The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-07-17
APPROVE BETTER NAVY PLAN.
OFFICIALS INDORSE DANIELS IN.
VENTION BOARD.
Will Invite Others-Secretary Prepar.
ing to Urge Notable Men to Join in
Making Service More Efficient,

Washington, July 13.-Mobilizatioti
of the countlv's inventive genius to
aid in working out naval problems wab
discussed widely today by officials OF
both the army and navy, and the
selection Of Thomas A. Edison ais
head Of the civilian advisory board
met with unanimous approval. j.
Secretary Daniels now is preparing
to invite other noted inventors =. and
technical experts to join in the work,
He would not say yes or no to a
dozen names suggested to him, de-
claring he would make known the
other members of the advisory board
only after their acceptances had been
received.
LAS i stated in my letter to Mr.. Edi-
son." said the secretary, II am not
prepared to announce full details of
the plan. An informal conference was
held today with the chiefs Of the
bureaus Of ordnance. steam engineer
ing and construction and.repair and
expect to announce the organization
in a more definite way in a short time.
THE country does not yet know
the far reaching and important ex-
perimental work done by Admirals
Griffin. Strauss and Taylor. They ana
their assistants for months have been,
studying every new development,
brought out by the war in Europe and
already have contributed to increased
naval efficiency. They will be given
additional experts to carry on this
development work they have been
doing with ability and success.
THE selection OF the members of
the advisory committee requires care
full thought. but 1 hope to announce
them shortly. With Mr.. Edison so
willingly and cheerfully responding,
feel sure that the advisory coun-
Gil. when the names all are selected.
will be composed Of men Of such
prominence as to make. tho country
feel that what 1t is possible for the
human mind to devise will be devised
for oYr navy"
Amopg the names suggested to Mr..
Daniels; as possible members O. the
new board were those Of Charles p.
steint1etx one of the worlds author
tiles on electrical engineering Hud-
son Maxim. inventor and maker Of
guns and explosives; Orville Wright,
one of the two brothers who led the
world in aeroplane flight; Simon Lake,
submarine inventor, Lewis Nixon. ship
builder and former naval officer;
alexander Graham Bell, inventor of
the telephone; John Hays Hammond,
Jr., and X. A. Fessenden radio COM
munication experts; ]. b. Walker, edi-
tor, OF scientific magazines and an i'm
Ventor, or note, and O score Of others.
Attention was called today to an
act OF congress prohibiting the ae-
ceptance by the government of volun-
tary service. AS there is no provision
Tor remuneration for the proposed
board Is was suggested that the law
might prove an obstacle without spe-
cihc authorization by congress. Mr..
Daniels said he had not examined the
law but he thought it would be pos
sible to avoid conflict with it.
The bulk Of the work in testing new
devices and reviewing suggestions will
fall on the department itself, the Sec
retary explained. and for that reason
he contemplates creating a bureau of
invention and development to which
the civilian experts will be an advis-
ory board.
Mr.. Daniels indicated that he had
not yet developed anything like a
complete working plan for the bu-
reau. He has in view, however. con-
centration Of such navy experimental
stations as the coal testing plant at
Annapolis. the plant for testing hulls
at the navy yard here and the aero
nautic experiments in one great sta.