The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-19
ENLISTED SHYL0CKS.
MEN WHO LEND MONEY IN THE
ARMY AND NAVY.
They Always Make Big Profits Prey
Ing Upon the PrOdigaIity of Their
ACCOMPLISHMENTS of Detection.
From the washington Star.


less efforts to weed him out of both ser
vices have failed. He is sometimes sup
pressed for a period when his sense of
security becomes so heavy and insistent
that they can't be longer officially ignor-
ed, but he always hobs up serenely and
openly, after pursuing his Shylock-like
business on the quiet for time.
The enlisted banker is a soldier, sailor
or marine who wakes opulent on the
prodigalty of his fellows-not infre-
quently. indeed. upon the recklessness Of
his superior officers. He is money
lender who often gets rich at the ex-
pense of the spendthrifts in both services.
In the navy he is called a "six-for-five
man. the difference of one in the figures
Of the term indicating the interest he
charges for the loan of IS for month.
He could as well be called twelve-tor-
ten or twenty -four-for-twenty' man
known for on all the ships of the navy
his interest charges are the same. In
the army he is known as 1.-THE screw" or
the Shylock," and the degree of his
usury is variable, depending altogether
upon the comparative solvency of the
men who have permitted themselves to
become enmeshed in mis- net, and upon
their rank and standing as well. There
is not a single ship in the United states
navy that has not among its crew one or
more bankers There is scarcely a COM
pany, troop or battery in the United
States army whose muster roll does not
contain the names of one or more bank
ers.
The navy banker is in most cases the
-tavsp snf chi n "
masters yeoman is chief petty officer,
who acts as clerk and all-around assist
ant TO the paymaster and pay clerk, the
latter being an officer appointed for sim
gle cruises, who attends TO about seven
eighths of the paymaster's duties. Inc
paymaster's yeoman is the actual custo-
dian of a warship's money He attends
to the the bulk of the paymaster's cleri-
cal work. is paid $50 a month, and has an
accountant, in order to make out the In
Vulnerable paymaster's reports OF money
and stores served out demanded by the
navy department
In general the paymasters' yeomen who
are bankers, lend out their own money.
The paymaster's yeoman of gunboat
now on the Pacific station is said to have
made nearly $500 as a banker in the
course of two cruises, during which he has
worn the chief petty officers uniform as
a paymaster's striker" He is eau
tious Welshman, an Observation-Disclosures
Ga Jack-of- the-dust is a paymaster's yeo-
mans understrapper, who attends TO the
labor of serving out stores), and every
time he has been called to the mast by
the commanding officer to clear himself
of the charge of usury he has done 1t, he
has never undergone a days punishment
for his shylock work, and he will soon
retire from the navy to enjoy very talr
fortune at. a home which he has pur-
chased in Brooklyn And yet the sort OF
business by which he has gathered his
hoard is expressly forbNden in the regu-
lations of the navy
This man is a type of the navy money
maker. He not only engages in money
lending at enormous interest, but he is a
ships puryeyor. He has charge of the
payrnasters storerooms, as all paymas-
ters' yeoman do, and, when his ship is
about to start off on a cruise, he loads
these storerooms up with canned eatables,
scores of boxes of them, and then stands
by until the ship puts in at starvation
port" like those of Central America, on
the west coast, for instance, where de-
cent food for the enlisted mems messes
cannot be had for love or money. Then
comes this yeoman's opportunity. He
breaks out his canned goods and sells
them to the bluejackets and marines for
from Is to 30 cents per can-stuff for
which he has paid on the average about
| 5 cents per can. There is a great
| amount of money in this business, for
the hungry saiIorman is bound to feed
himself if he can, especially if he may
| do it on credit-and the yeoman only col
| lects for his canned goods when monthly
| money Is served out. For very obvious
reasons this paymaster's yeoman suffers
! great wretchednesS of mind and soul
when his ship is ordered to ports where
| good food is cheap.
This ships purveying, however. which
| is, of course, strictly forbidden, and
which the officers rarely know anything
about, is only side issue of the paymas-
ter's yeomans regular business of money
| lending. No matter how much money
| man-of-wars men draw from the pay
master each month, about three-fifths OF
them are pretty certain to go broke
within a week after pay day. One shore
liberty sufices to empty the pockets OF
| most of them. Then, for while, when
the ship is in port. where joy is to be
found these spendthrifts watch the more
saving men go over the gansway on lib
! erty and become restless. They want To
CO. too, but they have no money. and a
shore liberty without at least one piece OF
! gold in his pocket is something the blue
! jacket can't see through. Finally his
| longing for the delights of the beach
| takes complete possession of him, and
| there is then nothing for him to do but to
make a visit to the pay office, aft for
| negotiations with the ship s banker. II
he abides in the bankers good graces he
comes away happy, the little bag around
| his neck under his shirt, a-clink; but it,
on the contrary. his time is nearly out
or If, at any time in his whole naval ca
reer, he has ever been guilty of a little
backwardness in settling his accounts with
! shipmates, he is likely to come away
| glowering. Thebankers won't lend money
to men whose financial historiesGhe details
! of which they know thoroughly are
clouded by the least stima of doubt. 1t
| is for reasons such as these that the
| bankers seldom get left.
The bluejacket who gets $40 gold piece
from the banker pays the latter 81 at the
time monthly money is served out The
| bankers collecting time, after the men
have all drawn their money. is a business
period during which an immense amount
| of work is accomplished with no noise
whatsoever The banker doesn't 60 af-
| ter the men on the ship who owe him
| money. They come to him at his Office
| the paymasters Office. They come fur
lively, with glauces around for officers,
for they don't want TO give away the ma
ture of their business. They have the