Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-01-17
SIMS DECLARES HIS
 CRITICISM 0E NAVY
 WAS HIS PLAIN DUTY
Admiral Plays Censorship Policy of tn Depart
 ment

Washington. Jan. 16.-Declaring the greatest handicap of the Ameri- can navy was the lack of construc- tive criticism and the fact that na- val officers were refused permis- slon to publish any matter without first submitting it to the navy de partment. Rear Admiral Sims today told the senate committee investi- gatlng naval decorations that his criticism of the circumstances of some awards was plain duty. He said the morale of the navy ha dbeen knocked to pieces by the manner of awarding medals.
 It did not involve insuDordinatoin as some newspapers had seemed to assume, he said, nor was there any intention to make personal attack on the secretary.
 Admiral Sims then read prepar- ed statement in which he said that in "probably the nearly unanimous opinion of officers of the navy" cer- tain mistakes were made in the awards which involved not only the question of justice, but the morale of the fighting forces.
 Assuming the existence of these convictions on the part of naval of. ficers," Admiral Sims continued, it is apparent that it is the duty of the officers the advisability of whose decorations is in question officially to present their criticisms and sug- gestions.
 NeeIa CriticiSru
 "Our navy lacks constructive criticism from the public and neces- sarily so because our naval officers are forbidden to publish anything without the permission of, and usual ly censorship by, the department This is, to say the least, singular regulation to me enforced in a demo- cratic form of government; and the inevitable result is that the Amer- cans know less about naval matters than the public of any other consid- erable maritime power because the officers of the latter are permitted under certain regulations while not on duty to publish any article ill criticism or suggestion which in their Judgment would be of benefit to their service or their country.
 Referring to the case of Com mander David Worth Bagley, broth er-in-law of Secretary Daniels whose recommendation for a navy cross was changed by the secretary to distinguished service medal, Admiral Sims says Commander Bagley was one of the most efficient officers in the service. The admiral read a letter he wrote Commander Bagley congraulating on his conduct when his ship, the destroyer Jacob Jones was sunk by a submarine, and then presented letter from MT. Daniels asking the admiral what recommen- dation he had made for medals for Commander Bagley and other off cers of the Jacob Jones.
 Declaring that he had read state ments in the press that he had recommended every officer on his staff for D. s. M the witness said he had recommended only 19 officers for that decoration out of POP who were on his staff.
 He characterized the services of these officers as of paramount inn portance" and reviewed their records to show why he recommended them for decorations.
 "Whatever recognition of credit 1 may have gotten out of this war be- longs to the officers of my staff,' he declared, "I only claim the credit for building thea machine and picking the right men,"
 Few Got Them.
 Rear Admiral Sims said medals were only source of trouble and the service in general would be glad if all could be withdrawn and the government "call it square," The unfortunate and unnecessary" con troversy, he said, had arisen because policy defined by the secretary has not been written into the Knight medal award board as he and other officers had urged.
 He had recommended, he added, three out of 80,00O for medals of honor and "all got something else." The only honor medal awarded going to Lieutenant Isaacs, captured by al submarine after the sinking of the transport President Lincoln. General naval decoration of officers who lost their ships was without prece- dent in the history of the world Ad- miral Sims said. Commanders in such cases earned "the medal of honor or nothing" he added.
 Replying to Senator Pittman, as to whether the commander of sink ing ship might perform distin- guished service, the. admiral created :. >f 1..,ch&c,. hxv la ,,s