The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-06-09

this narrative for the purpose of penciling
down in parenthesis a few hard facts:
Compared with the lot of the man in other
ships the berth of the United States naval
seaman is berth in luxury so stepped in
richness and sweetness that one wonders
why he ever leaves it. Uncle Sam gives
him from $24 to $50 a month, while in
merchant vessel he gets from SIS to $40.
In the warship he is treated kindly and
asked to do tasks so simple that IL is the
wonder of a merchant officer how they
ever get anything done on the cruiser. In
the merchant clipper his title to humanity
is disputed and he tastes the dismal hor-
rors Of degradation that brushes down
upon him every hour of the voyage.
In the navy his wages are saved for him
and every effort is made to enlarge his
final "pay day." In the other service be
is robbed by the crimp who works under
permission OF the skipper, connived at by
the owners, who often divide the stealing
with the clearinghouse sharks. In the
navy a system of government banking is
established whereby a man is paid per
cent on his money while he is earning it
until his term of enlistment has expired
In the other service his money is kept
from him until a large sum is due, then he
is driven to desert, that all this pay may
go back to the ship-owners. Many cap
tains boast that they never pay off their
crews, but make it so hot for the poor
NIGICIeS lIdI Inty DIE Sldn W SEEK d cooler
place-and go through the same process
again and again.
And yet the writer has seen man Jump
war-vessel in a moment of childish dis
content, leaving $500 due him, and go on
board a merchant ship, leaving about $50
to the runners that robbed and shipped
him. He made the hard voyage around
the Horn and ran away in foreign port,
leaving over $50 on the books. He then
shipped in another vessel, passing through
the crimps again to the tune of $50. In
San Francisco he ran away, of course,
leaving $40, and presented himself at his
old ship, begging to be reinstated on board.
willing to take his punishment for deser-
ton. This brilliant financier of the sea
had been gone a little over twelve months
and had paid $3.50 for his trip to Europe.
This is the sailorman all over, and the
way he handles himself and his life. But
this narrative will now come back out of
the parenthesis and steer a straighter
course.
The sea lawyer, while he gives oceans of
advice, never accompanies his client to
1.-the mast" He only loads him up with
sections and paragraphs from the "blue
book" and from his place forward on some
ammunition-chest watches from afar the
accused in his forensic fight with the
powers that be.
1t matters not to the attorney at sea-law
that his client, following faithfully the ad-
vice of counsel. gets into the brig" the
place of seclusion and repentance, neither
does it discourage him in his loved labor
of filling his shipmates' mind with choice
gems of marine Jurisprudence. In this he
departs not far from his brother on shore,
who plucks victory as well as fee when
Judge and jury reverse his Interpretation
and Jail his man. On sea or land the
client locked up is only SO personally, not
legally, and if that satisfies counsel, who
has a professional reputation at stake, the
other has no real, tangible, substanti al
kick filed; moreover. sentiment enters
largely into the grumbling prisoners plea,
and sentiment is irrelevant, incompetent
and immaterial'-the everlasting warcry
of the warrior-lawyer.
Dave Clark was the most eminent marine
iurist that ever sat on a quarter-gunner s
chest and propounded sea law. Veneer
able, bald and beamy was Lawyer Clark.
who practiced on the decks of score of
ships during his eight and thirty years OF
naval service. The winds of five zones had
blown most of his hair away from the
upper part of his figurehead, but on his
great chin hung noble whisker that
laughed at the fury Of and humme1 ges0,