phases, the stations operated, the cost of each station, etc. It is a rather voluminous report that has been prepared at the request of the chief coordinator who is making a study of the general system of Government communications.

Secretary WILBUR. We will furnish that to the committee, if you would like to have it.

TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE OPERATORS

Mr. FRENCH. You have 9 telegraph operators, including a chie telegrapher.

Commander GLASSFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. FRENCH. Do you feel that you need that many?

Commander GLASSFORD. Yes, sir. Not only that, but if this business increases, as it has in the past, it is very likely that an increase in that number will have to be asked for next year.

Mr. FRENCH. You think you are down to bedrock now, do you? Commander GLASSFORD. Yes, sir. We have cut this as a result of the criticism made several years ago. We had 17 operators then, and now we are down to 9. This increase in the traffic has now reached the point where 9 operators are unable to handle it at all times. We have 2 clerical employees who are stand-by telegraph operators. They have to fill in at certain periods in order to do the job.

Mr. FRENCH. You have 13 telephone operators. Do you feel that you must have that many?

Commander GLASSFORD. Yes, sir; there are actually 10 operators, the other three being the supervisors of the entire operating personnel of 35 employees jointly employed on the board by the War partment, Navy Department, and the Shipping Board.

De

Mr. FRENCH. It seems like rather large number, and I was wondering if you had work that ought not properly to be there.

Commander GLASSFORD. No, sir. We have a telephone engineer. and he, in cooperation with the Bureau of Standards, has placed this service, we think, absolutely on a commercial basis.

Secretary WILBUR. You keep people in the office there day and night, the year around?

Commander GLASSFORD. Yes, sir; it is a 24-hour service.

Mr. FRENCH. Who makes the contracts for telephone service? Mr. ANDERSON. The Secretary of the Navy out of the item subhead 10, pay, miscellaneous, contracts; this item, in turn, is under the cognizance of our office,

Mr. FRENCH. Do you know how the contracts are made by the other departments of the Government?

Mr. ANDERSON. Exactly on the same system. The practice is standardized.

Mr. FRENCH. There is one exception, I believe, in the case of the Interior Department. As I recall the hearings in the shaping up of the Interior Department bill, the telephone company furnishes there a certain number of employees, and then the Interior Department reimburses the company for the amount paid to them.

Mr. ANDERSON. That is according to a clause in the standard Government contract, which any department may or may not, as an administrative matter, take advantage of.

Mr. FRENCH. Has any other department taken advantage of that provision?

Mr. ANDERSON. The Navy did some three years ago. The Navy operators were employed on that basis.

Mr. FRENCH. Is there any difference in the cost, or is it merely a matter of bookkeeping?

Commander GLASSFORD. There is a difference. There is a 10 per cent surcharge made by the company for that service.

Mr. FRENCH. Then you are following a policy that is cheaper? Commander GLASSFORD. Yes, sir.

Mr. FRENCH. Where does that 10 per cent come in? You said there was an item of 10 per cent in the way of a surcharge made by the company. Do they pay higher wages to their employees or is that an overhead for administrative work in the central office? Commander GLASSFORD. That is an overhead charge made by the company for the additional bookkeeping necessary to carry the pay accounts of the particular employees.

Mr. FRENCH. Then, also, these employees would not be under the civil service?

Comander GLASSFORD. No, sir.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1924.

OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE

STATEMENTS OF LIEUT. COMMANDER E. K. LANG AND MR. HARRY W. SMITH, CHIEF CLERK

SALARIES

Mr. FRENCH. The next item is for salaries of the Office of Naval Intelligence. Your current appropriation for this purpose is $42,820 and for 1926 you are asking $36,520, which is a reduction of $6,300. We have with us Lieutenant Commander Lang and Mr. Smith, who will tell us about this item.

Mr. SMITH. First, when the matter of the estimates was under consideration, they asked us to reduce in every way possible. We voluntarily sacrificed one translator at $1,860, whose services could be illy spared. We are transferring one clerk to the office of the Secretary of the Navy. He is getting $1,920. To function on the amount allowed by the Budget, $36,520, we will have to make further reductions in our clerical force. We are now down to just about bedrock on that. The work of the office is increasing along certain lines. We will have to reduce our present force, and when we do so will be very seriously hampered.

Lieutenant Commander LANG. I would like to state that if we lose two clerks from our force, which is approximately the cut made by the Bureau of the Budget in our estimated expenses, it will seriously curtail the work of this office. We asked for $39,840 and were cut to $36,520, a cut of $3,320. From a casual examination it would appear that our complete force of 23, including messengers, would be sufficient for the work of the office. We have, however, a very large file room, consisting of the file room proper and the archives, which can readily be understood when it is remembered that it holds the complete record of investigations of all kinds made during the war. The file room and archives employ five clerks. The archives are referred to continuously by practically all bureaus of the Navy Department, and, therefore, the clerks are not working entirely for the Office of Naval Intelligence. The translating section employs four clerks, who also work for the Navy Department as a whole, and not only for Naval Intelligence. Considering the messengers, a draftsman, and a photostat operator, all of whom are absolutely necessary to the office, it will be seen that to handle the actual work of collecting and compiling information, editing monographs on the important foreign countries, and to handle the entire correspondence of the office, there are actually only nine clerks to handle the work of 13 officers.

Mr. FRENCH. Do you use any of the library force for that work? Lieutenant Commander LANG. No, sir; nothing but our own clerks.

By referring to the salaries of these clerks it will be noted that the absolute minimum has been reached. There is no chance of substituting, say, four clerks at lower salaries for three, which we have at present. If the clerical force is cut down in any one direction it will be necessary to stop the compiling and editing of monographs of that particular section, and it has been found by long experience that the monograph system is the only system by which valuable information can be placed in a compact form and brought before the service as a whole.

Mr. FRENCH. How many officers do you have?
Lieutenant Commander LANG. Thirteen.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1924.

BUREAU OF NAVIGATION •

STATEMENTS OF REAR ADMIRAL WILLIAM R. SHOEMAKER, CHIEF, BUREAU OF NAVIGATION; CAPT. J. R. Y. BLAKELY, DIRECTOR OF ENLISTED PERSONNEL; CAPT. W. D. LEAHY, DETAIL OFFICER; CAPT. A. P. FAIRFIELD, TRAINING DIVISION; COMMANDER W. A. SMEAD, HEAD OF RECRUITING SECTION; COMMANDER J. S. M'CAIN, OFFICERS' RECORDS; COMMANDER J. M. SMEALLIE, ENLISTED PERSONNEL; COMMANDER E. G. ALLEN, PLANNING DIVISION; LIEUT. COMMANDER R. K. AWTREY, TRANSPORTATION; CAPT. О. Р. JACKSON, COMMANDANT NAVAL TRAINING STATION, NEWPORT, R. I.; CAPT. H. F. TRAUT, COMMANDANT, NAVAL TRAINING STATION, HAMPTON ROADS, VA., AND CAPT. W. EVANS, COMMANDANT NAVAL TRAINING STATION, GREAT LAKES, ILL.

GENERAL STATEMENT

Mr. FRENCH. We will now take up the Bureau of Navigation. We have with us the chief of the bureau, Admiral Shoemaker, and we will be glad to have a general statement from him at this time.

Admiral SHOEMAKER. With regard to the first item, or to the distribution of officers?

Mr. FRENCH. I did not know but what you desired to make some other general statement.

Admiral SHOEMAKER. I have one here.

Mr. FRENCH. Let me say this: Your general statement would probably have to do with the whole scope of your bureau, and it might not be out of place to indicate rather briefly the general work of the bureau, touching on each one of its functions.

FUNCTIONS OF BUREAU OF NAVIGATION

Admiral SHOEMAKER. The Bureau of Navigation is charged with all matters affecting the supply, discharge, education, administration, and discipline of the personnel of the Navy, as well as the operation of the Naval Home, Naval Academy, Hydrographic Office, and Naval Observatory.

During the fiscal year earnest and careful study has been given to the personnel situation, and the bureau has made special effort to keep the service ashore and afloat fully informed of personnel conditions. Special effort has continued to be made to reduce discharges, other than honorable, and to keep at a minimum the turnover in enlisted personnel by urging those in authority to encourage and secure reenlistments of men already trained in the service. The results have been very encouraging.

OFFICER PERSONNEL DIVISION

Assignment to duty of all officers and preparation of their orders. Preparation of precepts for special boards ordered by the depart

ment.

Keeps records of usual residences of officers and addresses of officers on active duty.

Compilation and publication of Naval Directory and Navy Register.

Daily publication of orders to officers. Assignment of officer complements to ships and stations. Adjustment of demands for officer personnel in connection with the various postgraduate courses and officer-training schools.

Compilation of general data on officer personnel; interpretation and application of laws affecting officer personnel.

Issue of orders for officers for examination for promotion or for retirement; discharges, dismissals, retirements, deaths, and casualties to officers.

Appointment, promotion, and precedence of officers; computation of distribution of officers in grades and rank.

Issue of commissions and warrants; custody of officers' records; examination and filing of fitness reports; distribution of medals to officers.

Detail of officers of foreign navies temporarily attached to United States Navy.

22231-241-10

ENLISTED PERSONNEL DIVISION

Distribution, assignment, transfer, discharges, promotions, includ

ing promotions to warrant rank of enlisted men.

Recording, filing, and compilation of data, reports, and correspondence concerning enlisted men; classifying, indexing, searching, and filing of identification records and cards; discipline of enlisted men; awarding of medals, buttons, and commendation; subsistence allowance; and all correspondence concerning enlisted personnel.

Supervision and direction of Naval Home.

Promulgation and revision of changes in part of bureau manual pertaining to enlisted personnel.

Complements and allowance for ships and stations; reports on distribution of enlisted personnel; receiving ships; assembling crews for ships and stations; replacement of personnel.

Extended furloughs and medical surveys; statistics; casualties; pensions; naval service statements; muster rolls.

Transfers to Fleet Naval Reserve (classes 1C and 1D); eligibility list for promotion to chief petty officer and petty officer.

DISCIPLINE DIVISION

Prepares recommendation on requests for authority to convene courts, etc.; on boards of investigation, courts of inquiry, boards of inquest, general courts-martial, and upon reports which possibly may require further investigation.

Prepares letters to Secretary recommending, when considered necessary, the disenrollment of reserve officers; also letters of commendation, reprimand, admonition, and caution in cases of officers.

Collects necessary data for charges and specifications of general court-martial, where charges are drawn up by Judge Advocate General; arranges to secure witnesses for general court-martial upon requests made by Judge Advocate General.

Takes action on complaints against officers (this includes all cases, such as debts, misconduct, failure to support, etc.); handles unpaid claims of merchants against ships and messes aboard ship and against messes ashore.

Prepares action on requests for attachment of papers to officers' records, removal of papers from records, reconsideration of general court-martial sentences, or disenrollment; also on reports against officers for failure to answer official correspondence; and on reports of bogus naval officers.

Prepares action on material surveys requiring disciplinary action. Prepares action on reports of material readiness of ships for active war service.

Collects data and information for Office of Naval Intelligence in connection with apprehension of officers in desertion.

Prepares bureau recommendations on change in Navy Regulations concerning disciplinary subjects.

TRAINING DIVISION

The activities of the Training Division are organized into three

main sections as follows:

(1) Officers-training and instruction.

(2) Enlisted men-training and instruction.