The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-04
Civilians in High Places Found Wanting by
 England
RECOGNIZED THIS IN
 ARMY DEPARTMENT
Haldane Was Dismissed and Kitchener Made War Minister-Politicians Not Up to Technical Work of
 Directing Fighting Units

London, May 20.-(Special )-There is a
 lesson for the United States as well as
 for England in the proposal which is
 now under discussion by the cabinet to
 recall Admiral Sir John Jellicoe from his
 sea command of the grand fleet and
 make him first lord of the admiralty at Whitehall. The lesson is that the direc-
 ton of a fighting service ought to be in
 the hands of a fighting man, or to put it more generally that the expert should
 be In charge of the job. England real
 ized this, as far as the army was con- cerned, at the outbreak of the war, when she dismi ssed Lord Haldane and made Lord Kitchener her minister of war, but the administration of the navy was left in civilian hands. Probably the fact that the navy is so intricate and specialized a machine that even the civilian minister does not dare to meddle with it, and leaves 1t severely alone, is responsible for the minimum of mischief that has been done, but there is a general feeling now that the time has come to put a sailor in charge, and no better man can be found than the admiral who has been in command of the grand fleet since the outset of the war, who has swept the seas of German commerce raiders, and EdS DOtll6d up tIle GeIlldIl llSll StdS lIcSI safely and harmlessly in the Kiel canal.
 BROUGHT TO LONDON
 The news that such move was in contemplation became known in the serv- tee clubs in London a few days ago, when it was learned that Jellicoe and Admiral De Rob eek, who was in command of the operations at the Dardanelles, had been hastily summoned to London to attend meeting of the war council. The story is that the post of first lord of the admi- ralty was then offered to Jellicoe and Jellicoe'S sea command to De Robeck. Jellicoe, I am told, was willing to take it on, but a hitch arose over finding a place for him in Parliament. Under the English constitutional system the respon- slble minister of any department must have a seat either in the House of Com- mons the Lords. Of course the easy course would be to create Jellicoe peer, but he declared that he did not want a mere accommodation peerage, but pre- ferred to wait for that honor until he had earned it. He was willing to enter the House of Commons if seat could be found for him where no contest would be necessary and where it was distinctly un- derstood that he was entirely independent of party and would take no part what ever in politics. There the matter rests now, and it is unlikely that any further step Will De taken until the navy eStl- mates are safely through the House of Commons, and MT. Balfour, the present first lord, is thus enabled to turn over his department with all the immediate work completed.
 The appointment of a professional first lord has been under consideration for sometime, in fact since Winston Churchill resigned the post after the failure at the Dardanelles, for which he was unjustly saddled with the responsibility There was a small but insistent group in Par iament which demanded the appointment of Admiral "Jacky" Fisher. who was first sea lord under Winston Churchill
 The responsible members of the cab- met and a large section of the country felt, however, that Fisher, although a great sailor, was too old-he is over 70-l and too crotchety-to be intrusted with full power over the navy and a voice in the cabinet and in addition to that his quarrel with Churchill was reckoned up against him, although that is undoubtedly only a phase of the mans impatience of control by anyone else.