Harrington Emerson, President, Emerson Institute, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters
June 23, 1917
Rear Admiral William S. Sims,
Washington, D.C.
Dear Sir:
Racing men have enough common sense not to give running horses any more weight to carry than is absolutely necessary. They don’t want to lose races.
A thousand pounds of nerves and muscles and bones in the terrific physical and nervous excitement of the race is put in charge of a 100 pound jockey, who is fully capable of handling the animal.
The battle airplane among vehicles corresponds to the race horse among beasts of burden. The supreme quality is speed to which both factors of safety and durability are sacrificed.
Its get away speed
Its straight away speed
Its climbing speed in altitude per second
Its radius of outbound flight and return
Its load of bombs
are lessened by every extra pound in the flyer.
A pound of gasoline carries a plane about one mile. 60 – 80 lbs. more gasoline means 60 – 80 miles more flight.
Why, therefore, are six footers, weighing now 160 to 180 lbs., and only kept down to these weights by constant training, accepted and trained by the Royal Flying Corps, when 100 lb. pilots would do as well?
Moreover, the 100 lb. man, being smaller, is less likely to be hit and could, without increase in weight, carry thicker armor over head and heart.
There is a strong agitation now to increase the air service. Let this movement be coupled with common sense on the part of the authorities, and as to this you can give much help.
Yours very truly,
Harrington Emerson
Source Note: TDS, DLC-MSS, William Sims Papers, Container 45. This letter is written on official stationary with “THE Emerson COMPANY/EFFICIENCY ENGINEERS/Harrington Emerson, PRES.” centered at the top of the page. In the upper left- and right-hand corners are addresses and contact information for the company’s New York, Pittsburg, and Chicago offices. On the second page, a header reads: “THE Emerson COMPANY TORear Admrl W.S.Sims DATE 7/23/17 PAGE 2”. The date on this heading is an error, as the message was sent in June.
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- List of Documents
- Harrington Emerson, President, Emerson Institute, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/1/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Captain William B. Fletcher, Force Commander, Special Patrol Squadron, 6/1/1917
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More Documents (137)
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/1/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/1/1917
- British Admiralty to Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington, 6/1/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/2/1917
- Captain John R. Edie to Lieutenant Commander William R. Sayles, United States Naval Attaché in Paris, 6/2/1917
- Captain Edwin A. Anderson to Captain Henry B. Wilson, President, Board of Inspection and Survey, 6/2/1917
- Foreign Secretary Arthur J. Balfour to Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Robert Cecil, 6/3/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/4/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Based in European Waters, 6/4/1917
- Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Lord Robert Cecil to British Ambassador to the United States Sir Cecil A. Spring Rice, 6/4/1917
- Commander William R. Sayles, United States Naval Attaché at Paris, to Rear Admiral Roger T. Welles, Office of Naval Intelligence, 6/4/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/5/1917
- Vice Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies to First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, 6/5/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, to Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, 6/5/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, 6/5/1917
- Captain Richard H. Jackson, American Naval Representative to Paris to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/5/1917
- Captain William B. Fletcher, Force Commander, Special Patrol Squadron to Commanding Officers, 6/6/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, COmmander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters 6/6/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Captain William V. Pratt, Chief of Staff to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations 6/6/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington to British Admiralty, 6/6/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/6/1917
- Lieutenant Ronan C. Grady, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, 6/6/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/7/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Captain William V. Pratt, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 6/7/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, 6/7/1917
- Rear Admiral Sir Dudley R.S. de Chair to Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, 6/7/1917
- Captain William V. Pratt, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, 6/7/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, United States Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, Operations Order Number One, 6/7/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/8/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/8/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, to Destroyer Force, 6/9/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/9/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/10/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/10/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/10/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/11/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/11/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters,, 6/11/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/11/1917
- Captain William V. Pratt, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/11/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Rear Admiral Leigh C. Palmer, Chief, Bureau of Navigation, 6/11/1917
- Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, Chief of Bureau of Ordnance to Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, 6/12/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/12/1917
- Executive Order of President Woodrow Wilson, 6/12/1917
- Rear Admiral William F. Fullam, Commander, Patrol Force, Pacific Fleet, to Captain Robert E. Coontz, Commandant, Navy Yard, Puget Sound, 6/13/1917
- United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State Robert M. Lansing, 6/13/1917
- Captain William D. MacDougall, United States Naval Attaché at London, to Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/13/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims, 6/13/1917
- Admiral Ferdinand Jean Jacques de Bon, Chief of the French Naval Staff, to Commander Bernard A. de Blanpré, French Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., 6/13/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/13/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves Commander, Destroyer Force, Atlantic Fleet, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, Commander, Southern Ireland, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/13/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/14/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/14/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, 6/14/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/14/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/15/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/15/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/15/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/16/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/16/1917
- Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, to Vice Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies Station, 6/16/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, to First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, 6/16/1917
- Admiral Henry T. Mayo, Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet, to Atlantic Fleet, 6/16/1917
- Captain Arthur de K. L. May, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, to Commodore Lionel de Vere Wells, 6/16/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims, 6/16/1917
- Diary of Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight 6/17/1917
- Chief Gunner Bernard P. Donnelly to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/17/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/17/1917
- Captain Arthur de K. L. May, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff, to Commodore Lionel de Vere Wells, Director, Routing and Convoying Operations from the United States, 6/17/1917
- Secretary of State Robert Lansing to Robert E. Jeffery, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Uruguay, 6/18/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Queenstown Destroyer Force, 6/18/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/19/1917
- Admiral Ferdinand Jean Jacques de Bon, Chief of the French Naval Staff to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/19/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/19/1917
- Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, to Commanding Officers, Queenstown Destroyer Force, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Commander Joseph K. Taussig, Commander, Destroyer Division Eight, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/20/1917
- Commander John V. Babcock to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/21/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/21/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/22/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/22/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/22/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to British Admiralty, 6/22/1917
- Lieutenant Robert R. M. Emmet, United States Navy, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/22/1917
- Captain William B. Fletcher, Force Commander, Special Patrol Squadron, to Commanding Officers, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/23/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Secretary of State Robert Lansing, 6/23/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/23/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces in European Waters, 6/23/1917
- Lieutenant Commander R. Drace White, Commander, Seattle, to Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, 6/24/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/24/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/25/1917
- Captain Richard H. Jackson, American Naval Representative to the Ministry of Marine, to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, 6/25/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Anne Hitchcock Sims, 6/25/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page, 6/25/1917
- United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State Robert Lansing, 6/26/1917
- Lieutenant Commander Marcel Bertaux, Commisariat de la Marine-Lorient, to Commander Bernard A. de Blanpré, French Naval Attaché at Washington, 6/26/1917
- Lieutenant Commander George F. Neal to Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, R.N., Commander, Southern Ireland., 6/26/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., to British Admiralty, 6/26/1917
- United States Ambassador to Great Britain Walter Hines Page to First Secretary of the American Embassy in London Franklin M. Gunther, 6/27/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, Notes on Conversations with Officers, 6/27/1917
- Diary of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/27/1917
- Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/26/1917
- Report of Commander Richard T. Down, 6/27/1917
- War Diary, U.S.S. HANCOCK, 6/28/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, U.S. Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/28/1917
- Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché in Washington, D.C., to First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe, 6/28/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters to British Admiralty, 6/28/1917
- Admiral William S. Benson, Chief of Naval Operations, to Commandants on the Atlantic Coats and Chiefs of Navy Bureaus, 6/27/1918
- Vice Admiral Henry F. Oliver, Secretary of the Admiralty, to Vice Admiral Sir Montague E. Browning, Commander-in-Chief, North America and West Indies., 6/28/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Department of the Navy, 6/28/1917
- Instructions Concerning Troopship Convoys, 6/29/1917
- Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 6/29/1917
- First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe to Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, 6/29/1917
- First Sea Lord Admiral Sir John R. Jellicoe to Commodore Guy R. Gaunt, British Naval Attaché at Washington, 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander, Convoy Operations in the Atlantic, 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/29/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/29/1917
- United States Ambassador to the Great Britain Walter Hines Page to Secretary of State Robert Lansing, 6/29/1917
- Captain William D. MacDougall, United States Naval Attaché at London, to the Office of Naval Intelligence 6/29/1917
- Sir Richard F. Crawford, British Commercial Attaché at Washington, to President Woodrow Wilson, 6/29/1917
- Procedures for Patrolling the East Coast of South America agreed to by the British and American Naval Commanders in the Theater, 6/29/1917
- Foreign Secretary Sir Arthur J. Balfour to British Ambassador to the United States Sir Cecil Spring Rice, 6/30/1917
- Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters 6/30/1917
- Vice Admiral William S. Sims, Commander, United States Naval Forces Operating in European Waters, to Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels 6/30/1917
- Executive Order of President Woodrow Wilson, 6/30/1917
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- Post-War: Transporting the AEF
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- Post-War: Sweeping the Northern Barrage
- Post-War: Northern Russia
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- Post-war: Armistice and Final Treaty
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