The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-29
MAN-OF-wAR EXPENSES.
The MuItifariOus Duties of IA ships
Pnymaster.
From the New York Sun.

FROM the New 1Ork sum
1t costs the United States government
about $3.50, 900 a year to maintain the crui-
ser New York. For the eleven months
she was in commission. ending on June
30. 1891, the exact cost of maintaining
her was SS2797474 The fiscal year has
just been completed, but not until the pay
master-general of the navy submits his
accounts to the secretary in the fall Will
the exact cost of maintaining each of
the ships of the navy for this year be
known. In the year ended on June 80,
1894, the Baltimore followed the New York
closely in the matter of expense. The
cost of running that ship was S2l.0O0.
I The Chicago came next, the cost OF MAIN
tenance being $3ll 200. The San Francisco
cost $2S3 900; the Philadelphia, $279,OO0; the
Charleston, $25OOOO, and the Newark
1884, 600
The most expensive item in running a
man-of-war is salaries. The pay for the
officers and men on the New York for
eleven months was $4,000 in round num-
bers. The cost of maintaining the engi-
neering department was the next heaviest
item. 1t included the coal bill, and $4,000
was required for the steam engineering
account. Communication of rations was the
next heaviest item, the figures for that
being SIS, 900. The sum of Sl097O was re-
quired for ordnance and Sj,492 was used
in equipment. For construction and re-
pair S6,143 was used, and the item of sup
plies and accounts required SIG, l55. Then
there was a lot of Incidental expenses,
! such as are charged to the navigation
| or the surgery accounts.
| The navy department has made many
/ changes recently in the system of keeping
| accounts A most thorough plan Of tab
] f1Ta e oil hot hn NJ
| in the statistics of the department is kept
| and at first sight the department would
| seem to be overwhelmed with figures ar
| ranged in scores OF tables. The coal con-
! sumption, for example of every ship Is
| tabulated for every condition of sailing,
and from a study Of these tables many
valuable data are obtained. and true econ
omy in that element of expense is Sc
| cured. Every kind Of supply is measured
out to the ships most carefully, and, al
| though there seems to be a confusing
amount OF red tape, It Is a kind of red
cerned, that pays.
! When a ship is in home waters supplies
are obtained from the storeho uses in the
| navy yards These supplies have been pur-
| chased mostly by contract In the fiscal
/ year of 1894 the contract supplies for the
navy cost S5,S21, $40. When contracts are
not made, or when ii is necessary to pur
| chase articles at once and without MAX
| ing acquisitions on the storehouses, sup
plies are secured by what is called open
| purchase. The paymaster of ship or the
| paymaster in charge of the supplies at
navy yard simply goes shopping for what
| ever is wanted, after he has written au-
thority to make a purchase, and what he
| spends goes onto the open purchase ac-
/ count. The number of articles required
/ for maintaining a navy is enormous. For
example, there are kept in the store
houses of the New York navy yard 10
fewer than 1900 kinds of articles used
for running the navy, and the value Of
these articles is about $4,000
| Whenever a ship needs supplies of any
| sort the captain and paymaster sign a
| requisition, which is countersigned at
| Washington, usually, and then the pay
master in charge of the stores at the most
| convenient station is ordered to fill the
requisition Each article is charged up 70
! the ship at the contract price. Sometimes
| it is necessary to have the goods shipped
/ to the vessel and sometimes an order is
| filled from several yards. An elaborate
| system of orders and receipts is kept, so
| that the complicated accounts of the de-
partment may be tabulated properly. " hen
in home waters the paymaster of a ship
has very little active buying to do. His
accounts, however, are just as compli-
Gated as when in foreign waters, but be
is relieved from many responsibilities that
When he is away from home the execu-
tive officer of the ship notifies him that
certain supplies are wanted The captain
signs the requisition, and then the pay
master makes an open purchase. If coal
is wanted he takes the chief engineer with
him when he goes shopping, and is guided
by the suggestions of the chief in making
his purchases. If some other kind Of
goods is needed he takes with him that
official of the ship whose department IS
most concerned, and the two decide as 10
price and quality. The paymaster of the
ship has at once the duties Of the quar-
termaster, paymaster and commissary in
the army. He has to see that the ships
exchequer is kept supplied with money,
and his work requires him to know con-
siderable of the complications of bank
ing and exchange. once a month he has
to have fresh supply of money, and in
his little safe there is often as much as
$40,0 900 or $4,000 at one time.
The paymaster Of a ship is a very i'm
portant man, therefore, in a foreign port
great and small. For every new ship the
navy department gets out what is called
an allowance book. II contains a list of
the articles and their number which a
board decides shall constitute the outfit
of the ship. These books are distributed
| IN the navy yards and on the ship itself
Food supplies for three months are sup
posed to be carried. other supplies are
supposed to last six months. The cruiser
Columbia, which has attracted 50 much
attention in foreign waters recently, re-
qu!res this food supply, az set forth IN the
allowance tSE,: Seven hundred and sixty
gallons Of beans, 1852 pounds Of timed
corn beef, 1.77G pounds OF timed roast