Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-22
Army and Navy News


IN turn, Will go to their stations and
prepare for the actual process OF
making the card inventory after a
manual physical inspection of the
stores under control. 81,
This change of method in account
ing Tor stock initiates a new system
OF property control and at the same
time sends the old system of the
property return with all the COM
piications connected with 1t. into the
discard. 1t will not be regretted, for
no method could have given greater
annoyance to supply officers (
X X
CART. HARRIS LANING, acting
chief of the bureau of navipa-.
.ioh' which Is that bureau or section
IN the Navy Department which ham,
oies the personnel, commissioned and
enlisted, and provides for its train
ing and distribution, appeared before
the House. naval committee ia giva
such information as the committee
might seek in regard to the needs
OF TINS bureau in the next fiscal wear +
me NUMBER of the personnel can he
determined only after the policy Of
Nc aumln1stration in regard to the
as ny o,sn aeGiaea and announced, and
1ect has been given out, and none ia
!iheiy 10 be given out until the re-
turn from abroad of President viii 4
son w., II IS impossible for the members
datinns eotnihlttee to- make recommen- Z
t'0hs with any degree of &C rtainty
however. some interesting features,
are 10 De found in the statement. In
the opinion of Capt. Laning, the Navy 1
sells y haVe' IN order to man the ves-.
mas expressed the, desire to keep in
commission. 21S,050 men and officers
IN July, 1920, and it is not pia
v mneEe these men are coming from: \
nsitner Is 1t clear how the number OF
found. N' 10 ~ 10
Under the tables the personnel az
vision calls for 1881 officers to that
NUMBER OF enlisted men. In the repsI-g
lar esta Diishment of the Navy there
Naval Academy or promoted after exe
animation and recommendation from
tne ranks. Under The law, as IT stands
at present. with total authorized
s tah1isIn, Of 1s74ss in the regular es-
commissioned strength of 5,4s9 on
GERS; and as Annapolis Is turning out.
graduates at the rate of only about
I'VE hundred year, the required Of
s sours a tTber not coming from that:
COURSES COURSE; T nneseh, seem to be but two.
20
me number Of enlisted men or appoint
onIcers on the permanent staff from
some or the many officers who have
proved their worth in the present
emergency. lnasmuch as the author =
ICED total strength of enlisted men
Is not enough to man the ships that
should ne Kept in commission, 1t will
NOT to ut down the number Of Of 3,
hut son nerow the authorised 5.49s:
lsIation to authorize their retention.
me main question that is raised is
mat OF increasing the authorized
strength of the. Navy above the pres.
emu humn er-l37,4s5. The expense OF
not be imposed without careful con- &
sideration. and 1t is quite certain that
as sort of cheeseparinR policy
thousa nds of the men now in the NAVY
wouid In event of call in the next I
rev years be again available, but that
is hardly a fair way to- look at the Z
question, for there liz no reason vhy
they should be called second time
to duty. '"'''
The strength of navy is meas.
ITS personnel quite as much as by
the number and quality of the vessels
mat they are called upon to put into
action 1t is known now that, after
providing officers and gunners for
the armed merchantmen. destroyers,
patrol boats and \other vessels nut n, +
operation at the outset Of the war.
the personnel of the battle feet was
so weakened that 1t could not have
gone intb action. and was complete
demonstration of the principle that
the undermining OF the navy ia =
Iaise economy. Good management re-
quires either that the ships be not
constructed or that the crews be pro-
vided to keep them in good condi-
ton and to man them fully in case
of war ' S'''
Speculation as to the size of thu
Meet to be maintained Is a waste Of
time, but 1t seems not unreasonable
that none of it's war vessels should
be disposed of, and 1t is known that !,
many vessels are to be competed
and turned over to the Navy from
various shipyards along the coasts.
In the present unsettled state OF,
world politics big Navy may not
be necessary, but there Is always a
chance of there being call for it
ana 1t would be sad not to have 1t in.
case of need. The general board.
whose reports are usually not consid.
ered except as basis for tho de-
sirable. without regard to financial.
conditions. calls for great increase
In the number of war vessels and a
corresponding increase in the per-
sonnet