The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-06-18

men. OF the new recruits probably two
hundred and fifty will be apprentices,
and If it is found difficult to get "a.
b. 's''-men who have a practical expe-
rience and knowledge of navigation
that number may be increased, AS a
rule men who have served their time as
apprentices on board ship are much
more useful and efficient than the
"fresh-water sailors" the sea law
yers" and the roustabouts that are
picked up on the docks, The latter
have great deal to unlearn before
they make good men-of-wars men.
1t is the same Way with cadets who
enter West Point from private military
schools, or preparatory schools in which
military tactics are taught, unless their
instructors happen to have been regular
army officers. The most of them come
with lot of what the professors call
false knowledge" that has to be got
out of them before the true stuff can go
in. In other words, it is necessary for
them to forget much that they have ac-
CURED from teachers whose methods do
not conform to West Point standards.
The "fresh-water sailors" or the
crews of merchant ships, find the disci-
| pine of a man-of-war very irllsome af-
ter the independent, "devil-may- care"
| life they have lived under the authority
of lenient or incompetent captains.
Their free-spoken retorts, which may
have amused an ordinary skipper,
would be considered insolence by the
naval officers, and forecaste habits
once formed are difficult to change.
The naval officers prefer men who have
| had experience in the regular service or
brawny boys. of seventeen or eighteen
who have never been at sea.
Stewardship has become trade like
blacksmithing, bricklaying or painting.
The man-of-w wars man must be a me-
chanic to perform useful service upon
the modern cruisers and battleships,
which are filled with complicated ma
chinery and apparatus. All the work
aboard ship nowadays, except swab-
bling the decks and polishing the brass,
is done by steam and electricity, even
to hoisting sails where there are amy
and carrying ammunition to the guns
The regular recruiting agencies of the
navy are at the Brooklyn navy-yard,
the Portsmouth navy-yard. opposite
Norfolk, and the Mare Island yard. near
San Francisco, but Senator Cullom and
NilG &lllNd6Q uGlG5dlAOll nave dShGQ lllG
Secretary Of the Navy to open a recruit
ing office at Chicago, He will probably
do 80, and perhaps at Cleveland or Buff
falo also, and one may be opened at st.
Louis, so as to give the boys of the west
chance.
The evolution in naval armament has
caused a marked change in the person.
mel of the service. The old-fashioned
deck-hand is obsolete, and, although a
large majority Of the seamen and petty
officers are still OF foreign birth. the
modern marine machines offer agreea-
BILE duty for Intelligent American me-
chanics, for whom the ancient wooden
steamers and sailing-shlps had no at
fractions. The few sailing vessels re-
naming in the navy are used for stor-
age or for receiving and training ships
in which green men are given instruc-
tion.
The navy still ships ordinary seamen
at wages ranging from sixteen to TWEEN
ty-four dollars a month, but few Amer
lean lads will enlist for that sort of SER
vice. The greater portion of the crews
upon the modern cruisers and battle
ships are artifcers, mechanics, gunners,
engineers, electricians, firemen and 9TH
ers whose duties require intelligence.
education, experience and mechanical
skin, and who receive from thirty to
eighty dollars d month and rations,
which is equivalent to two and three
dollars a day on shore. Machinists are
paid seventy dollars, electricians seven
ty-five dollars, boiler-makers sixty dol
lars, blacksmiths fifty dollars, plumbers |
fifty dollars, flremen and others thirty |
and forty dollars a month.
A lad of fifteen who enters the service |
as a third-class apprentice at nine dol |
lars a month and IS given couple of |
years training upon school-ship may |
then be rated as an ordinary seaman at !
sixteen dollars, and If he proves compe- |
tent, an "a. b., or able-bodied seaman, |
two years later at twenty-four dollars |
Then, If he Is studious and attentive |
and shows zeal and efficiency, he may
learn a trade that can be followed at |
good living wages afioat or ashore. /
And there is no better training, nor Is
there any branch Of industry in which |
merit is so promptly recognized and re-
warded.
The cream rises to the top in the navy
more rapidly and surely than In any |
other occupation, and the discipline en-
talent as 1t discourages tndo-
lence and incompetency a man who
shows himself competent to assume re-
sponsibilty is always given the prefer
ence, and one who proves incompetent |
ID seldom trusted again, Naval officers
complain that 1t Is difficult to keep |
good men in the navy. A well-trained |
sailor who has served his apprentice
ship and has shown a high degree OF
efficiency as q machinist or an electri-
clan is Invariably persuaded to accept
some position on shore at the end of his
first years enlistment. This is especial
Iy true of skillful electricians, for whom
there is a constant demand. It is diff
cult to keep them on a ship as they can
get better pay ashore after Uncle Sam
las given them a thorough training.
are always on the lookout
Tor good men with naval training, and
many of the best hands at Cramps
Yards in Philadelphia have served their
lime at sea.
For this reason congress has enacted
avs to encourage good men to remain
n the service, although the wages paid
aeA @NA%A I'M