Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-07-09
H0WITISINTHENAVY
POSITION AND REMUNERATION OF
THE ENLISTED MEN.

Steady Employment with Sure Pay.
Seaman Glass Worst Paid.
Although the seamen and even the
petty officers of the United States navy
are largely Of foreign birth, there never
was time when places in the navy be-
low the rank of commissioned officers
were so attractive to native Americans.
As the old wooden ships and the old
fashioned steam propelled ships give
place to modern marine machines the
navy becomes more and more suited to
the tastes of capable Americans.
Since the Kearsarge laid her bones
| upon Roncador there are left in really
active service only 10 wooden ships,
though there are 10 others used as re-
ceiving ships and as scholarships of one
sort or another. All the sailing ships
that ever move from place to place are
the training ships and scholarships. The
navy has long been made up chiefly of
steam propelled vessels, and it will be
only few years before the whole ac-
tive list will be composed of iron or
steel steamships.
This gradual change in the navy has
wrought marked change in the per-
sonnel of the petty officers and the en-
listed men, as i'll the conditions under
which they work. Captain Codman's
mournful cry that there are no more
sailors is as true Of the navy as of the
merchant service. The navy still ships
seamen at wages ranging from SIG to
$24 per month, but it also ships host
of artifcers, mechanics, firemen and
whatnot at wages sometimes exceeding
$40 per month.
The new navy as it grows will need
an increasing number of men in these
special classes. There are nearly as many
new vessels building as there are wood
en- ships now on the active list, and ev-
cry new iron steam propelled monster
that is added to the navy creates an in
creased demand for the skilled and high
paid classes of enlisted men. Already
there are some scores of machinists at
$40 per month, boiler makers at $50,
blacksmiths at $50, plumbers at $40,
water tenders, oilers, fremen and print
ers at from $50 to $40 per month, to say
nothing Of coppersmiths, shipwrights
and coal passers at wages varying from
$50 per month down to $22.
The seaman class, the worst paid of
all in its lower branches, is very we'll
paid in the higher ranks. The lad that
enters as third class apprentice at SO
per month may reasonably hope to be-
come chief master at arms at 500 per
month. The lad with a gift for music
may easily find himself transferred to
the special class that includes musi-
clans, writers and apothecaries, and
here the wages vary from $1S to $50
per month.
There is a special provision of law to
encourage good men to remain long in
the service. The ordinary term of en-
listment is three years, and by this pro-
vision any honorably discharged man
who re-enlists within three months
from the date of his discharge returns
to the navy with his pay raised 81 per
month. The extra dollar is added at
each re-enlistment, and there may east
ly be half a dozen re-enlistments, or for
that matter a dozen. 1t means that
SOOu lltlll WI Sl1ChS w I4C SClNlCG lOI
life gets three months vacation every
three years, followed by AN increase of
pay.
1t usually happens that the man who
thus enlists and re-enlists has reached
the grade of petty officer at his third or
fourth enlistment, and after that the
larger pay of his new place increases
regularly 81 per month every three
years, should he choose to continue in
the service. There are other small per-
quisites of one kind or another that
swell the earnings of the sailor that |
sticks to the navy, and there awaits him |
in old age a safe retreat ashore with old |
companions.
1t is true that mechanics in the navy |
receive nominally smaller wages than /
men of their trades ashore, but they are |
subject to none of the uncertainties of
business. The navy goes right ON in
times of panic, and there is no docking |
for illness. Employment and pay are
secure for the rest of a mans days. and
promotion is almost within his own
control
The aristocratic organization of the
navy doubtless has kept many self re-
specting native Americans from enlist
ing, but the service is vastly more
democratic in practice than in theory.
True, no enlisted man may hope to be-
come a commissioned officer, but the
enlisted man of tried ability and known
good conduct always earns the respect
and the consideration Of his superiora
The brutal officer of the deck is almost
unknown in the United States navy, and
the self respecting enlisted man is sell
dom made to feel that any one looks
down upon him.
His food is wholesome, clean and
abundant, and the officer of the deck
must taste it before it is served to the
men at any meal His quarters are bet
ter and better as the navy improves, and
the privileges of the well ordered sea-
man are many and agreeable. The navy
department holds out as an inducement
TO men that think Of enlisting the pros
pect of seeing foreign parts "Yes,