create a separate recruiting and training system for (p. 240)
stewards. This separation in turn explained the steward's usual
failure to transfer to branches in the regular command channels. Since
there were no minimum standards for the branch, it followed that most
of its noncommissioned officers remained unqualified to exercise
military command over personnel other than their branch subordinates.
Lack of command responsibility was also present in a number of other
branches not directly concerned with the operation of ships. It was
not the result of race prejudice, therefore, but of standards for
enlistment and types of duties performed. Nor was the steward's
frequent physical separation based on race; berthing was arranged by
department and function aboard large vessels. Separation did not exist
on smaller ships. Messmen were usually berthed with other men of the
supply department, including bakers and storekeepers. Chief stewards,
however, as Under Secretary Kimball later explained, had not been
required to meet the military qualifications for chief petty officer,
and therefore it was "considered improper that they should be accorded
the same messing, berthing, club facilities, and other privileges
reserved for the highest enlisted grade of the Navy."[9-18] Stewards of
the lower ranks received the same chance for advancement as members of
other enlisted branches, but to grant them command responsibility
would necessitate raising qualifications for the whole branch, (p. 241)
thus eliminating many career stewards and extending steward training
to include purely military subjects.[9-19]

[Footnote 9-18: Ltr, Under SecNav for Congressman
Clyde Doyle of California. 24 Aug 49, MM(1),
GenRecsNav.]

[Footnote 9-19: For examples of the Navy's official
explanation of steward duties, see Ltr, Actg SecNav
to Lester Granger, 22 Apr 46, QN/MM(2), and Ltr,
Under SecNav to Congressman Clyde Doyle of
California, 24 Aug 49; both in GenRecsNav. See also
Ltr, Chief, NavPers, to Dr. Carl Yaeger, 16 Oct 47,
P16-1, BuPersRecs, and Testimony of Capt Fred R.
Stickney, BuPers, and Vice Adm William M.
Fechteler, Chief of Naval Personnel, before the
President's Committee on Equality of Trea