84 ORGANIZATION OF ARSENAL. 



The Officer in Charge of the shops, as he is now called, cor- 

 responds most nearly to the Executive Officer proposed ; but 

 instead of his present merely local standing I would propose to 

 put him on the same footing as his congener, the Ordnance 

 Storekeeper, and make his position like that of the Executive 

 Officer of a man-of-war, or the Captain of a navy yard, the 

 official right hand of the Commanding Officer. If I am not mis- 

 taken, such an officer has been established at some of the large 

 posts garrisoned by the line of the army. 



By this arrangement the Commanding Officer would be identi- 

 fied with no one department, but would be the critic of them all ; 

 and his officers would be working in parallel lines to accomplish 

 the purposes of their common head. (See p. 31 and Chap. X.) 



