Evening star., 1914-07-26
HOUSE DENOUNCES
PLUCK|NG BOARD
Naval Affairs Committee Sc
we're in Criticism of Action
in Veeder Case.
FIND RETIRED OFFICER
HAD FLAWLESS RECORD
Report Declares Favoritism Has
Been Shown in Promotions and
Demotions in Navy.

The House naval affairs committee
severely criticised the 1910 ''plucking
board" for it's action in retiring Com
modore T. +. De Witt Veeder, and in
a report which came in yesterday recon-
mended the reinstatement of the Off
Ger to the active list. The report, pre-
pared by Representative Witherspoon
of Mississippi, says that the officers
retirement was loss to the navy.
Commodore Veeders case was passed on
favorably by Senate and House in a
previous Congress. but at the solicitation
of influential officers of the navy. ac-
cording to the testimony before the
naval affairs committee, the bill for
reinstatement was vetoed
There could scarcely be any stronger
commendation for Commodore Veeder
than that written in the report filed
by the naval affairs committee, which
ficer had no flaw in his record at all,
and at the same time the cases of GER
tain other officers who were not plucked
and who were promoted are held up to
charged with having lost ship of the
navy and another is charged with being
addicted to drunkenness in so great
degree as to be unfit for the service,
and yet was promoted to the rank of
rear admiral. These two officers rec
ords the report declares. were before
the plucking board at the time the
'.laWleSS' record of Commodore Veeder
was being examined.
Examination Not Complete.
Representative Witherspoon's report de-
clares that the law was not followed in
the "plucking" of Commodore Veeder. In
stead of examining 700 records, the report
states. the board examined only 100, and
Commodore Veeder's record was not
complete when examined. 1t is also
stated that when the board decided the
efficiency of the navy would be increased
by dropping Commodore Veeder, there
seems to have been no effort on the part
Of the board to find any officer with a
better record" The commodore's record
shows he was graded excellent" 1877
times out of 237: very good" thirty-fve
times, and good seven times and that
he had never been marked with anything
lower than good" although there are two
lower gradations for superior officers to
use when reporting on officers of the navy.
Sperry's Hand Seen.
The report states:
ut was disclosed to the committee that
when the board met it was supplied by the
Navy Department with list of officers
against whom unfavorable reports had
been made, and the records of these Off
GERS were examined, and the records of
the officers whose names did not appear
on this list were not examined The name
of Commodore Veeder. however, did not
appear on this list, but for some reason
his record was examined. The ONLY ex-
planation of this exception seems to be
that the year previous Admiral Sperry,
who plays an, important part in the re-
tirement of Commodore Veeder, had made
an Intellectual effort to have him retired.
eat any rate. the president of the board
frankly admits that Commodore Veeder
was not retired because there was any
thing in his record to show less efficiency
than his more fortunate brother officers,
and If we have correctly interpreted the
law to make the records the sole guide,
then, according to the testimony of Ad-
miral Wainwright, he was illegally re-
tired"
Further the report says:
I'VE think that the service reports