The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-06-12

In these days, any sphere Of industry
commands the man It pays for The
world is so full Of enterprise and the
opportunities for wealth, that cheap
piece, or a rule, can only get and retain
a cheap man. One of the best captains
afoat said the other day In our hearing
ga good man must either be hard up.
or have a little money invested, to afford
to be a captain in the Anglo-Ameriean
service The remark has moved Ms to
make inquiry in the matter,.and we find
that the pay of a captain in this service
is, on some lines, from e3OO to e4OO
year, with a bonus of e15Oif 10 accident
occur, and on others from $500 to e5OO.
without a bonus In our money the
salary of captain is, therefore, from
81, 500 to g., 800 year. His board upon
the ship Is, of course, free. How do
these wages appear to those who are
compelled to trust their lives and their
possessions to such men as can be hired
by them? It ought to be stated, too, in
this connection, that in the English
Australian Steamship service, the cap
tains receive q thousand pounds year
small wages enough, to be sure-but
why is this difference made? Does any
one doubt that the Australians line
absolutely commands by its liberality
the best seamanship in the market
Why should the lines that convey such
multitudes of Americans in their cabins
and such crowds in their steerage be
subjected to this Disadvantages We
know that there are, IN the Anglo-Ameri-
can service, as good captains as there are
in the world, but they are men who are
forced to remain there by circumstances.
How are there places to be made good
when they retire? Are their wages such
as to make their places prize to be
sought by the young men who are lay
ing their plans of life As rule, these
lines viii get just what they pay for
that is, they viii get cheap men, and to
these men all Americans who desire to
visit Europe are obliged to trust their
lives and their treasures.
The first officer in the Anglo-American
service gets about els, S75 a month or
$500 a year-what we pay to an ordinary
clerk. The second officer gets so a
month, or six hundred dollars a year
the third officer $50 a month, and the
fourth S25. To men receiving these
latter sums the Atlantic was committed
when she plunged upon the rocks, with
her priceless freight of human life
These sums correspond closely to what
we pay our walters and men of all work
about the house, while they would not
hire, IN New York, a first class waiter or
a butler. The idea is horrible, but the
facts are as We state them, or we have
been misinformed by one who has the
best opportunity of knowing them
What must generally be the class of
men who can be hired at these wages
When this question is nationally snswer-
ed, we can form some conception of the
risks we are compelled to run by the
parsimony of companies whose cabins
we crowd with passengers, and who can
hardly find room for the enormous
freights which we commit to them?
We know of no way to secure a safer
service but by holding the companies
rendering it to a strict accountability.
They are accountable for their ships, for
their supplies, and for theircommanders.
If they wish for better captains-nay, if
they wish to secure the best service Of
those they have-let those commanders
hold a place whose wages are a prize
worth holding, and make that place so
high that young men Of the best talents
and character viii look upon it as worth
seeking. Let it be given to no man
until it can be given as the reward of
eminent character and eminent seaman
ship. As the facts stand to-day, we have
nohesitation in saying that the niggardli-
ness Of these Anglo-American lines is a
shame to their owners and managers,
and that, until It is corrected, we have
a perfect right TO hold them criminally
responsible for all the disasters that
occur to them through the carelessuess
or Ignorance of their employes.-J G.
Holland