National Affairs: Navy Report

Prim and precise as a New England diary was the annual report of Secretary of the Navy Charles Francis Adams. He began: "The present secretary was appointed and qualified at 2:35 p.m. on March 5, 1929." Then followed a careful catalog of all the places he had been on official duty, with ship names and dates.

With many a meticulous detail he listed Navy needs: 1) more ships, especially cruisers; 2) more Navy pay; 3) more enlisted men; 4) adjustment of officers' promotion, distribution, retirement provisions.

He reported: "The morale of the Navy is high,...

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