News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-03-13
CASTE IN THE NAVY.
The American Sailor Wants chance
for Promotion.

CASTE IN THE NAVY.
The American Sailor Wants Chance
for Promotion.
The most difficult problem to be
solved in connection with the. navy IS
how to secure American born seamen
for it. At present large number OF
the enlisted men are of foreign birth,
principally Scandinavians, These men
are attached to our service by the pay,
food and clothing, which are far better
than they can command at home
They make good seamen, and are
amenable to discipline. Whether they
could be depended upon in the event
of foreign war, is another matter.
AS a rule, mercenaries cannot. Inc
question then is, how are we to pro-
vide for a supply of intelligent, able
bodied, first class men for seamen and
petty officers in the navy? The present
system is evidently a dead failure as
far as securing Americans is concerned.
The class desired most are very chary
of enlist.ng.
There is no fault to be found with
the pay, food, clothing and service.
The difficulty is that the service does
not offer the chances for promotion the
average ambitious young American de-
mands. He is unwilling to enter
service where there is any bar to his
winning a commission. He has his
eye ON the admiraPs quarters and the
captains place ''on the bridge" He
is unable 10 comprehend why his
neighbours son, his schoolmate, who
HAPPENED to get nominated to cadet
ship at Annapolis, and graduated,
should get a commission, when he,
having demonstrated his fitness for one
by long service and capacity, is limit
ed to the grade of petty officer. He
knows that he is quite the equal social
ly at home of the graduate, and in
some cases when on leave at hone
moves in a circle the graduate docs
not, who is only tolerated on account
of his commission as an officer of the
navy.
There is and always will be feeling
between the enlisted men and petty
officers and the graduates of the naval
academy until something is done to
equalIze things. The service might be
supplied with seamen, petty officers
and enlisted men by consolidating the
apprentice school ships and the naval
academy into one national naval school,
the graduates to draw lots for commits
sions, and the others ms seamen aud
petty officers, promotions of the latter
to take place by seniority and merit.
The boys would thus have all an equal |
ly fair start in the service, and their
very education would be- guarantee |
of discipline.
If the present aristccratic and ex-
elusive system of making commissions
only possible to graduates of the naval
academy is TO be kept up, we shall |
have to content ourselves with large |
percentage of foreign hirelings and |
mercenaries as material from which to
recruit our enlisted men, for but few
native born, respectable Americans
will enlist, when in theiH sober senses,
until the bS,r to promotion is obliterat-
ed and the caste line between the quar-
ter deck and the forecastle can be |
crossed by American manhood.
There is a fossil fiction prevailing in
some minds that discipline and eff
cheney can only be maintained so long
as the officers are graduates or "gen-
tlemen," and the enlisted men and
petty officers are drawn from the
CLOVER clarses." The civil war fully
exploded this popular fallacy. In the
two opposing armies and navies there
are plenty Of ins ances i'll regiments
and aboard ship where tn re are quite |
as many "g antlemen" in the ranks and
not on the Quarter deck as there were |
holding commissions, and the discip- |
commands where the officers were |
"swells'' ard the enlisted men to a |
man the toughest of the tough.
Nobody imagines that the men of the
n. Y. 9TH Regiment, for instance, do
not feel themselves socially and in
every way the equals of their officers. |
They have no false pride about being
privates, and when in active war SER
vice there would be no question of |
caste. Duty to the country and obedi-
ence to orders woald be the rule. |
There is no reason why this sensible |
spirit, which prevails in our crack vol
unteer military organizations, should |
not be extended to the regular army
and navy.
The volunteer view is self-respect-
ing, manly and patriotic, and perfect
ly compatible with good soldership
and seamanship. Caste is at the bot
tom of the wholesale assertions in the
army and the overrunning of the navy
by foreigners. There would be few
assertions if regiments of volunteers
were required to serve so many months
in year as regular forces ON the from
tier and in garri OH.