Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-26

| X,
to shares. and 30 it goes down to the
' story G Is scId of an old sailor. who wa,
] ohacer scolded him for showing the white
/ feather and demanded to know what he
Of the shot would so
most OF a the prize money goes-on the
the navy pension fund during the rebellion
| reached $4,000 00 This sum has been set
apart ever since the war for the payment
| OF annuities to disabled naval officers and
! sailors, and to their widows and minor
f, children. 1t was originally invested in gov
called in. Then a law was passed BY Con-
gress making the amount a loan to the
Unite United J., States :H at 8 per cent. This is the
year $4,000 interest on 1t accrues Out Of
this income Is taken what is needed for
The Of BALANCE tns nay Us m asSum at
600 by Congress for the payment of the pen
sions referred to- From time to time peo-
trusted to Uncle Sam has vanished or viii
pc absorbed In some fashion. In fact, no.
t body need be worried on that score. The
derived from it is only a drop in the bucket
OF naval pensions.
Blockade Running.
During the Crimean war United States
vessels carried supplies to Russia by way
Of the Arctic ocean and the White sea- The
%
Ing captures. To establish the blockade
they were obliged to patrol the waters
with battle ships. The great Napoleon
made a paper blockade" as it was called
put such a blockade is not now considered
, In international law. He issued announce
ments declaring certain ports blockaded
but since his time no nation has recognize
ed such declaration. Blockade running
capture. That is the only penalty. Yes
sells engaged in such enterprises do not go
armed. A dark night and a good pair of
one blockade runner out Of three gets
through 1t pays. Not long ago an attor-
the attorney himself had commanded W hen
she was taken. The lawyer was then a
British subject and the sailor was one of
the crew Of the ship which took him.
A good many odd things come under the
notice OF the prize money division Of the
treasury. On one occasion a man applied
The fourth auditor learned that the de-
funct at the time of his death had on his
body a pension certificate. This led to an
which 1t was discovered that the balance
OF pension due the deceased had been paid
to his widow. From this 1t appeared that
ep csm eomnS to ae
Of the brother. Then the brother disclosed
the fact that the putative widow had been
merely the mistress Of the dead man. She
retaliated by stating that even so the
brother was not the heir. because his
mother was alive in Yorkshire. England.
Eventually the mother was found, and the
prise money was paid to her.
The work OF the prize money division
nowadays Is mainly to persuade Jack Tar
During the war, when he was on shore
and wanted cash, the blue jacket would go
to lawyer and sell his claim for a small
chaser q power Of attorney to collect from
the government. He put his mark a
piece OF paper and squandered the pro-
and the transaction referred to has escaped
his memory. He gets a notion that Uncle
Sam is still in his debt. Pension agents
make a business OF asking every old sailor
II any prize money Is due him. When the
answer Is in the affirmative they write to
man and ship on which he served The
names Of all seamen and officers entitled
to such allowances are recorded on the
books, with their individual credits. These
records are kept secret. but anybody can
secure information with regard to a par
ticular person by putting the question in
imagine that they are cheated. They do not
realize that many vessels captured were
released. the libel against them not being
proved to have been innocently engaged
at the time when they were taken and.
being declared not lawful prizes. they were
restored to their owners. The government
acts on the assumption that all payments
Of prize money relating to the war OF 1872
nave Deen maze, tnOOSn most OF the VOuCh-
ers were destroyed in the fire at the treas
ury in 1888.
The o. 3. Bounty.
y No prize money is paid for the destruction
of an enemy's ship in war. Instead Of that
the United States government grants
bounty. which Is distributed In exactly the
same way. II the vessel wiped out was Of
greater force than the victor, 500 is allowed
for every officer and sailor on board Of the
vanquished craft. II she was Of less force
the allowance Is 500 per capita. Supposing
that 1t is impossible to tell how many per-
sons were on board OF the ship destroyed,
her class is stated and her complement
reckoned on the same basis as II she had
been United States vessel Of the same
class. This bounty Is very different thing
from prize money. The latter is a trust, be-
| longing absolutely to the captors, for whose
benefit It is administered by the govern
ment. The money Is always ready to be
paid when a claim is proved. But the boun-
ty is a gift from Uncle Sam. and requires a
many claims for bounty are still open. In
the capture Of New Orleans large sums
both IN prize money and in bounty; Were
struction Of fighting vessels and prize
money for the capture Of merchantmen.
Forty-fve ships were concerned on the
Union side. and the cash gained had to be
divided up among more than 5000 men. The
figuring on this problem made a large vol
ume. which is still preserved
In a war between this country and Great
portant figure. The British would try to
blockade our ports and we would do our
best to blockade hers. For lack Of strong
battle ships we would find it difficult to
keep up our end while England could hard
ly maintain an effective blockade along
such a vast extent of seaboard as is
possessed by the United States So depend-
emit Is John Bull on imports, even for food
that he would starve IL shut off from the
rest Of the world for ninety days
1t is an open question whether privateers
would be utilized in such a war After the
Crimean war. at the congress of Vienna. ali
OF the European powers signed an agree
ment to the effect that they would not rec
ognze privateering in future. The United
States refused to come into this agreement
We have reserved the right to employ pri-
Vateers. One reason why this government
declined to abjure this form of warfare was
that 1t would be exceptionally advantageous
to the United States. For example by issl-
| Ing letters of marque we could quicklysweep
that privateering is piratical That is quite
true. The giving of prize money Is an old
pfratfcal custom. People call IL a remnant
of barbarism. But, when 1t comes to actual
war, prize money Is always a powerful or
fensive agent The impulse of avarice puts
nerve into the warriors who sail the seas
This is not an age of sentimentalism in
warfare. Even explosive bullets are allow
able among agencies Of destruction 1t may
safely be said that privateering will make
part OF the next great International con-
hict on the waters. and no criticism will be
uttered in regard to cases like that Of the
Alabama, which was denounced in the
north as pirate because she was never in
home port. having been armed and equip
ped in England.
In the old days, when Uncle Sans ships
hod % -