Show Bruc Bru karts charts washington digest navy officers bid for power in report to house committee departments policymaking policy y making aladin 17 board recommends taking in ra additional control from hands of civilian authorities by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press washington D C washington the house committee on naval affairs made public a report the other day that recommends the delegation of further power to high officers of the navy that proposition has been made before but the current report came from the navy general board the policy making agency of the navy department it represents therefore an official move by ranking officers of the united states navy for great AV 14 A 4 SECRETARY OF NAVY EDISON er concentration of power in their hands as naval officers as distinguished from the civilian control through the secretary and assistant secretary of the navy who always have been appointed from civil life the report tailed failed to attract much attention certainly it failed to receive the publicity that it should have had in the newspapers the reason was I 1 believe that many writers simply regarded the report and its far reaching recommendations as an isolated instance my feeling is however that the general boards views must be examined closely because to my mind they represent not an isolated instance but evidence often repeated of a general trend in governmental affairs that is highly dangerous instead of being just one instance this report constitutes a link in the chain of expanded control concentrated in the hands of the navy and the army and I 1 am disturbed about it this discussion must riot not be considered an attack on the navy I 1 have great respect for the navy and especially tor for the present personnel in the positions of policy determination there are some quacks and hair brained boys up near the top but by and large the present list of rear admirals and captains constitute a rather square shooting and able lot that fact nevertheless must not prevent a closer examination of the general question the general problem of which the report recommending added power tor for the general staff officers is only an insignificant part that is the trouble you know with expansion programs each addition to governmental scope is apparently an insignificant item details of recommendation by navys general board the navys general board in this recommendation wants to have congress provide the chief of naval operations erat ions with power that is almost 1 11 1 I 1 naval operations is a professional mariner and soldier he usually knows so much more about sane naval operations than outlanders and members of congress that a parallel is unnecessary but it never is to be forgotten that the chief of naval operations is a career man who is not responsible to the people as are elected representatives and as long as he obeys the laws and keeps his health he remains in the service until retirement age is reached there is much to be said about careers in governmental service indeed what would our fighting forces be if they were not professionals our army would be comparable to what we have seen under dussias Rus sias great freedom that is somewhat beside the point of this analysis our system of government prescribes that policy making and responsibility for determination of policy shall be in the hands of elected representatives they being the fellows who have membership in the senate or house of representatives some effort was made by politicians to develop the general boards recommendations as showing a row between the professional navy men and the civilian side secretary edison disagreed with the boards findings and so reported to the house committee unfortunately however mr edison failed to hit the proposal a good stiff uppercut he should have called attention that it was dangerous in that it represented an other step in the direction of control by the military minded servants of the people army and navy affairs need careful analysis I 1 doubt that the general boards recommendations are going to be followed by congress it is time however to think over some of the things that have happened with respect to the navy and the army and in a few cases the marine corps and the coast guard moreover it is time to remember what has happened to every single nation that has given its military services too much say about civilian affairs or affairs that we in this country regard as civilian aff affairs airs it cannot be said with too much emphasis that our system of government must live or die by the measure of the power over national policy that is retained in the hands of elected officials the practice of appointing army and navy officers to civilian posts has been growing in recent years at an alarming rate the usual practice has been to appoint retired I 1 officers more recently however officers have been taken right out of the military services detached from commands etc and named to civilian jobs I 1 am not going to undertake to enumerate them they are scattered hither and yon like head of the and head of the wage hour division of the department of labor and that sort of thing one of the army officers is serving as secretary to the president of the united states I 1 could go on and on and show where these men are functioning in strictly civilian posts lest I 1 be misunderstood I 1 want to say that a couple of these army officers on civilian duty are doing splendid jobs but I 1 hasten to add that they are the exceptions the reason is that a man from the military services is trained along a particular line of thinking briefly that thinking calls for and enforces discipline execution of orders blind obedience compulsion in all of its phases we might look back through 20 years or so and recall how the navy and the coast guard were used in prohibition enforcement I 1 cannot believe that job was a part of the military service but they were so used and that was that in the space that is accorded me I 1 cannot make any pretense of recounting the numerous instances where the military services were ordered into duties that never were intended for them by the founders of our nation one by one these things have grown up and they are now accepted it about time to call a halt heres a concrete example of how plan might work lets carry this general board recommendation ommen dation through to a conclusion that is much more real than apparent assume we as nation were having some hard feelings with one of our north or south american neighbors assume further that the me other nation was doing us an injustice and was refusing to allow the matters to be arbitrated so that a show of force could possibly serve a purpose well among our elected officials there obviously would be differences feren ces of opinion there always has been and there always will be does anybody think that the chief of naval operations with greater powers than he now has would be found on the side of restraint in dealing with such a problem his train of thought would lead to the conclusion that some heavy guns should give the answer he would believe in force to compel acquiescence and he would never agree that compromise was the way out probably that is a farfetched far fetched illustration I 1 agree that it is under the present powers that are vested in the hands of the professional navy men I 1 purposely used the exaggerated illustration because if there is added power in the matter of making policy granted now there will be additional grants of power accorded later just as sure as little apples grow on trees it is that next step that I 1 have talked about in these columns so many times |