f readiness; the report to be in such detail as experience
shows to be the best.

In the days when each bureau's preparation consisted of comparatively
few things to do, the chief of that bureau could be relied on to do
the things required to be done by his bureau; and his oral assurance
to the secretary that--say all the ships had enough ammunition,
or that adequate provision had been made for coal, or that there
were enough enlisted men--would fulfil all requirements. But in the
past fifty years, the requirements have increased a hundredfold,
while the human mind has remained just as it was. So it has seemed
necessary to institute a system of periodical preparation reports,
to examine them carefully, and to use all possible vigilance, lest
any item be forgotten or any work done by two bureaus that ought
to be done by only one.

Who should examine the reports? Naturally the same persons as decide
what should be done. The same studies and deliberations that fit
a person to decide what is needed, fit him to inspect the product
that is offered to supply the need; not only to see if it comes
up to the specifications, but also to decide whether or not any
observed omission is really important; to decide whether, in view of
certain practical difficulties, the specifications may be modified;
and also to decide whether certain improvements suggested by any
bureau should or should not be adopted.

This procedure may seem to put the strategy officers "over" the
technical officers, to put a lieutenant-commander on the General
Staff "over" a rear admiral who is chief of bureau; but such an
idea seems hardly justified. In any well-designed organization
relative degrees of official superiority are functions of rank, and
of nothing else; superiority in rank must, of course, be recognized,
for the reason that when on duty together the junior must obey
the senior. But even this superiority is purely official; it is a
matter of position, and not a matter of honor. All the honor that
is connected with any position is not by reason of the position
itself, but by reason of the honorable service which a man must
have rendered in order to attain it, and which he must continue
to render in order to maintain it. So, in a Navy Department, the
General Staff officers cannot be "over" the bureau officers, unless
by law or regulation certain of the staff are made to rank over
certain bureau officers. A procedure like this would seem to be
unne