U. S. Naval. Institute.
Annapolis, Md., Jan’y 8th, 1880.
During the past year, the affairs of the Institute may be said to have met with unvarying success. The membership has increased until it now amounts to members, 368; honorary members, life members, and associate members, 14; and the establishment of the Branches attests the interest felt by officers, and their appreciation of the privileges and advantages of debate. The total number of papers presented during the year was twenty-four, of which the Executive Committee, exercising a just though not rigid censorship, have printed twenty. A number of professional papers on topics of general interest have been inserted, which, for various reasons, were not read at any meetings.
The notices of the Prize Essay on Naval Education were responded to by the presentation of ten essays for competition, a fact that cannot fail to he gratifying to those who initiated the movement. The judges selected were President Eliot, of Harvard University, Rear Admiral Ammen, of the Navy, and Engineer-in-Chief Shock, of the Navy. The judges were requested to name the most distinguished paper, and two others which they considered most worthy of comment. Their onerous task was accomplished with a skill and delicacy which, while it conferred high honors on the successful contestants, gilded the bitter pill of failure for the others.
The wisdom of the Institute in establishing its annual prize is also shown in the spirited discussions which took place, both in the Institute and in the public prints, proving that the Prize had been the means of stirring up many minds to thinking very seriously on a question of great professional importance.
The subject of the Essay for 1880 was recommended by a committee of officers and approved by the Institute. The Naval Policy of the United States. The judges fleeted by the Executive Committee, are Hon. Win. M. Evarts, Secretary of State, Hon. R. W. Thompson, Secretary of the Navy, and Hon. J. R. McPherson, Senator. Eight essays have been presented, which were forwarded to the judges on the seventh of January. The judges have been requested to specify only the most deserving essay.
From a pecuniary point of view, it is desirable to diminish somewhat, the number of papers, and at the same time to increase the interest felt by members, in participation in the proceedings. I therefore recommend that a plan of general discussion on the same subject, in the Institute and its Branches at the same time, be adopted by the Executive Committee, so that original papers may be presented in certain months, and general discussion on fixed professional subjects take place on the alternate
JOHN C. SOLEY, Secretary.