[No. 33]

TO AMEND THE PROVISION CONTAINED IN THE ACT APPROVED MARCH 3, 1915, PROVIDING THAT THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS, DURING THE TEMPORARY ABSENCE OF THE SECRETARY AND ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, SHALL BE NEXT IN SUCCESSION TO ACT AS SECRETARY OF THE NAVY (H. R. 14248)

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 7, 1926.

The CHAIRMAN COMMITTEE ON NAVAL AFFAIRS,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: There is inclosed herewith a copy of a letter, together with a copy of a proposed bill "To amend the provision contained in the act approved March 3, 1915, providing that the Chief of Naval Operations, during the temporary absence of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy," this day forwarded to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Sincerely yours,

CURTIS D. WILBUR,

Secretary of the Navy..

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

Washington, December 7, 1926.

The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. SPEAKER: I have the honor to transmit herewith a proposed draft of a bill "To amend the provision contained in the act approved March 3, 1915, providing that the Chief of Naval Operations, during the temporary absence of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy."

Section 4 of the act approved June 24, 1926 (44 Stat. 767), provides for the appointment of an additional Assistant Secretary of the Navy, who "shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Navy, be charged with the supervision of naval aeronautics and the coordination of its activities with other governmental agencies and, in addition, such other duties as may be assigned to him by the Secretary of the Navy." However, no provision is made by the act of June 24, 1926, or by any other act, for the "additional Assistant Secretary of the Navy" to succeed to the duties of Secretary of the Navy during the "temporary absence of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Navy.'

The following sections of the United States Revised Statutes provide generally for performance of the duties of the heads of departments during their temporary absence:

SEC. 177. In case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the head of any department, the first or sole assistant thereof shall, unless otherwise directed

by the President, as provided by section one hundred and seventy-nine, perform the duties of such head until a successor is appointed, or such absence or sickness shall cease.

SEC. 178. In case of the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the chief of any bureau, or of any officer thereof, whose appointment is not vested in the head of the department, the assistant or deputy of such chief or of such officer, or if there be none, then the chief clerk of such bureau shall, unless otherwise directed by the President, as provided by section one hundred and seventy-nine, perform the duties of such chief or of such officer until a successor is appointed or such absence or sickness shall cease.

SEC. 179. In any of the cases mentioned in the two preceding sections, except the death, resignation, absence, or sickness of the Attorney General, the President may, in his discretion, authorize and direct the head of any other department or any other officer in either department, whose appointment is vested in the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to perform the duties of the vacant office until a successor is appointed, or the sickness or absence of the incumbent shall cease.

SEC. 180 (as amended by act of February 6, 1891, sec. 91, 26 Stat. 733). A vacancy occasioned by death or resignation must not be temporarily filled under the three preceding sections for a longer period than thirty days.

SEC. 181. No temporary appointment, designation, or assignment of one officer to perform the duties of another, in the cases covered by sections one hundred and seventy-seven and one hundred and seventy-eight, shall be made otherwise than as provided by these sections, except to fill a vacancy happening during a recess of the Senate.

The duties of the Secretary of the Navy devolve upon the Chief of Naval Operations under the conditions set forth in a provision contained in the naval appropriation act approved March 3, 1915 (38 Stat. 929), reading as follows:

During the temporary absence of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy the Chief of Naval Operations shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy.

Under the authority of section 179, United States Revised Statutes, the following regulation was approved by the President:

In the absence of the Secretary of the Navy, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and the Chief of Naval Õperations, the duties of the Secretary of the Navy shall temporarily devolve upon the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation; in his absence, on the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance; and in the absence of both of these, on the Chief of the Bureau of Engineering. (Article 392, paragraph 4, U. S. Navy Regulations, 1920.)

It will be observed that under the general statute (sec. 177, U.S. Rev. Stat.) the duties of the head of any department, during his temporary absence, automatically devolve upon the "first or sole assistant thereof." In the case of the Navy Department, during the temporary absence of the Secretary of the Navy and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the duties of the Secretary of the Navy automatically devolve upon the Chief of Naval Operations by virtue of the above-quoted provision in the act of March 3, 1915. Under the provisions of existing law, the additional Assistant Secretary of the Navy authorized by section 4 of the act approved June 24, 1926, referred to above, will not at any time succeed to the duties of Secretary of the Navy unless specifically designated by the Presi dent pursuant to section 179, United States Revised Statutes, and then only in the event that the Chief of Naval Operations is also absent.

The Navy Department is desirous that existing law be amended so as to provide that the Chief of Naval Operations shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy only during the tem

porary absence of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy. This can be accomplished by amending the above-quoted provision of law, contained in the act approved March 3, 1915, as proposed in the attached draft of bill. Enactment of this proposed legislation will involve no cost to the Government and, in view of the reasons herein stated, the Navy Department recommends early enactment of the inclosed draft of bill.

Sincerely yours,

CURTIS D. WILBUR,
Secretary of the Navy.

A BILL To amend the provision contained in the act approved March 3, 1915, providing that the Chief of Naval Operations, during the temporary absence of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Navy, shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the provision contained in the act of March 3, 1915 (volume 38, Stat. L. 929), providing that the Chief of Naval Operations, during the temporary absence of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy, is hereby amended to read as follows: "During the temporary absence of the Secretary and the Assistant Secretaries of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations shall be next in succession to act as Secretary of the Navy."

[No. 34]

THE PROCUREMENT SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY— A LECTURE DELIVERED BY CAPT. FREDERICK G. PYNE, SUPPLY CORPS, UNITED STATES NAVY, BEFORE THE UNITED STATES ARMY WAR COLLEGE, WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 9, 1926

The bureau system of the Navy Department dates from the act of Congress of August 31, 1842, which abolished the Board of Navy Commissioners, organized by the act of February 7, 1815, and provided for five bureaus-Navy Yards and Docks; Construction, Equipment, and Repair; Provisions and Clothing; Ordnance and Hydrography; and Medicine and Surgery.

Some of the original bureaus have been subdivided and new bureaus created. Some of the names of bureaus have been changed, but the principle of segregating the general duties of the Navy under definite heads has not been changed.

In matters of procurement and supply, each bureau originally acted independently of the others. A General Order of March 30, 1882, issued by Secretary William H. Hunt, defining the duties of the bureaus, includes under each bureau, "It shall make all contracts for and superintend all the work done under it."

At the navy yards, the same condition existed, each department of the yard acting independently. The first effort toward consolidation apparently was by a circular letter of Secretary William C. Whitney of July 15, 1885, to commandants of navy yards, directing that ice and other articles in common use in all departments of the yard be purchased by public advertisment or by written invitation to the principal dealers to secure a more reasonable rate than if purchased or contracted for by each department separately and supplied by different persons. Each department, however, had to provide for the payment of its own bills.

In his annual report for 1885, Secretary Whitney devoted the greater part to a discussion of the business affairs of the Navy Department, severely criticizing the existing methods. As the present system is the result of Mr. Whitney's action, quotations from this and subsequent reports are appropriate.

Mr. Whitney wrote:

If one should take up the subject in this form and consider, in the first place, what business does the department transact? what should be the organization for its proper disposition? and compare it with the organization as it exists here and elsewhere, perhaps some light might be thrown upon the difficulties encountered under the present form of administration.

* * *

The natural division of the work of the department is into three branches: First. The department having to do with the personnel and the fleet Second. The Department of Material and Construction. This covers the construction, repair, and care of vessels before commissioned; their armament and equipment, including military stores (but not provisions and clothing), as (135)

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