The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-06
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT.
Wants Naval Station at Guantana-
 mo-Honors For Peary.

Wants Naval Station at Guantana-
 mo-Honors For Peary.
 In the last annual report of the sec retary of the navy and in my annual message attention was called to the new detail of officers in the navy de partment by which officers of flag rank were assigned to duty as aids to the secretary in respect to naval opera tins, personnel, inspection and mate rial. This change was a substantial compliance with the recommendation of the commission on naval reorgan- ization, headed by Mir. Justice Moody, and submitted to President Roosevelt on Feb. 26, 1909.
 Through the advice of this commit tee of line officers the secretary is able to bring about 8 proper coordination of all the branches of the naval de partment with greater military eff ciency. The secretary of the navy rec ommends that this new organization be recognized by legislation and thus made permanent. I concur in the rec ommendation.
 The secretary. in view of the conciu- sions of a recent court of inquiry on certain phases of marine corps admin istration, recommends that the major general commandant of the marine corps be appointed for four year term and that officers of the adjutant and inspectors department be detailed from the line.
 He also asks for legislation to inn prove the conditions now existing in the personnel of officers of the navy. particularly with regard to the age and experience of flag officers and cap tains, and points out that it is essen tial to the highest efficiency Of the navy that the age of our officers be re- duced and that flag officers particular ly should gain proper experience as flag officers in order to enable them to properly command fleets. I concur in the secretary's recommendations.
 Covering of Naval Supply Fund Into
 Treasury.
 I commend to your attention the re- port of the secretary on the change in the system of cost accounting in navy yards and also to the history of the naval supply fund and the pres ent conditions existing in regard to that matter. Under previous practice and what now seems to have been an erroneous construction of the law the supply fund of the navy was increased from S2, 7O0,O ,OOO to something over S14.- OOo, ,O00, and a system of accounting was introduced which prevented the striking of a proper balance and a knowledge of the exact cost of main taining the naval establishment.
 The system has now been abandone and naval supply account sstablisr ed by law July 1, 1910. The maya supply fund of S2, TOO, 900 is now on de- posit in the treasury to the credit of the department. The secretary recom- mends that the naval supply account be made permanent by law and that the g, FOG, 900 of the naval supply fund be covered into the treasury as unnec. essary, and I ask for legislative au- thority to do this. This sum when covered into the treasury will be real ly a reduction in recorded naval cost for this year.
 The estimates of the navy depart ment are $5,Ooo,OOo less than the ap- propriations for the same purpose last year, and included in this is the build Ing program of the same amount as that submitted for your consideration last year. It is merely carrying out the plan of building two battleships a year, with a few needed auxiliary ves- sells. I earnestly hope that this pro- gram will be adopted.
 Abolition of Navy Yards.
 The secretary of the navy has given personal examination to every navy yard and has studied the uses of the navy yards with reference to the ne cessities of our fleet. With fleet con- siderably less than half the size of that of the British navy. we have shipyards more than double the num- Der, and there are several of these shipyards, expensively equipped with modern machinery, which after inves- tigation the secretary of the navy be- AiCNCO tV uo CAtAAGAy uSCicSS AOI Adfdl He asks authority to aban- don certain of them and to move their machinery to other places where it can be made of use.
 In making these recommendations the secretary is following directly along progressive lines which have been adopted in our great commercial and manufacturing consultations in this country-that Is, of dismantling and inadequate plants and discontinuing their existence where it has been demonstrated that 1t Is unprofltable to continue their at an expense not con- to their product
 The secretary points out that the most important naval base in the West Indies is Guantanamo, in the south eastern part of Cuba. Its geographical situation Is admirably adapted to pro- tect the commercial paths to the Pan- anna canal, and he shows that by the of less than half a million with the machinery which he shall take from other navy yards, he can create a naval station at Guanta- namo of sufficient size and equipment to serve the purpose of an emergency naval base. I earnestly join in the rec that he be given the au- thoritv which he aska