The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1916-02-02
TFLLMAN PRAISES
SECRETARY DANIELS
SOUTH CAROLINA SENATOR
SAYS HE is GREATEST CHIEF
NAVY HAS EVER HAD.

|
the greatest Secretaries the navy
ever had, and former Secretary Mey-
er was assailed to-day by Chairman
Tillman, of the Senate naval COM
mittee, in a speech on "The Truth
About the Navy"
Senator Tillman took Mr.. Meyer
to task for his recent declaration be-
fore the National Security League
that "the fundamental defect of the
navy department is that it has no
brain and no competent military Or
ganization."
"Mr. Meyer forgets," said Senator
Tillman, eff he ever knew, that the
time he left the navy department. the
service was nearly six thousand short
of the authorized enlisted compile
ment; that forty-six per cent of the
men discharged in good standing
were then leaving the navy, while
eighty-fve per cent are now re-en-
listing; that during his incumbency
there were 10,360 desertions.
Needed Men, Too.
"Mr. Meyer needed men and did
the best he knew how to get them,
| and yet he left the navy nearly six
thousand short. Yet he has the
cheek to hold his successor response
Bile for conditions which are due
wholly to his own shortcomings as
Secretary. Everyone knows officers
cannot be enlisted like sailors. 1t
takes four years to make an officer.
Is Mr.. Daniels responsible If the Re-
publicans in Congress failed to sup
ply the cadets at Annapolis to gradu-
ate?
"It may be necessary to quarter
midshipmen in tents, for the Naval
Academy will be filled to overflowing
if the recommendations of Secretary
Daniels are adopted by Congress. The
emergency is too pressing, In my
opinion, to wait for any building pro-
gramme at all.
81 myself would like to see three
midshipmen for each Senator and
CONGRESSMAN instead of two. But
surely no sensible, honest man can
blame the present Secretary for the
shortage in officers.
"Not only has the authorized en-
listment long since been obtained,
but there is large waiting list.
There is less envy and jealousy
among the naval officers and more
efficient cooperation and co-ordina-
ton of the whole department than
I have ever seen in it before. .As
against 1O,360 desertions while MIR.
Meyer was Secretary, there have
been only 4,375 since his successor
entered Office.
No Pampered Son.
"The head of the navy himself is
not pampered and petted darling of
inherited wealth, but red-blooded,
outstanding, forward-looking Ameri,
can, who is a graduate in the hard
school of experience and a practical
man, with wholesome ideas. His re-
ligion, in political sense, is that the
door of opportunity shall be thrown
wide open so that every man may
have an equal chance to rise as high
as his hopes and merits entitle him
to. I predict that Josephus Daniels
will go down in history as one of the
greatest Secretaries the navy has
ever had. Paying no attention to
political or social influences, he has
selected as his lieutenants as brilliant
a group of officers as the naval SER
vice affords.
! "Although the navy department
has no brains since Won l.. Meyer
was forced to go by the people, there
still remains Admiral George Dewey,
/ admired throughout the world both
for his ability as a naval officer and
his thorough knowledge gathered IN
the school of experience of the navy
in all it's details. His services in
Manila Bay will never be forgotten
by the American people. He illus
trated to the fullest the heroism of
| American commanders, commencing
with John Paul Jones and coming
down through the long list of naval
heroes whom every American loves
to honor.
Full eight months before Mr..
Meyer delivered his remarkable la
ment over the utter absence OF con-
crete war plans there was established
the office of naval operations for the
purpose of meeting exactly that need
and the duties and responsibilities
and authority of the chief of naval
operations embrace all the advan--
tages of an Americanized general
staff, without any of the dangerous
disadvantages which Mr. Meyer would
import. from Prussia"
Praise for Others.
Senator Tillman also praised Rear
Admiral Benson, chief of naval oper-
ations, "who is not known at all in
the drawing rooms in Washington or
Newport; Rear Admiral Victor
Blue, chief of the bureau of naviga-
ton, and Rear Admiral Joseph
Strauss, head of the bureau of ordl-
nance.
"While Germany had already won
second place, as shown in Won Mey-
er's first reports, he never could
persuade his party to grant money
enough to recover the lost ground" "
continued Senator Tillman. His pre-
decessor, Mr.. Metcalf, notified the
country that we could not hold second
place without more dreadnaughts and
Won Meyers first report notified us
that we were already displaced. His
report for 1909, four years before