mander-in-chief must be given some instructions, even if they
be general, for the reason that the commander-in-chief is merely
an instrument for enforcing a certain policy. Clearly, he must
know what the policy is, what the department desires; and the mere
statement of the department's desires is of itself an order. If
it is admitted that the commander-in-chief is to carry out the
orders of the department, it remains merely to decide in how great
detail those orders ought to be.

No general answer can be given to the question: "In what detail
shall the orders be?" The general statement can be made, however,
that the instructions should be confined as closely as practicable
to a statement of the department's desires, and that this statement
should be as clear as possible. If, for instance, the only desire
of the department is that the enemy's fleet shall be defeated, no
amplification of this statement is required. But if the department
should desire, for reasons best known to itself, that the enemy
should be defeated by the use of a certain method, then that should
be stated also. Maybe it would not be wise for the department to
state the method the employment of which is desired; maybe the
commander-in-chief would be the best judge of the method to be
employed. But maybe circumstances of governmental policy dictate
the employment of a certain method, even if militarily it is not
the best; and maybe also the department might prefer that method
by reason of information recently received, which it does not have
time to communicate in full.

Now, if it is desirable for the department to give the
commander-in-chief instructions, running the risk of invading his
"area of discretion," and of doing other disadvantageous things,
it is obvious that the department should be thoroughly equipped
for doing it successfully. This means that the department should
be provided not only with the most efficient radio apparatus that
can be secured, manned, of course, by the most skilful operators,
but also with a body of officers capable of handling that particular
part of the Navy Department's work which is the concentrated essence
of all its work, the actual handling of the naval forces. The usual
name given to such a body of officers is "General Staff."

Such bodies of officers have been developed in navies in recent
years, by a desire to take advantage of electrical appliances which
greatly increase the accuracy and rapidity of commu