The Washington herald., 1917-01-04
Army and Navy News
best service ceIun. is City

The Surgeon General of the Navy has
disapproved a Recommendation made re-
Gently by the fleet surgeon of the Asiatic
fleet through Admiral A. @. Winterhal-
ter relative to admission to naval hos
pitals of families of officers and, enlisted
men OF the Navy and Marine Corps. The
rejection was accompanied by the follow
Ing comment:
Naval hospitals were Instituted for the
care of tie sick and injured Of the Navy
and Marine Corps. and from the earliest
enactments of July 16, l7ss. and February
es 1sll. 10 date authorization of admis-
sion has included only officers and enlist
ed men of the Navy and Marine Corps.
active and retired, and pensioners.
'.The hospitals of the Army, II Is un-
derstood, are governed by different laws.
and the admission OF others than the off,
GERS and enlisted men was authorized at
a time when families were recognized
part Of frontier posts. where no hospital
or medical facilities other than those of
the Army were available.
NAVAL hospitals are supported by the
naval hospital fund, of which the Secre-
tary Of the Navy is the sole trustee. This
is trust fund the revenue of which is
derived from sources within the naval
service and not from Congressional ap-
propriations; its expenditures, therefore.
for other than the benefit of the naval
personnel is not justified. Except in cases
Of extreme emergency or to save life, II
is not considered advisable TO admit for
treatment in naval hospitals. including
those In the Orient, the members of the
families Of officers and enlisted men.
These hospitals are equipped and the
nursing organization is provided only for
the treatment of men.
Where admissions may be necessary
fn We
life, as stated in the preceding paragraph,
stay OF such patients for treatment in
the naval hospital should continue only
so long as may be necessary to provide
for transfer to their homes or to a civil
institution without endangering their
prospects of recovery as regards life. Am
bulatory cases can not be properly con-
sidered in this class"
The House naval committee 10 consid-
ering an item of s34l 900 for anti-air-
craft guns and mounts submitted by the
Bureau OF Ordance of the Navy Depart
ment. These are intended for ships
which were built before there was need
of installing this type of ordance as a
defense against serial attack.
The appropriation will arm in this
manner the vessels built prior to the
Nevada class. The appropriation will en-
able the Bureau of Ordance to acquire
forty-four guns, which furnishes in some
cases four guns for each ship and in
other cases two guns for each ship. The
| tests of this type of ordnance have been
! satisfactory, and the 3-inch gun with
which the demonstrations have been
made have been directed against kites
flown at the Indian Head proving ground
1t is estimated that the range Is
1900 feet when the gun is fired straight
| in the air. For destroyers a one-pounder
automatic gun will be used, with a
range of 5000 feet. 1t is essential that
the vessels be equipped with this defense
against fire from aeroplanes. and the
type Of gun which has been adopted will
be effective, It is believed, in keeping
the aircraft at a distance of two miles.
at which range there would be great
| difficulty in hitting the target Gunners
have been trained especially for this
service. and the system of training is
! new being further developed under the
Bureau of Ordance.