Show HAYY NEEDS OfFGERS Every Bureau in the Department Depart-ment is Short Ir Il l I Ii r i SERVICE IS BEING HARMED I I Admiral Crowninalileld Makes a Startling Statement In His Annual Report Present Personnel of Navy Would Form Barely Onefourth of Total Establishment Necessary to Fight a PirstGlass European Power JWavnl Academy is Suffering Suffer-ing for Want of Instructors I Washington Nov 11The startling statement Is made in the report of Admiral Ad-miral Crowninshicld chief of the Navl saLon bureau that the present personnel per-sonnel of the navy would form barely onefourth of the total establishment necessary to fight a firstclass European Euro-pean power I barely sufficed for tho Spanish war and no longer can be considered con-sidered the report says as an effective nucleus about which a larger establish whlel larler ment could be formed In case of war The Admiral regards this need of the navy for officers and men as most urgent ur-gent He says that the bureau can point to many cases where the service is being harmed by lack of ofllcers IN NEED OF OFFICERS The Naval academy is suffering for want of Instructors and the present high standard of training cannot be maintained Every bureau in the do pertinent Is short of officers and the service the report predicts sooiTVvill fall behind in the struggle first for Icadtrshlp and then for quality with the other services The disability of the Hsagolng corps of officers has greatly Increased since the Spanish war and many of the best officers are Dicing Idsl as a result of breaking down I from overwork Tho Admiral severely criliclses the mcffccllve effort of Congress at the last efort session Lo meet the immediate needs for officers by authorizing the employ mont of retired officers and he demands de-mands the Immediate repeal of that act lie claims that the retired lltU intended in-tended as the1 reward for faithful ncr vice otherwise becomes a hardship and a punishment The personnel act thus far has resulted in affording less 00 ccrs thnn were on the active list before Us passage as while authorizIng an increase in-crease It foiled to provide the means therefor so there arc now 131 vacancies In the list of naval officicrs when vacancies va-cancies can be least afforded APPOINTMENTS TO ANNAPOLIS Theicforc U is recommended for the next ion yenYd that appointments lo the Naval academy bo doubled the President and representatives in Congress Con-gress appointing two instead of one wherever aulhorlxecl now and In ad dillon Senators be given the same privilege privi-lege of appointment as Representatives Then lo meet further needs It Is re commtMided that whenever Congress authorizes an Jncreaso of vessels lo the navy ll also provide In the same act for an incrcisc of officers and men to man the shipa The report says that England which this year lays down fifteen war vessels voted an Increase of 1250 officers and men lo the naval establishment lo man the ships while Germany Which Intends doubling her fleet in the next sixleen years has provided pro-vided In Ihe programme for Increasing the personnel by eightynine officers and ifS men each year unlll the total Increase reaches 35551 It is declared that it Is now impossible lo man the vcss2ls of our navy already constructed construct-ed with the present force not to mention men-tion those building or authorized Congress Con-gress Is urged to make any increases In personnel immediately available TRAINING ijYSTEM COMMENDED The training system as now practiced prac-ticed in Ihe navy Is commended and it is declared thai by no other means could the navy secure the sailors necessary ne-cessary to man the fleet Since the close of the Spanish war the department depart-ment has found that tho resources heretofore depended on to furnish sea mcn for the navy are no longer adequate ade-quate Only 2C7 seamen have enlisted for the first enlistment In the past year so the department has been obliged to rely upon and develop the training squadron for landsmen and now has about 1000 men under Instruction Instruc-tion who on the average require about six months training Admiral Crowninshicld regards it ns most important commercially that we keep always a fair representation on the South Atlantic station saying that In no part of the world are our vessels ves-sels more cordially received and nowhere no-where can be traced direct benefits lo trade more clearly than on this station sta-tion As lo North Atlantic stations regret is expressed that the Important drills of thus squadron are compelled to be often interrupted by attendance of the vessels at local celebrations which tend to demoralize the efficiency of the personnel CHINESE OPERATIONS One chapter deals at some length with the history of the Asiatic station during the year and the participation of the navy and marine corps In the Chinese operations arc set out In some detail The report makes the point that the Government should constructor construct-or acquire on the Asiatic station u dock of Us own There were 2132 desertions from the navy and 80 deaths during the past fiscal fis-cal year The enllstmonls number S123 from a total number of applicants of 10851 Over GS per cent of the men In tIle navy are native born 19 per cent are naturalized and 0 per cent have declared Intentions Ninetytwo percent per-cent of the landsmen now undertraln lug are native born Admiral Crownlnshleld finds that the Chesapeake is too small for the midshipmen mid-shipmen and asks that she be transferred trans-ferred to the training station at Newport New-port and that another vessel be built for the cadets lo accommodate at least 300 besides her crow NAVAL ACADEMY Touching the Naval academy it Is urged that no physical disqualifications of cadets shall be waived hereafter as there has been a marked deterioration in the past ten years in th physical condition of thesrnduaUng cadets owing ow-ing to their abandonment of the vigor out weeding out process which has now fallen Into fllsusc tE Is also strongly urged that the two years Hiipplcmcnlal course at sea shall be abandoned Finally strong commcncla tionlit given to the superintendents recommendation that age limit for cadets ca-dets upon admission shall be between the ages of 1G and 18 and that the course at the academy shall be four years MILD REPROOF A mild reproof on Congress is contained con-tained In the closing paragraph of the report which calls attention to the discouraging dis-couraging condition In which distln I guishcd officers of the navy have been left by not receiving any formal recognition recog-nition for their heroic services during the war with Spain The report says that the luivy had no part i In the unfortunate un-fortunate public controversy which followed fol-lowed upon the Presidents recommendation recommen-dation that certain nillcors should be promoted and adds that thus far there has been no recognition by Congress except of those who whaved In the victory vic-tory at Manila and those who served elsewhere in the war I |