Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-04-15
SECRETARY DANIELS AND NAVY
Oh Lot ter to NcwY York EYsriny pn.11
tWushingtOn Letter {
to New York Evening Post.)

Aside from having rendered conspic-
uous political service to his party, by
actual work or by contributions Of real
money to the campaign fund, all that
IL required ordinarily OF a Secretary OF
the Navy is that he Shall know that n
ship must be hollow and that one end
OF II is called the bow and the other
The Stcrn-cvcn II he Is not absolutely
certain which end is which.
because of this paucity OF nautical
lore, secretaries of the Navy have ever
been looked upon by naval officers
whether OF the ea-soing or the arm
chair variety, with active hostility cold
contempt, or good naturcd tolerance, In
direct or even geometric ratio TO the
degree to which they ''meddied" in tho
AFFAIRS of the department. or left the
department. machine TO run at its own
sweet Will In other words. generally
speaking, Secretaries Of the NAVY
like pretty much all other cablnc, OH
GERS, have been "successful' and popu-
lar In quite exactly the measure of their
n0nintcrference with the personal and
official schemes and interests of their
subordinatcS.
One DESTROYS of examining this mat
ter candid)y should bear in mind that
the tradition OF our government eN-
pressiy calls for the appointment to
cabinet positions of civilians, one of
whose principal functions tx as such
To stand between the civil power and
the professional machines OF permanent
Jobh oldcrs-cSpecially of soldiers and
sailors. When II civilian secretary brings
10 his Office and exercises In IL general
executive ability and business sense, he
is rulhlling his obligation under the the
Org OF our constitution. The fair ques-
tion is therefore: Has Joscphus Daniels
brought TO his Office this general eX-
ecutiVc ability and business sense?
Secretary Daniels did not nrctepl n
know much about the navy: but, like
the good newspaper man that he was
Tie has been in the newspaper business
since he was fifteen years old, he had
Il consuming desire to learn something
about il. II was by way of being an
assignment" and Il newspaper man
takes an assignment seriously Also.
he somehow got the notion that he was
responsible for what was going Oh In
his department..
One Man Who Knows About Ships.
1t ought not to be overlooked. by the
way. that about the first thing Mr.. Dan
iels did was to appoint as Assistant
Secretary of the Mayor to consent
to his appointment, If you prefer
Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose interest
in and knowledge of naval matters, be-
ginning with the first log on which a
primitive savage hoated across Il
stream, amounts to a passion. Not a
great deal is done over Mr.. Daniels
signature without Assistant Secretary
Roosevelt's knowledge, not to say con-
sent. And more than one thing for
which Mr.. Daniels has been blamed and
ridiculed as n meddlesome landlubber,
was done, as II were. over the protest
OF both.
For example the order abolishing the
use Of the terms "starboard" and port"
and substituting right and left was
signed by Secretary Daniels, despite the
objections. largely sentimental, Of Mr..
Roosevelt: but II was done upon the spe-
clfc recommendation, by vote of TO l.
Of tho general board, which is mado up
Of experienced naval onicers-real old
salts--and headed by Admiral Dewey
himself.
The newspaper correspondents here NJ
Washington are I'm considerable meas
ure responsible for tho fact that the peo-
pie have seen In distorted perspective
come of the activities OF Mr. Daniels.
Certain comparatively trivial things.
chance "joshins' remarks. because OF
their novelty or picturesqucness. have
been played up" out OF all proportion
To their context or consequence; while
relatively iitle attention has been paid
to the less interesting but vastly more
important matters of business care and
supervision constituting the real service