The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-05-19
Extravagant Pay of the Navy.

The appropriation for the support of the
navy during the next fiscal year, which has
now become law. exceeds fourteen millions
OF dollars, and of that large sum eight mill
lions In round numbers are required for pay
alone Of the navy and the marine corps.
The figures are astounding when analysed,
and we take them from the act as it stands.
so that there may be no confusion, and that
every taxpayer may sec what it costs to
keep up naval establishment, now admit
ted by its former friends to be rotten and
worthless, after an expenditure of one hun
dred and seventy-two millions during eight
years of SEcoR RoBEsoN's corrupt rule. Here
they are:
Pay Of active list Of IS $50
Psy Of secretSrics clerks supcrnumcrarcs &C. 4si595
Pay Of petty Officers seamen. boys, &c, not to ,o,
Pay OF officers and prSaios marine corps 400. 6isi5
s7se4si0
When these items are scrutlnzed the re-
suits become more striking. Thus.
Aggregate pay Of active and retired lists aud
secretaries supernumeraries. &C 81 10000
Aggregate pay VI petty officers. seamen, de- 2to tuOD
Excess VI cost Tor officers 81. 55OoOO
From these figures 1t is made clear that
the regular pay Of the officers Of the navy
is more than double that OF the seven thou
sand five hundred men who form its solid
force. No such anomaly exists In any other
service, and the evil is growing every day.
In the marine corps the contrast Is not
quite so glaring, but sufficiently SO. There
are ninety-five commissioned officers on the
active and retired lists, and five hundred
sergeants corporals, drummers, fifers, and
,,,nuiaiapa Thafr t,a IL M fnIlANe
Paw OF officers active and retired non.eommis-
stoned officers musicians, .s3ti SIS
Pay OF nteeu hundred privaes .'o"V
Excess OF cost for officers SI4sl5
But this is not all. The system grows by
what 1t feeds upon, and never fails at the
end of the year to turn out a new crop of
pensioners and snecurists. who, after being
educated at the public expense, and fitted to
earn their bread independently. are crowded
ON to the overloaded rolls of the Treasury
In this law, from which we have cited, pro-
vision Is made in these words:
For siSty-one cadet mdshipmen to be admitted in
For twenty nve cadet engineers, to be admitted in
l@'po
$500
1t costs, therefore, nearly years interest
on million OF four and half per cent. bonds
to provide for the graduates OF the Naval
Academy, who annually swell the register
OF excessive officers. And while this number
is thus surely increasing, the ships are as
surely diminishing by bad construction and
rottenness, SO that at the present rate OF
advance in one direction and decline in the
other, there will be soon nothing left Of the
so-called navy but huge roll Of idle pen
sioners, with great aristocratic titles and
magnificent uniforms to ornament the
shoddy society OF Washington, who never
fail to answer to their names on pay day
When these shameful abuses are permitted
by Congress to go on in the midst OF general
prvaton, bankruptcy, aud unprecedented
distress, 1t is not at all strange that the mill
lions who are anxious to work and can find
no employment, and who in their poverty
are borne down by oppressive burdens,
should lose confidence in both the old par
ties, and seek escape from suffering in new
organizations.