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November, 1910 machine work, and in order to get this machine work done, formal request must be made to the machinery divis- ion for each item. The folly of thus arbitrarily dividing work which is naturally a unit, between two artificial hull and machinery departments would be apparent to anyone but a naval of- ficer. Instances of this useless division of responsibility might be continued in- definitely. A few more only, how- ever, will be cited. In installing a pipe line carrying steam for cookers in the galley, the pipe is laid by the hull division and the valves in the same line by the machinery division. The "Changes in Naval Regulations," referred to above, state in one place: "The Bureau of Ordnance shall de- sign, construct and determine the re- quirements of all ammunition hoists," and in another place, "The Bureau of Construction shall have cognizance of all electric turret-turning machinery and of all electrically-operated ammu- nition hoists except turret hoists." This is a fair sample of the consist- ency of naval regulations and of the indefinite mass of conflicting regula- tions upon which the Meyer system is founded. In order to further mix matters, the captain of the yard, who has a large amount of work to do, keeps no labor roll, but draws his men as he wishes from the machinery or hull depart- ments and turns them back to these departments when he is through with them. The confusion, "waste and trouble this arrangement causes may be easily imagined. A Plethora of Officers. Of course, all this duplication of fa- cilities and division of responsibility requires more officers. Twenty-two additional officers were recently or- dered to duty at one prominent yard, adding to the payroll chargeable to this yard over $75,000 per year without one whit more work being done. Meanwhile constant requests are made to congress for more officers for the eet. The Meyer system is gradually breaking down of its own weight. Probably its worst feature is that all incentive to economy, achievement and progress has been completely crushed out of the ambitious officers and work- men, prevailing, and nothing left to strive for; all efforts toward progress are promptly crushed. Even numberless line officers for whose sole benefit the Meyer system was established, have become disgusted. One who was sent to a navy yard could not stand it, and asked to be again sent to sea. An- There is no system or order THE MARINE REVIEW other line officer after. several weeks on duty at a navy yard, asserts he is ready to submit a written report that the present system is a failure, and can never be made to work. It ap- pears that the Meyer organization is so. crude that it has over-reached it- self, so that even its friends and those whom it was designed to benefit are turning against it. There is on file in this office a letter from a naval officer, in which he says: "The explosion on the North Da- kota is what one expects under the present condition. I know of but one accident on an oil burner, and that was when the ship was under repair, and was due to a rotten installation in an old ship and the oil leaked all over 439 the ship. I think that it was on the Dispatch in San Francisco. In the North Dakota every precaution was taken in the installation--far more so than on a merchant ship, and it should be almost fool proof. As you know there is no danger of oil under ordin- ary working conditions, but if we are to have line officers as engineers wecan ex- pect anything. Mark my words, We shall some day and perhaps soon, have some accidents that will startle the world. I see by the papers that en- gineering conditions on the battleship Indiana are rotten, and that a court martial of the engineer officer will re- sult. They can't convict anybody. It is the Navy way. No one is respon- sible." The Newberry Naval Reorgani- zation Plam DITOR Marine Review :--Sir: To Mr. Truman H. Newberry must 'be given the credit for initiating reform in our naval establishments on shore. Doubtless hhe 'would have achieved wonderful results in econ- omy and efficiency had he 'been per- mitted to remain as secretary of the navy, for he brought to his task wide experience as a manufacturer, inti- mate knowledge of naval matters and naval men, based upon an exception- ally long term of service in the navy department, and unusual moral cour- age. His predecessors had written long and elaborate reports on the need of change in both organization and administration which were bru- tum fulmen,. but he, knowing exactly what to do, proceeded to act. His successor found this' important ques- tion raised so definitely that but two courses were open to him--either to return things to their former condi- tion or to push ahead along the path Mr. Newberry had blazed. He chose the latter. Unfortunately he was not content with giving Mr. Newberry's scheme a fair trial but almost imme- diately proceeded to. make important departures without possessing per- sonal acquaintance with the intricate naval organism. It may safely be as- serted that without Mr. Newberry's forceful and self-reliant action naval reform would have continued a sub- ject of discussion as something de- sirable but impracticable of attain- ment and that pretty much all of good which Mr. Meyer will achieve will be due to the preparation of the field by Mr. Newberry. Modifications of the Plan. It may serve a useful purpose to contrast the plan as originally laid out and as it now exists after modi- fication. In one respect no difference is to be perceived. The bureau' of equipment is eliminated by both. Whether .it is a wise move or not is far from settlement. It would indeed seem preferable, from the seagoing officers' standpoint, to recognize the > unavoidable distinction between the four principal departments represented by the building of the hull and its fittings, the building of the engines, etc., the construction and mounting of the battery and the providing of the innumerable articles of equip- ment, without which a ship is help- less. To burden the great manufac- turing branches with the furnishing of corn brooms, holystones, awnings, bedsteads, mattresses, cooking uten- sils, hawsers, etc., is, some compe- tent critics believe, a mistake. How- ever, the thing has been done. and the future will alone show that it was judiciously done. - This ultimate abolition of the bu- reau of equipment was practically the only fundamental change in the navy department itself contemplated by Mr. Newberry. He altered in some ways the existing machinery as, for instance, in a recomposition of the board of construction, giving it an ovefwhelming majority of line off- cers, appreciating, as he did, the ne- cessity of fresh and interested rep- resentation from the fleet and in tak- ing steps to get up an accounting