The Washington herald., 1920-03-08
Republicans, in Majority.
Uphold Admiral
Gratis Back Daniels.
PROBE IS BEMOANED
Has Tended to Besmirch
Glory of Navy, Declares
Senator Pittman.
BY ROBERT r. BARRY.

exactly what IL expected from the
inquiry into the controversy be-
! tween Josephus Daniels, SecretaryI
| OF the Navy. and Rear Admiral
| William S. Sims, u. S. N, over the
awards of decorations for distin-
guished naval service during the
war.
The majority report, signed byI
three Republican members of theI
subcommittee, upheld the majorI
contentious Of Admiral Sims andI
criticised Secretary Daniels. TheI
two minority reports submitted by|
the Democratic members of the subj
committee, defended Daniels and at
tackled Sims. The majority report
was signed by Senators Hale ofI
Maine, Miles w. Poindexter OF
Washington, and Medill Mccormick
of Illinois. Senators Key Pittman
of Nevada and Park TrammeIl OF
Florida each submitted individual
reports.
| Partisan Decisions.
The contention of Admiral Sims
that relative merit" was disregard
ed in the award of medals and that
the navy was injured thereby was
supported by the conclusions of the
majority from the testimony. 1t was
denied by the Democrats.
NO attempt was made to ascer-
tain from the officers making rec
concentrations the reIa.iv- uieri. 5fl
the cases recommend r.t rcz-I
jority report stated eaE ,. uues-
tion of relative mer 49, .o- 1",..
side1ed as it shoult .s-sl
the subcommittee regards as most
unfortunate. The subcommittee Is
of the opinion t,iat the failJwe to
lemploy some such system in making
awards has been hurtful to the
morale of the navy and has to a
certain extent deprecated the value
of the awards made. That the IN
jury to the morale of the navy will
be permanent, the subcommittee
does not believe. The subcommit-
tee believes that the spirit of the
navy is such that it will rise above
any temporary blow to its morale"
| No Good Accomplished.
Mr.. Pittman stated that this
Investigation. like most Congress
sional Investigations of this
character, has served no bene-
ficial purpose, but on the con-
trary. through the airing of the
personal grievances of an admiral
and in giving publicity to critical
ard deprecatory statements made
by the admiral with regard to tas
accomplishment of the American
navy during the great war, has
tended to besmirch a glory that was
never before questioned. The whole
dispute has developed into a temp
est in a tea pot and is too ridiculous
to be mentioned in connection Win
the morale of a fighting navy"
Mr.. Pittman contended that the
Secretary of the Navy pursued the
only practical policy" in following
the letter and spirit of the act of
Congress covering naval decora-
tions, a policy, he said. that could
not be changed by the Secretary of
the Navy, or any commanding OFF,
Ger, or any one else"
Morale Not Badly Impaired.
Mr.. Trammell, in his report, stated
that the testimony failed to disclose
that the morale of the navy had
been impaired seriously.
Some individuals have been dis
pleased" Mr.. Trammell added, "on
account of having their hopes shat
tered. and their pride of opinion
wounded. but these are individual
cases. and the testimony did not
disclose that there is any general
dissatisfaction prevailing through
out the navy"
The Republican members of the
committee said they did not believe
Secretary Daniels intended to award
medals to commanding Office OF
ships which were lost in tho war
merely because their ships were
lost" but they stated their belief
that he has been more jealous N
furthering the interests of CONS
manders who have lost their ships
than of other commanders who. m
stead of losing their ships. have
destroyed. or damaged. the 81 Us Of
the enemy
Think Policy HurtfuI.
The majority report found Dsn-
iels' policy with respect to svarIs
to such commanders will be isui-
mental to the navy" 1t statst that
it could not too strongly core nm
the practice of giving awards %
officers who lost their ships unless
in such cases they shall have shows.
such marked heroism or such siSi
nally distinguished service as shis
, have made them eligible for awards
) in spite of the loss of their SHIPS
The majority of the subcomraittss
. Favored award of medals to officers
, who lost their ships only Vrnen
such officers have rendered a.
: least as high, IL not a higher. de-
) gree of distinguished service or OF
| heroism as of other officers who
. had not lost their ships" and states
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