The daily sentinel., 1909-12-07
battleships and one repair vessel.

/ bHtNASShApo anu Out repair vessel.
THE use of the navy is for mill
| tary purposes, and there has been
found need in the department of a
military branch dealing directly with
the military use of the fleet. The
secretary OF the navy has also felt
the lack of responsible advisers to
aid him in reaching conclusions and
deciding important matters between
coordinate branches of the depart
ment. To secure these results he Aas
inaugurated a tentative plan involy-
| ing certain changes in the organiza-
tion of the navy department, includ-
ing the navy yards, all of which have
been found by the attorney general
to be in accordance with the law. ]
have approved the execution of the
plan proposed because of the greater
efficiency and economy ii promises.
The generosity of congress has
provided in the present naval obser-
vatory the most magnificent and ex-
pensive astronomical establishment
, in the world. 1t is being used for
certain naval purposes which might
easily and adequately be subserved
by small division connected with
the navy department at only frac-
tion of the cost of the present naval
observatory. The official board of
visitors established by congress and
appointed in 1901 expressed its con-
clusion that the official head of the
observatory should be an eminent as
tronomer appointed by the president
by and with the advice and consent of
the senate, holding his place by a
tenure at least as permanent as that
of the superintendent of the coast
survey or the head of the geological
survey, and not merely by detail of
two or three years duration. / fully
concur in this judgment, and urge a
provision by law for the appointment
of such L director
1T may not be necessary to take
the observatory out of the navy de
partment and put II into another de
partment in which opportunity for
scientific research afforded by the
observatory would seem to be more
appropriate, though / believe such
transfer in the long run is the best
policy. l am sure however, / ex-
press the desire of the astronomers
and those learned in the kindred
sciences. when / urge upon congress
that the naval observatory be now
dedicated to science under control of
man of science who can. If need be,
render all the service to the navy de
partment which this observatory now
renders, and still furnish to the world
the discoveries In astronomy that n
great astronomer using such a plant
would be likely to make.
Department of Justicc.-Expedition
in Legal Procedure.
The deplorable delays in the ad-
,tet, t. II.
have received the attention of COM
mittees of the American Bar associa-
tion and of many State Bar associa-
tions. as well as the considered
thought of judges and iurists. In my
Judgment, n change in judicial pro-
ceedure, with view to reducing its
expense to private litigants in civil
cases and facilitating the dispatch of
business and final decision in both
civil and criminal cases, constitutes
the greatest need in our American
institutions. | do not doubt for one
moment that much of the lawless
violence and cruelty exhibited in
lynchings is directly due to the un-
certainties and injustice growing out
of the delays in trials, judgments, and
the execution thereof by our courts.
OF course these remarks apply quite
as well to the administration of JUS
tice in state courts as to that in fed
eral courts, and without making in
vidious distinction, it is perhaps not
too much to say that. speaking gem
orally. the defects are less in the
federal courts than in the state
courts. The expedition with which
business is disposed of both on the
civil and the criminal side of English
courts under modern rules of pro-
ceedure makes the delays in our
courts seem archaic and barbarous
The procedure in the federal courts
should furnish an example for the
state courts. / presume it is impos-
sible, without an amendment to the