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NAVAL EFFICIENCY DEFENDED. In the North American Review for January, Engineer-in-Chief G. W. Mel- ville, U. S. N., retired, has a contribu: tion on the subject, "Is Our. Naval Administration Efficient?" in which he both answers the question and replies to the numerous critics of naval man- agemerit who have been so much to the fore of late. More directly the ar- ticle is an answer to that of Rear Ad- 'miral Luce, U. S. N., retired, in which he attacked the bureau system and naval affairs generally as now conduct. ed. Admiral Melville believes that his 16 years as chief of the bureau of steam engineering of 'tthe navy department qualify thim sufficiently to reply to some of these criticisms. A significant statement of this char- acteristic article is the one made early in the argument concerning a fact that 'seems to have been passed over by the critics--namely, that the navy is under the constant supervision of congress and more especially by the naval com- mittees of both its branches. Of the naval committee the author says: "Some members of it were legislating for the navy at a time when some of the loudest critics were still school- boys. The country and the navy are indeed fortunate in the present chair- men of the two committees, Senator Hale and Representative Foss. Not only have they spent years in this work, but they have made independent studies of naval affairs, so that it is safe 'to say that they are among the foremost experts in naval matters in the world. It is very important to have in mind the function of these committees in their constant supervision of naval matters. The members have a pride even greater than that of the average citizen in the navy, because they can really make or unmake it. This means that important events in the navy do not occur by chance, anl above all, that naval administration thas not come to its present condition with- out the knowledge of congress." The development of the modern bat- tleship is shown by Admiral Melville to have been merely a process of evo- lution, each phase of which had been carefully looked into. The opinion of the naval experts of the world is shown to coincide with that of the Newport conference, which has decided that our navy is of the thhighest class in ma- terial. Now the great cruise of the battleship fleet has proved the quality of our naval personnel to be of a most superior sort and the Civil and Span- ish wars are testimonials as to the THE Marine Review fighting efficiency of our ships and men. In view of these admitted quali- fications, the author asks what other evidence as to the wisdom of the pres- ent system could reasonably be de- manded. Taking the article of Admiral Laice to assume that the policy of the navy department is settled by a majority vote of the eight bureau chiefs, Ad- miral Melville says that not once in his 16 years as chief of the bureau of steam engineering were the eight chiefs called together as a body to set-. tle anything. The attempt in this same article to make it appear that "non-combatant admirals regard questions of naval ef- ficiency from the non-military point of view," is considered by Admiral Mel- ville as an "unwarranted depreciation of brother officers." He calls it ab- surd to contend that a man who is not actually shooting a gun has no interest in the outcome of the fight, and calls "comical" the attempt to ascribe to these "non-combatant, non-military ad- mirals" such tremendous influence with congress as to be able to override the president and the secretary of war, in view of the fact that these same ad- mirals had not sufficient influence with congress to induce it to give them ti- tles which would correctly indicate their grade in the naval organization. Admiral Melville believes that all staft officers will agree that the most 'influ- ential naval officer is the chief of the bureau of navigation, who 'comes most closely in touch. with the secretary. As an instance of his great power, 'the author quotes the controversy of last year over the command of a hospital ship. The chief of the bureau of nav- igation resigned rather than to obey the president's order. He says, "It was a rather curious commentary on naval discipline that the officer, who under. the secretary, is specially charged with the maintenance of dis- cipline, should himself refuse to obey the order of the commander-in-chief." That the movement for a change in naval administration has not failed be- cause of the opposition of the bureau chiefs is argued by Admiral Melville. as. he believes it to be only because its authors have been unable to per- -suade the naval committees that the change is advisable. As to this inabil- ity to persuade, the thinks it one of the limitations induced by long-con- tinued autocratic command, saying that conciliation and exposition are not among the traits of character devel- oped by a term of always having one's own way. = 57 Admiral Melville thinks that the present criticisms are focussed upon one point in the main--that the line of the navy shall absolutely dominate the service in every particular. The ins fluence of the chief of the 'bureau of navigation is at present so great that no. reasonable project which he migh t submit té the secretary of the navy would ever be rejected and the author argues that this power makes the proposed: change unnecessary, 4 As to the preparations for a cam. paign being sufficient cause for a change of administration, the former bureau chief states that the bureau of navigation now has those functions within its purview and its chief, with the approval of the secretary, could exercise all the functions of a genera! staff with the exception of control over the remaining 'bureaus. Admiral] Melville states that through- out his experience he has found the staff officers favorable to harmony and now that they are called "non-coms batants and non-military,' he 'thinks that the blame for these years of ill- feeling can readily tbe placed where it belongs. "The general public has no idea of the indignities which have been inflicted time and again upon the staff officers of the navy by some of those who would restrict to themselves the. term of 'military'. officers. It is this constant spirit of arrogance and dom- ination by a relatively few very ag- gressive men that causes the lack of harmony." Admiral Melville makes it plain that he does not wish to oppose any de- -mand by the line officers of the navy for the modification, to any reasonable extent, of existing methods to render more efficient their part of naval ad- ministration. The Skinner Ship Building & Dry Dock Co., Baltimore, Md. was the successful bidder for making repairs to the New York & Baltimore Trans- portation Co.'s steamer Mana-Hata, which lost her rudder while bound from Baltimore to New York last month. The Skinner company's bid was $3,600, work to be completed in eight days. The Kelly-Spencer Co., Bath, Me., expects to begin work soon on a schooner for stock in order to give employment to its workmen. A fine tug is at present under construction for the Commercial Towboat Co., of Boston, the machinery for which is be- ing built. by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me.