of. various army surgeons. the or
der sometimes reading that the surgeon
viii take charge Of the hospital ship.
sometimes that he VIII assume command
Of the hospital ship, this last being the
form of words used in cOnnecti0n with
the ship Relief. the one that We are now
considering. The manual OF the medical
department Of the United States army
for 1856 provides that hospital boats shall
be exclusively under the control of the
medical department. and the order of the
Secretary Of the Navy Of December u,
1906. puts hospital ships under the COM
mand Of naval surgeons.
AT present two pay officers are serving
in naval hospitals under the command Of
medical officers Of the navy, and the pres
ent paymaster general Of the navy served
under the command of a medical officer
of the navy In 1879.
Military surgeons. including naval sur
geons, have special knowledge Of hospital
ships, and they have in addition certain
military duties Of command, organiza-
tion drills and discipline. just as DO Off
GERS Of the line. awarding punishments.
and being guided and governed in these
military duties by the same regulations
that guide and govern officers OF the line.
The command of a hospital ship should
Unquestionably be vested in a medical
officer, and no line officer should be
aboard it,
'The medical officer in such case is
simply the responsible head Of a large
hospitai plant, which by reason Of his
training he is peculiarly fitted to COM
mand. 1t IS not his province to navigate
the vessel; that should be left to a civilian
sailing MASTER but he. and he alone. is
best qualified to respect and guard the
neutrality Of the ship
Calls 1t an Absurdity,
The absurdity OF permitting a line off,
Ger TO command q hospital ship was
hospital' ship Solace during the war with
Spain, when the line officer in command
actually attempted to PUT in a claim for
prize money for the part the Solace took
in the capture OF the Adula. while the
Solace was flying the Red Cross flag and
protesting neutrality. On another. Occa-
sion the Solace fnterfered with the prog
ress Of a schooner in the old Bahama
channel, so that the United States tor
pedo boats nearby could board and in
vestigate her.
On Yet another occasion, but for the
vigilance Of the medical officer aboard
her. the Solaee would have carried armed
men from New York to Cuba Her
senior medical officer reported the viola
tion Of neutrality to the Navy Depart
ment, and the ship was recalled after
passing the Narrows and the armed men
removed In the RussO-Japanese war a
Russian hospital ship violated her
neutrality and was captured and con-
iscated by the japanese.
''In time Of war the presence of com
batants-that is, of line officers or crew
would certainly east a suspicion upon the
neutrality of the ship; and no line officer
worth his salt would wish to be on such
a ship, while it seems Incredible that any
line officer should desire 10 have another
line officer on board such q ship Hos
pitals, afioat or ashore should no more be
under the command Of line officers than
regiments or war ships should be under
the command of surgeons. one kind of
appointment is quite as Inappropriate as
the other.
In Times of Peace.
Hospital ships should be maintained
in time of peace exactly under the same
conditions as IN time of war. The system
has been tried in the army and tried in
foreign navies. and has worked without
q hitch. 1t is the only system that should
be tolerated; and if it fails to work well,
this failure can only be due to lack of
desire TO have it work well on the part
of those concerned.
i direct that unless Congress provides
otherwise. the practice in the navy be
assimilated to that now obtaining in the
army. In the army the hospital ship is
treated as a general hospital and article
1857 reads as follows: General hospitals
will be under the exclusive control of the
Surgeon General. and will be governed
by such regulations as the Secretary of
War may prescribe. The senior surgeon
will command the same.
"THEODORE ROOSFVEIT'' -