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DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR _ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS | ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. _ Published monthly by The Penton Publishing Co CLEVELAND. BOP RAO rs cbt ici dc ss 932 Ellicott Square. CHICAGO 5 occ eo 1328 Monadnock Bik. CINCINNATI: .'.::. First National Bank Bldg. INW: YORK cases o> 1005 West Street Bldg. PITTSBURG So aie es ites 5100 Park - Bidg, SEATED ce case. Pale sels Sistas 302 Pioneer Bldg. Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. --_-------- Subscription, U. S. and Mexico, $1.00 per annum. Canada, $1.50. Foreign, $2.00. Single copies, U. S. and Mexico, 10 cents. Elsewhere, 15 cents. Back numbers over three months, 25 cents. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on or before the first of -each month. The Cleveland News Co.. will supply the trade with the Marine Review through the regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. December, 1909. ERRATUM. In the article on The Naval Waste the words "three and one-half times the total stock of gold and silver," etc., on page 503, should read "over double the total stock," etc. THE REORGANIZATION OF THE NAVY. Circulars which have been issued by the navy department explaining the loudly heralded reorganization scheme to which the navy has been driven by the which have been made upon it chiefly continued undisputable charges through the columns of THE Marine Review, show that the plan, after all, practically amounts to nothing more than an opportunity to get Mr. Meyer in the The themselves confirm in explicit terms public . eye. circulars the charges as actually made, as will be shown Briefly the inaugurated by Secretary Newberry in later. plan .cism from TAE MaRINE REVIEW December last, and which it will be remembered was received with a per- fect storm of opposition and criti- subordinates in the de- has been confirmed and The steps taken by New- the first taken in generations looking to any improve- the author partment, expanded. berry were two considering general their first put ment, and defamation of when they were into effect, he may be excused for smiling at the latest "reorganization,' which may be tersely described as a pure and sim- ple fake. feeling the need, he says, for extra advice, Secretary Meyer, . has constituted, "tentatively," an ad- visory board of four officers of high rank, who, will. be the Aids for Material; Personnel, Opera- known as tions and Inspections, which titles indicate sufficiently clearly the line at duties "of .each..-:- The: Bureau of Equipment is to be abolished and its divided the who remain to plague us duties amongst other bureaus, and the present as well as_ succeed- ing administrations. Practically, then, the which © has made in the entire system is the ad- only change been dition of a board of line officers armed with boundless power as well as with the inclination to stir up fur- ther mischief. For instance: The officers so detailed must be prohcient in their own subjects and their tenure of office must depend upon the quality of their advice and the success or failure which re- sults. A line officer is to be the Aid on Material, which covers the entire field of technical building and 'There: is knowledge is design, maintaining of the fleet. no one man _ whose broad enough to fill such a position, and least of all a line officer or any other educated in or' for the navy. The idea is visionary and impracti- 'cable, even ridiculous. So too, in less degree, wth the others. The aim is, as set: forth in the circulars, to se- cure advice for the Secretary which will be the world can an aid be responsible when he himself subject and when the has no control responsible. How in lacks knowledge of the over those whose duties are to carry out the suggestions and recommenda- tions of this board. It is merely an- other instance of the fatuity with t gratifying clauses December, 1909 which succeeding allow themselves to be guided by the line officers and others securely entrench- ed officially much for the new. how the department, which has _ pro- tested and denied and stormed over the THE REVIEW, apparently expects thereby to shut off further criticism. The annual appropriations for the navy have reached such an amount that the most economical and _ efficient administration 1s secretaries in the department. So Now let us note thrusts so effectively made by has changed front and necessary to get thé full benefit of the money © expended. The best business methods are necessary to prevent waste and secure efficient results. And again: The present organization of the depart- ment is not such as to permit of the busi- ness being done economically or efficientiy. And: It is in the navy yards that most economy in the expenditure of public money seems to be possible. In the past very little method has been provided for the use and employment of the fleet. It is probable that 'the did not have the opportunity to edit Secretary the foregoing and other eminently of the new pro- or they would have assumed another They charge that has been made. The Newberry plan, which is lib- erally commended, is referred to in gram, tone, justify every part as follows: The essential feature of the Newberry plan was consolidation, which, as was to be ex- pected, was largely successful. On the whole the scheme was in the right direction but it failed to fully recognize that a navy yard is not a commercial manufac- turing plant, but a repair plant existing only for the fleet. So if Newberry had further noted one of the things tended for so. steadily con- in THe Review, the in- ference is that his plan would have been flawless. Mr. the building of navy yards when he should have rec- Newberry con- tinued vessels in Q@e0 zed. that. a navy yard is. not a but building of ves- manufacturing plant, merely a The in navy yards, doubtless be One more point and we will leave repair plant. sels therefore, will discontinued. the subject for the present. The "reorganization" contemplates the es- tablishment of a "modern and. eff- cient cost system." When _ this system is established at all navy yards, their work can be compared with similar work of outside firms. THE takes this ity to assert that the department will REVIEW opportun- Re a OA aS as iat i ee aes Roe