The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1894-06-30
dhibooaux 5cntinel.
HOWITISINTHENAVY
POSITION AND REMUNERATION OF
THE ENLISTED MEN.
The Vast and Varied Force of Mechanics In
the Service-Here Skilled Labor Finds
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 a 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 Is others used as re-
%ceiv-ng ships and as scholarships Of n
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 a few years before the whole ac-
tive list will be composed of iron or
steel steamships.
This gradual change in the navy has
wrought a marked change in the per-
sonnet of the petty officers and the n
listed men, IS in the conditions under
which they work. Captain Codman's
mournful cry that there arc no more
sailors is as rue of the nav as of the
merchant service. The navy still ships
seamen at wages ranging from SIC TO
$24 per month, but it also ships a host
of artificers, mechanics, fremen and
whatnot SIT wages sometimes exceeding
$40 per month.
The new Eayy 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, firemen 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 S22.
The seaman class, the worst paid of
all in its lower branches, is very well
paid in the higher ranks. The lad that
enters as a third class apprentice at 50
per month may reasonably hope to be-
come chief master at arms at S65 per
month. The lad with a gift for music
may easily find himself transferred to
the special class that includes must
clans, writers and apothecaries, and
here the wages vary from s18 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 mar
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
~ be half a dozen re-enlistments, or for
that matter a dozen. 1t means that a
good man who sticks to the service for
life gets a three months vacation every
three years, followed by an increase Of
pay.
It usually happens that the man who
thus enlists and re-enlists has reached
the grade of petty officer at his third OF
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 tina,
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 thar
men of their trades ashore, but they are
subject to none of the uncertainties o.
business. The navy goes right on il
times of panic, and there is no docking
for illness. Employment and pay arr
cur for the rest of a mans days, an6
promotion is almost within his owl
control.
The aristocratic organization of the
navy doubtless has kept many self re
specting native Americans from enlist
ing, but the service is vastly NOR,
democratic in practice than in theory
True, no enlisted man may hope to be
come a commissioned officer, but tE'
enlisted man of tried ability and known
good conduct always earns the respec
and the consideration Of his superiors
The brutal officer Of the deck is almos
unknown in the United States navy, an,
the self respecting enlisted man is sci
dom made to feel that any n look
down upon him.