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Mr. ROBERTS. They do not think that a graduate of the academy is always fitted to teach.

Mr. TRIBBLE. Then they should abolish the academy; that is my idea.

Mr. Kopp. Assuming that teaching is or should be a profession, and recognizing the difference between acquiring information and imparting it to others, what is there in the course at the Annapolis academy which especially qualifies a man to teach others?

Capt. GIBBONS. There is no particular normal-school training. The only point I claim is that we can find, among the alumni of that institution, people who are abele to instruct, in certain academic branches, as well as the civilians. I except from that the languages, unless you find a man particularly well qualified. I have been lucky to find two of that sort who are now in the department of modern languages.

Mr. Kopp. Is it not a fact that all of the modern schools, colleges, and universities require men who are specially qualified to teach others before they are allowed an associate professorship, even?

Capt. GIBBONS. But we are trying to train these midshipmen to be naval officers.

Mr. KOPP. We are discussing the academic side. We are not discussing the professional or military life of the people.

Capt. GIBBONS. I do not know that I quite grasp your question. Mr. KOPP. It seems to me that it is a violent presumption to say that a man who has had no training whatever in this profession, as great as any profession, in my judgment, that you could take a man woh has had no training of that kind and place him in charge of a schoolroom, and to say that he is qualified to teach as well as the man who has been specially trained for that, is saying that the civilian is as well qualified to take charge of a battleship as a man trained for that purpose?

Capt. GIBBONS. I would not say that all of these instructors have been especially trained for their positions; many have not.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. Is it not a fact that some men never can teach? Capt. GIBBONS. Yes, sir.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. Is it not a fact that some of the best educated men can not teach?

Capt. GIBBONS. If I find a man can not teach I get rid of him. Mr. WITHERSPOON. Is it not a fact that there have been authors who won a great reputation for learning that have not the gift of teaching?

Capt. GIBBONS. Yes, sir.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. Is it not a fact that a man who has been through the Naval Academy, stood at the head of his class, we will say, if you allow him to go out and stay five years in the Navy and then he came back there he could not stand an examination on what he had graduated on; is not that a fact?

Capt. GIBBONS. I do not think so.

Mr. WITHERSPOON. I do. I do not think there is 10 per cent out of 100 who could do that without reviewing.

Capt. GIBBONS. I think that the average man who has graduated from the Naval Academy could become an instructor in United States history. I try to get officers who have the necessary talent.

Mr. TRIBBLE. What is the purpose of the Naval Academy?
Capt. GIBBONS. To educate naval officers.

Mr. TRIBBLE. To train naval officers, not doctors and lawyers?
Capt. GIBBONS. Naval officers; I may be wrong.

Mr. TRIBBLE. Why do men go to sea-to command battleships?
Capt. GIBBONS. Some to command battleships; yes.

Mr. TRIBBLE. Are not the men whom you send out and who get practical experience better capacitated to teach the midshipmen than men who are not graduates?

The CHAIRMAN. That is what we are discussing the men who teach languages and mathematics.

Mr. TRIBBLE. I think I understand the proposition. You do not mean to tell this committee that the men who go through the Naval Academy are not capable of teaching in the various departments— you excepted some, that men should be trained to teach languages— but in the main you do not mean to say that they can not teach the boys just as well as the graduates from other colleges? Capt. GIBBONS. I maintain that they can.

Mr. TRIBBLE. You have 28 civilian teachers?

Capt. GIBBONS. Yes, sir.

Mr. TRIBBLE. There are a good many naval officers on shore who stay on shore two or three years. What proportion of the naval officers are on shore duty?

Capt. GIBBONS. I do not know.

Mr. TRIBBLE. A third or fourth?

Capt. GIBBONS. I think about 25 per cent.

Mr. TRIBBLE. The United States Government is paying them their salaries while they are on shore?

Capt. GIBBONS. Yes, sir.

Mr. TRIBBLE. If they have been through the academy and are competent to teach-and they ought to be what is the reason that the United States is not entitled to their services, if they can be used at the Naval Academy?

Capt. GIBBONS. None whatever.

Mr. TRIBBLE. Take the 28 civilians at the Naval Academy; if you took 28 naval officers who are now on shore, doing nothing, and placed them at the Naval Academy, would not that relieve the United States of 28 salaries?

Capt. GIBBONS. It would.

Mr. BUTLER. But you would have to have 28 more military men? Capt. GIBBONS. Their availability for sea duty in time of war, that is the main argument. I do not know that there would be a saving, as a matter of fact. I try to get the best possible men that are available for duty at the Naval Academy, officers that have proven their fitness by having been there before, or possibly by having been under special instructions. After the Spanish War we could not get the officers necessary to run the academy, and it was run very much underofficered. That is the time, in order to carry on the institution, that most of these instructors were authorized. I prepared a list going back for 40 years, and the greatest number in the old days was 9 to 10, mostly in modern languages.

Mr. BUTLER. When we had very few midshipmen at the academy, as compared to now?

Capt. GIBBONS. The average number was 250. Now we have 750 to 800, and next year we will probably have even more.

Mr. GREGG. I understood you to say that you had gone back 40 years, showing the number of civilian professors. Does the same table show the number of naval officers?

Capt. GIBBONS. The Naval Academy has always been maintained by naval officers.

Mr. GREGG. Was the proportion about the same during the 40 years?

Capt. GIBBONS. The proportion is greater.

Mr. GREGG. Your table shows 9 civilian instructors, but it does not show how many officers.

Capt. GIBBONS. No, sir. The number of officers would be in about the same proportion, because it depends on the number of midshipmen. I practically went back to the time when I was a midshipman myself.

Mr. GREGG. During the time that you only had 9 civilian instructors you at the same time had fewer officers than you have now; the requirements of the Naval Academy were not so great for instructors?

Capt. GIBBONS. No, sir.

Mr. ROBERTS. Do I understand that your table

Capt. GIBBONS (interposing). It is not a table, Mr. Roberts; it is just a memorandum that I prepared.

Mr. ROBERTS. Does it show that there was about the same percentage of civilian instructors as compared with commissioned officers as at present?

Capt. GIBBONS. I think it increased when this was authorized, about 10 years ago. I have forgotten when the instructors were

authorized.

Mr. GREGG. Was there not an authorization for more officers at the same time?

Capt. GIBBONS. No, sir. It was due to the scarcity of officers, the policy to increase the number of civilian instructors.

The CHAIRMAN. What grade of officers do you ordinarily have as instructors or do you contemplate having as instructors-what rank? Capt. GIBBONS. In the professional departments lieutenant commanders and lieutenants, and in the other departments lieutenants and junior lieutenants.

The CHAIRMAN. What are the allowances for quarters and commutation; what is the compensation of these several grades while at the Naval Academy on shore duty?

Capt. GIBBONS. A lieutenant's base pay is $2,000 a year, which after 5 years increases to $2,200 and after 10 years to $2,400. The CHAIRMAN. Lieutenant, junior grade?

Capt. GIBBONS. Lieutenant, junior grade.

The CHAIRMAN. What is it as to a lieutenant?

Capt. GIBBONS. He gets $2,400; after 5 years, $2,640; and after 20 years, $3,360. The allowances are: Quarters, $36 a month; heat, in winter $13 a month and in summer $4 a month; light, in winter $3.60 and in summer $2.16. For a lieutenant, quarters, $48 a month; heat, in winter $17.50 a month and in summer $6; and light, in winter $4.80 and in summer $2.88.

The CHAIRMAN. And for a lieutenant commander?

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Capt. GIBBONS. I have not that data.

The CHAIRMAN. We can get that from the records. That runs, practically, from $3,000 to $5,000.

Mr. GREGG. What is the average salary of a civilian instructor? The CHAIRMAN. $1,800, under the law.

The statement was made a while ago with reference to officers on shore doing nothing. We do not have officers on shore doing nothing; when they are on shore they are assigned to some duty?

Capt. GIBBONS. He is assigned to shore duty in the Navy. I thought the impression prevailed that for an officer detailed as instructor at the Naval Academy it was a waste of time.

Mr. BUTLER. You might have gotten that impression from my remark, which was not intended as any reflection, that it might be a waste of material to take a military man and put him in a school

room.

The CHAIRMAN. At this point I wish to say that there has been sent to me a statement with reference to the views of those who oppose this proposition, and I will put that in the record. I will state, Captain, that you may have the privilege in revising your hearing of making any suggestion or reply to it that you see fit.

Capt. GIBBONS. Very well.

The statement referred to by the chairman follows:

A STATEMENT CONCERNING INSTRUCTION AT THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY.

By an item in the Navy Department estimates for 1913-14,' incorporated in the naval appropriation bill now awaiting the action of Congress, salaries are provided for but 4 civilian instructors at the Naval Academy of junion, or $1,800, grade, instead of for 10, as heretofore. In other words, 6 of the 28 instructors now employed at the academy will lose their positions at the end of the present fiscal year. This is intended merely as a first step toward carrying out a policy definitely stated in a letter of the Secretary of the Navy, May 20, 1912, "to reduce the number of civilians at the academy as fast as the number of officers available to replace them permits."* It may be shown that this policy, if it were carried out, would lower the quality of work at the academy, and is unwise and unjustifiable from the standpoints of economy, efficiency of instruction, and discipline.

ECONOMY.

Since the proposed reduction has some appearance of economy this is a matter of first consideration. But it should be remembered that this change from professional to inexperienced instruction would be made at an annual expenditure for the same work of nearly double in salaries. The pay of a lieutenant commander on shore duty, including longevity pay and allowances for quarters, light, and heat amounts to over $4,900 per annum; that of a lieutenant to from over $3,700 to $4,000, depending on length of service; that of a lieutenant, junior grade, to over $3,000. Thus with officers as instructors the cost of the same work will be approximately doubled. The pay of the officers would continue in any case it is true, but every time an officer is detailed to perform these duties for which, as we shall show, he is not fitted, he vacates a place for which he is fitted. And this in turn must be filled by another wellpaid officer. Thus an entirely artificial demand for officers is created. This is not unpleasant from the point of view of the officer, but is it good Government policy? Is the naval officer given his thorough and expensive technical training to the end that he may engage in work that can be done better by men at half his pay? As every naval officer will maintain, the legitimate demands of the service are as yet inadequately supplied. There are but 25 officers in

1 Budget, House Doc. 944, p. 382.

2 Hearings before House Committee on Naval Affairs, p. 1907.

the newly established graduate school at Annapolis, which is designed to give as many as 200 officers at a time the advanced training so urgently needed in the Navy. The fleet is still undermanned. Admiral Andrews, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, states in his report for 1912: "There is a continued shortage of line officers in the fleet," and again, "In 1915-16 there will be officers enough to man the fleet, provided its size is no greater than at present." (See report, p. 9.)

Until the present shortage of officers is in some degree remedied there is an additional reason for not creating new needs.

EFFICIENCY.

The present civilian staff at the Naval Academy is composed with few exceptions of trained teachers with university preparation, who have devoted years to the study and practice of their profession and made it their life work. That their fitness for their duties has not been questioned is shown by the fact that the six instructors who would lose their positions on July 1 next have been taken on the basis generally of juniority and not of merit, and by the records of these

men.

Mr. G. P. Coleman, instructor in English, holds degrees in arts and law, has served on the staff of the New York Sun, and as instructor in English at Lehigh University; is a distinguished and successful writer of short stories and general fiction, and has been an instructor at the academy for 10 years.

Mr. A. F. Westcott, instructor in English, has received the degree of doctor of philosophy from Columbia University, has attracted the attention of scholars by his edition of "New Poems by James I of England," and has served as instructor in English at Columbia (1906–1911).

Mr. M. A. Colton, instructor in French and Spanish, is a graduate of Yale, instructor in French at Yale (1898-1900), division superintendent of schools in the Philippines (1900-1904), student at the Universities of Paris, Berlin, and Halle, author of "La phonetique Castillane," the most authoritative work on Spanish phonetics in print.

Mr. R. H. Bonilla, instructor in Spanish, is a native of Castile, a graduate of the University of Madrid, and has received the degree of master of arts from New York University, where he served as instructor in Spanish.

Mr. W. J. King, instructor in mathematics, is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, a master of arts of Harvard, and has taught six years at the Naval Academy.

Mr. C. W. Frederick, instructor in mathematics, is a graduate of Kansas University, has been in Government service since 1901, in charge of the construction of the naval observatory at Samoa and at the Naval Observatory in Washington, and at the Naval Academy since 1909. He is an astronomer and mathematician.

The places of these men would be taken by officers who have no special training or experience along the lines they would have to teach in these departments for in English and languages naval officers have little more than a high-school education—who would be chosen almost at random, and who would leave the academy at the end of three years or less (usually less) just as they were beginning to master the difficulties and special problems of their work as teachers. In technical subjects, such as navigation, ordnance, seamanship, etc., the officer instructor profits by his experience in the fleet, but such experience is of no value whatever in the teaching of the purely academic branches of English, modern languages, and mathematics. And the civilian instructors are confined to these branches. Instruction in these branches, with no permanent teachers, if the change were made, would become what it was in former years, antiquated and impractical, mere learning by rote from a textbook, below the standard of a modern high school.

On this point we quote the words of Henry S. Pritchett, formerly president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and now head of the Carnegie Foundation, in speaking of instruction at West Point:1

"West Point is also at a disadvantage in comparison with other good colleges in the lack of trained teachers. Instructors are chosen more generally than formerly from young commissioned officers, themselves graduates, a system of intellectual inbreeding from which all American colleges suffer in a greater or

1 Pritchett's article, Atlantic Monthly, November, 1908.

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