Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-12-08

capable of. quick, training into tne
modern man Of warsmep. 4 Our OF
fcers. are earnest and Jealous in their
profession, but it is regrettable Iact
that the higher officers are old Tor the
RESPONSIBILITIES of the modern navy
and the admirals do not arrive at nag
rank young enough to obtain ade-
ouate training in their duties as nag
officers. This need for reform IN the
navy has been ably and earnestly
presented to Congress by my prede-
cessor, and l also urgently recon-
mend the subject for consideration.
Early in the coming session COM
prehensive plan for the reorganization
of the officers of all corps of the navy
will be presented to Congress, and
hope it will meet with action suited to
it's urgency.
Owing to the necessity for economy
in expenditures, I have directed the
curtailment of recommendations for
naval appropriations so that they are
thirty EIGHT millions less than the
corresponding estimates of last year,
and the request for new naval con-
struction is limited to two first-class
battle ships and one repair vessel
The use of navy is for military
purposes, and there has been found
need in the department of military
branch dealing directly with the mill
tary 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 i'm
portant matters between coordinate
branches of the department To Sc
cure these results he has inaugurated
a tentative plan involving certain
changes in the organization of the
navy department. Including the navy
yards, all of which have been found
by the Attorney General to be in ac-
cordance with law. I have approved
the execution of the plan proposed
because of the greater efficiency and
economy it promises.
The generosity of Congress has pro-
vided in the present Naval Observa-
tory the most magnificent and expen-
sive astronomical establishment in the
world. 1t is being used for certain
naval purposes which might easily
and adequately be subserved by a
small division connected with the
Navy Department at only a fraction
of the cost of the present Naval OBJ
servatory. The official Board of
Visitors established by Congress and
appointed in 1901 expressed it's 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
\ to- ~.
of the Superintendent of the Coast
Survey or the head of the Geological
Survey, and not merely by a detail of
two or three years duration. I fully
concur in this Judgment, and urge a
provision by law for the appointment
of such director.
1t may not be necessary to take the
observatory out of the Navy Depart
ment and put it into another depart
ment in which opportunity for
scientific research afforded by the OBJ
serVatory would seem to be more ap-
propriate, though 1 believe such a
transfer in the long run is the best
policy l am sure, however, l express
the desire of the astronomers and
those learned in the kindred sciences
when I 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 Department
which this observatory now renders,
and still furnish to the world the dis
coveries in astronomy that a great
astronomer using such plant would
be likely to make.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
Expedition in Legal Procedure.
The deplorable delays in the admin
istration of civil and criminal law
have received the attention of COM
lnlttees of the American Bar Associa-
ton and Of many State Bar Associa-
lions, as well as the considered
thought of judges and jurists. In nv
judgment, change in judicial pro-
cedure, with a view to reducing its ex-
pense to private litigants in civil cases
and Facilitating the dispatch of bust
ness and final decision in both civil
ana criminal cases, constitutes the
greatest need in our American insti-
tutions. l do not doubt for one mo-
ment that much of the lawless yio-
fence and cruelty exhibited in lvnch-
lngs is directly due to the uncertain
ties and injustice growing out of the
delays in trials, judgments, and the
executions thereof by our courts. OF
course these remarks apply quite as
well to the administration of iustice
IN state courts as to that in federal
courts, and without making inyidious
distinction it is perhaps not too much
TO say that. speaking generally, the
defects are less in the federal courts
tnan IN the state courts. But they
are very great in the federal courts.
The expedition with which business is
disposed of both on the civil and the
criminal side of English courts under
modern rules of procedure makes the
delays in our courts seem archaic and
parbarous. The procedure in the. fed
eral courts should furnish an example
Tor the state courts. l presume it is
impossible. without an amendment to
the Constitution, to unite under one
form or action the proceedings at
common law and proceedings in
equity in the federal courts, but it is
certainly not impossible by a statute
to simplify and make short and direct
the procedure both at law and in
equity in those courts IF is NOT i'm.