The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-12-09
UNITED STATES NAVAL EQUIP
MENTS,
Report of the Chief OF the Bureau Of Equip
ment and Recruiting,

Report of the Chief OF the Bureau of Equip
ment and Recruiting,
The annual report of Commodore
Schufeldt, chief of the bureau of equip
ment and recruiting of the United
States navy department., submitted to
the secretary, shows that during the
past year ITO vessels have been either
partially or wholly equipped by the
bureau at the several navy yards at an
expenditure of labor and material
amounting to $3.50, ,221.s3. There were
39,579 tons Of coal purchased at home
and abroad for the use Of the navy, cost
ing, including freights and shipments,
S415, ,815.53. The rope walk at the
Charleston navy yard has supplied the
wants of the service with wire, hemp,
manila and hide rope. The equipment
| shops at the Washington navy yaId have
| furnished all the anchors, chains, gal
! leys, ETC., etc, needed for the service.
He calls attention to the frequently over
crowded state of the receiving ship at
the Brooklyn navy yard, and says this
overcrowding endangers the health as
well as the comfort of the recruits. He
recommends that the hulk Vermont be
rooted and fitted up with mess room S,
| dormitories, kitchens, ETC., capable of
accommodating six hundred persons,
and be used as supplement to the re :
ceiving ship when occasion may require.
A building is now being created by the
bureau of yards and docks on the Co b
dock, to contain bath, wash and recep-
ton rooms for the additional comfort
and convenience of the recruits. This
arrangement is urgently recommended
as sanitary measure. During the ex-
citement of 1873, resulting from the
threatened disturbance with Spain, the
recruits being crowded upon the re
ceiving ship without sufficient facilities
for their comfort and cleanliness, and al
most without shelter, disease Of nearly
every form appeared among them sicl,
and discontented, the men either de-
serted or were drafted for service unfit
from these causes to perform the duties
required of them. He recommends
that the provisions of the act of Con
gress of May Is, 1872, allowing interest
ut the rate of four per cent. per annum
on the savings of soldiers deposited
with paymasters, be extended to apply
to the amount due enlisted men in the
navy, and retained until the expiration
of their terms of enlistment. He says
that, owing to the decrease Of commerce
under the American flag, there has beer
growing deficiency of good seamen fol
the navy This fact has induced the de
partment to establish training ships al
the Brooklyn, Kittery and Mare Island
navy yards for the purpose of training
boys for sailors in the navy. This has
been done without additional cost
!. There are 2G0 OF these lads now unde,
instruction, and the reports of theil
: commanding officers exhibit the mos
satisfactory results. Should the system
be extended and made permanent, it i
, hoped that in q short time the navy vii
be manned by intelligent and native
. born seamen, and many boys rescued
, from idle and vicious lives to enter upol
useful and honorable career. TIL,
personnel Of the navy being limited t
, $500 men, the boys already enlisted
have been taken from this allowance
: He urges the passage of law authoriz
ing the enlistment of 500 boys in addi
ton, and the furnishing by the govern
ment of an outfit of clothing not to ex
: ceed $50 for each boy. He also say
. the time has come when something be
t sides coercion must be used TO improv
8 the morale of the navy. Educate tn
man for the service, and give him in
, ducement to remain in it by consulting
= his wants, both mental and physical
: The records of this bureau prove tina
the fear of punishment does not dete
, men from deserting take AWAY tn
provocation for desertion, and this de
moralizing crime will diminish. If
{ then ensues, punish it with the rigor O
military law. One or two laws of
negative character-the abolition G
fogging and the banishment of the gro
! tub-are about the total of enactment
1 looking to the improvement of the ran
0 and file.