Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1922-05-19
The Unhappy JunkctcrI.S

a ungenerous Senate has sought to put
~ a veto upon the pleasant cruise which
The navy had planned for the surviving
members Of the Naval Academy class OF
1851. class famous for its exploits out
side. rather than inside the navy. Secrc-
tary DENLY. who arranged for the expedi-
ton. has deicd the Senate and announced
that the class will be given transportation
to Tokyo on the naval transport Henderson.
as originally proposed. Senator Mccormick.
Republican. OF Illinois, who originated the
Senate veto, accepts Mr.. Deuby's challenge
and announces that if the Navy Department
persists in ignoring the action OF tho SEN
ate. he will ask for an amendment To the
naval appropriation bill which would de-
feat the enterprise.
So it comes to pass that junkct. holding
ali manner OF delightful possibilities. must
be carried out. if at all. under IA cloud OF
senatorial disapproval. IL may even be
killed off bodily. after progressing almost
10 the point of consummation Some OF
the passengers who were to have accepted
naval hospitality are now in Norfolk wait
ing for the Henderson to cast on This
includes 1t is said. number OF women
who were to have accompanied their dis
tinguished husbands.
y year ago. il will he remembered. this
class held a reunion in Washington. a class
which includes Secretary of War Weeks.
Senator Weller. OF Maryland. and many
other men of solid achievement throughout
the country. AT that time the Japanese
member of the class invited his old friends
to be his guests ut this years reunion in
Tokyo, an invitation that was enthusiastic
ally accepted. Moreover Secretary Dcnby
himself, whose brother-in-law was a mem
her OF the class. has been detailed TO go
hy the President and tho Henderson has
been fitted out for the comfort OF a party
of nearly 100 passengers. She is scheduled
to sail on May 49,
In order to remove any notion that the
passengers are to receive any substantial
gratuitics at the hands of the government,
Secretary DENLY. in a long statement issued
few days ago, pointed to the fact that
the Henderson would make the voyage TO
the Orient in any event; that she would
carry cargo and rcplaCcments for the Asiatic
feet. and finally. that the former midshp-
men," as Senator Mccormick describes them,
would pay for their own rationS while
aboard. The cost of these rations may run
as high as 81 day per passenger No
passage money is to be collected however.
Boiled down TO final analysis, the
Tokyo trip as proposed is of course no less
n junket than any other OF recent times
participated in by members of Congress or
by others who happen to be in position
to accept free transportation at the hands
Of the government. The actual cost to the
Federal treasury Of such trip may not be
heavy. 1t may even be negligible. as was
the cost OF transporting congressional par
ties to Europe during the war, but the bust
ness leaves bad taste in tho mouths of
most people
At that, the Mccormick resolution is a
little belated. For months 1t has been
known Ar1u pf
1881 has intended to go to Japan on a
government transport. There has been no
secret about the matter, and II the Senate
is sincere in its opposition to the use OF a
transport for this purpose. that body might
have taken notice of the project long ago.