The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-09-26
HIGH LIVING COST
FORCES NAVY CRISIS
designations Already Have
Put the Atlantic Fleet
on Paper Basis.
PERIL IN DANIELS DELAY
Immediate Relief From Pres
emit Generalization Waits
Only His Word.
spscin, pe,patca 10 Tnr sux.


wAsHrNoroN, Sept. 25.-Secretary
Daniels has returned from his trip 70 find
the navy drifting rapidly toward demon
aIization caused by lack of personnel
and lack OF ordinary living pay stand
ards for the officers and enlisted men,
The Atlantic feet exists on paper only,
for the battleships and auxiliary craft
could not even defend the coast owing 10
lack of men to man the vessels. 4,
The Pacific fleet is not much better
off. and IL the designations of naval ON
GERS who say they cannot support their
families are accepted by Mr.. Daniels the
highly trained line and staff officers Will
be considerably decreased in NUMBER
In short the navy is facing crisis
which calls for immediate and enectiVe
action.
The threatened decentralization owing
TO lack of adequate pay for the ofticers
Is the most serious aspect for the mo-
mont, and Mr.. Daniels already has taken
stems to cope with this situation. He
has arranged for conferences with Sena-
tor Page (Vt.) and Representative But
Ter (Pa) chairmen respectively OF the
Senate and House Naval Affairs com
mittees, and announced tonight that ne
favored increased pay But whether
Mr.. Daniels will support the present plan
Incorporated in the army, navy anu
marine corps bill. which has been intro :
duced in the House, still remains IN
doubt. and upon this point naval officers
say the whole problem of remedying the
situation depends. This bill PROVIDES 80
per cent. increase for officers and DO per
cent increase for enlisted men.
There have been rumors that Mr..
Daniels still retained some of his former
lukewarmness toward officers as distin-
guished from enlisted men, or mat ne
feared the political effect of sanctionlng
increased pay now, but from what Mr..
Daniels himself said to-day there seems
to be no ground for these reports.
Fear Delay by Daniels.
There is. however, fear that Mr.. Dam
iels may unwittingly delay and compli-
cate matters by substituting new plans
for ones which have matured in the
Capitol and in the Navy Department
and this admittedly would mean months
of delay. AS a fact, all Mr.. Daniels
would have to do to start the new pay
bill toward speedy passage would be &c
call Senator Page on the telephone and
say he favored 1t, or otherwise reply &c
the specific request of Senator Page foi
his views on the subject.
The movement for increased pay de-
stined to give men in the army ant
navy q means of livelihood under the
present high cost of living has origin
ated in the House and had the sanction
of Representative Butler and other Re
publicans. The bill has been submitted
to Secretary Baker and approved. 1
has had the approval of Assistant Sec
rotary Roosevelt and Senator Page 4
for it. 1t is legislation proposed by
Republican Congress and already sane
toned by members of the Democrati
Administration and requires only sig
nal from Mr.. Daniels to put it int
operation. as its passage in the Hous
is virtually assured. 1t is therefore fel
by the officers In the service that MI
Daniels will not delay.
In respect to the great number o
designations which Mr.. Daniels mus
pass upon, the situation is complicate
by the fact that the Secretary does nc
admit that a naval officer who has bee
educated at public expense, has the RICH
to resign. This applies to line officer
educated in the Naval Academy. al
though in these cases the midshipma
virtually fulfls his contract with tn
Government by remaining the stlpulate
eight years in the service. But wit
stan officers, the case is different be
cause these officers are in most cases nc
educated at public expense. Among tn
designations are many from officers c
the staff
High Living Cost Cause.
The reasons given are in most case
the same. namely, that the officer
simply cannot live on the pay they ar
getting. Admirals Sims. Mayo, Wilso
end virtually all the ranking naval of
GERS say it is absolutely impossible Il
young officers with families to live O
the present rates of pay. There al
cases of officers home from the war VIII
cannot see their families because the
have not the money for railroad rare
Officers on duty in the departmeI
show in many cases threadbsre re, shabt
uniforms, and admit they have not Il
money for new ones. Some of the your
officers go hungry because they have NJ
the money for luncheon. There hs
been no increase in navy pay since 100
and now that the cost of living has goI
up so greatly officers who could n
make both ends meet in 1912-befo
the WARFARE now in really serious di
ficulties.
For example. an officer of the rank
commander who has been keeping stri
account of expenditures gave THE Su
correspondent the following table
household expenses in 1919:
EXPENSES PER MONTH.
Food ice, milk Observation-Disclosures. sill
serNantS ''''''''''.''''' "a
Personal Laundry .............'.'..'s... ..
Household furnishings .......,.......... 8.
Clothes, wife and two children...,.... IS