The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-24
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AMERICAN SEAMEN.
Some Interesting Facts About the
Jack Tnrs of the Navy.
From the Chicago Times.Herald.

From the Chicago Times-Herald.
Secretary Long intends to reorganize the
personnel of the American navy This wiu
meet with the approval of his countrymen
in general and of naval officers in par
tieular. These gentlemen, by profession
and observation, are best qualified to
speak. They are unanimously of the opin-
ion that the American sailor is the best
sailor in the world. There is no bun
combe" in this, Their opportunities for
comparison have been unlimited. They
state a judgment maturely formed Not
much sentiment enters into modern war,
but the nation would like to see none
but Americans on guard II Ii can be
brought about The men gathered upon
the upper deck of the Trenton in the
great Samoan storm, listened to the band
play Hail Columbia" and. cheering the
stars and stripes as 1t foated over them
for the last time, did a deed whose recital
stirs the blood like a trumpets call but
something of glory and beauty is taken
from the picture when it is learned that
one-third of them were foreigners. They
were brave, whatever their country, and
they knew how to die, but we would pre-
fer to know that they were all American
born. The chief difficulty to be encoun-
tered by the secretary and his aids lies
in the fact that 1t is hard to induce Amer
leans to enlist. so many avenues prom
Using better things are open to active men
in this country that they have turned to
the sea as a last resort.
The American navy, as at present consti-
tuted, numbers about $4,000 men, exclusive
of the commissioned officers. Recruits
''landsmen' they are called-are paid $3.50
month and rations. They enlist for three
years and are at once placed under a rigid
discipline. There is no nonsense about il.
After passing the strictest of physical ex-
neutrality-suspicious. which show
that they are fitted for hard work and
hard seryice-they begin the treadmiu,
sand it is no child's play The sailor cooped
between decks is much more under the
eye OF his officer than private in the
ranks, and is compelled therefore to walk
much straighter line. He lives plainly,
is forced to keep good hours, is not given
shore leave" any oftener than is good
for him. and consequently improves in
health and morals. This life makes more
of man of him, but he does not amass
money. If he enlsts for a second term
with continuous service certificate" he
is classed as an ordinary seaman, and his
pay is increased to $11.5O per month. Later
on he will get $3.50.
The avEage age of the American navy
man is q years. He is enlisted mostly at
New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk
and Mare Island, or San Francisco. 1t is a
fact not generally known that by far the
best men come from the lake region. Phys
ically they are of superb type. Navigation
on the lakes is peculiar. There is little
sea-foom. Squalls are quick and storms
violent. These conditions demand fast ac-
ton on the part of men who brave the ele-
ments on the unsalted seas. The lake sea-
man Is quick-witted. He is Of ready de-
cision. He is never able to divest himself
of his early training, and, though in the
Middle Atlantic, If given an order will
spring instantly to It's execution. The con-
slant facing of danger makes him a brave
man before he joins the service, and the
minor details of navigation are, of course,
familiar to him. He keeps, too, a much
sharper lookout than his comrades from
other sections Of the union. After few
winters spent in the northwest he laughs
at exposure in other climes. He is endur-
ing. Furthermore, translation from the
wheat fleet of Lake Michigan to the quar-
ters of a man-of-w war seems like heaven to
him.
Formerly the best of our seamen were
obtained from the fishing fleet of the New
England coast. That school produced sail
ors whose equals the world has never seen.
1t no longer gives them to us because the
school itself has become almost thing of
the past. The present fleet is not one
twentieth of its former size. The men
who manned 1t In the old days are dead
or retired, ana their sons have found
other ways of making living, but In its
time 1t was a wonder. From this school
came the sailors who astonished the world
In 1912, who showed the bulldog strain of
their ancestry when, stripped to the waist
and blood bespattered, they stood to the
leaping guns under the eye of Decatur.
Even now boys OF Is on the New England
coast will make voyages while asleep that
would deter older men with their senses
about them. The sons of Mr. Kipllng's
Captains Courageous" though few in
number give evidence OF their blood. They
no longer sail the clippers that showed
their heels 20 the vessels Of the earth but
they are fully competent to do It on call.
The American, according TO the testi-
mony Of experts, Is not a drawer seaman
than the Englshman. but he Is a better
seaman. lie will execute an order while
a man from the older country is thinking
about II. He will do job of knottng or
splicing while the Britisher Is getting his
tools. He is more intelligent and win
learn twice as fast. Because of the cli-
mate that has blessed him and his pro-
genitors and because OF the conditions I'M
der which they and he nave lived. he Is
faster on his feet. In a months time ne
will have at his fingers ends that which