The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-07-21
YANKEE SEAMEN BEST.

py procession and observation, are pest qualified to speak. They are unani- mously of the opinion that the Ameri- can sailor is the best sailor in the world. There is no "buncombe" in this. Their opportunities for comparison have been unlimited. They state Judgement maturely formed. Not much sentiment enters into modern war. but the nation would like to see none but Americans on guard if it can be brought about. The men gathered upon the upper deck of the Trenton in the great Samoan storm, listening to the band play Hall Columbia" and cheering the Stars and Stripes as it foated over them for the last time, did a deed whose recital stirs blood like a trumpet's 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 prefer to know that they were all American born. The chief difficulty to be en- countered by the secretary and his aids lies in the fact that it is hard to induce Americans to enlist. So many avenues promising better things are open to &C., tive men in this country that they have turned to the sea as a last resort
 The American navy, as at present constituted, numbers about twenty-five thousand men, exclusive of the commits stoned officers. Recruits" "landsmen" they are called-are paid nine dollars and half a month and rations. They enlist for three years and are at once placed under rigid discipline. There is no nonsense about It. After passing the strictest of physical examinations examinations which show that they are fitted for hard work and hard service they begin the treadmill, and 1t Is no child's play. The sailor cooped be- tween decks is much more under the eye of his officer than a 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 en- lists for second term with 'tcontinu- ous service certificate" he is classed as an ordinary seaman, and his pay is in- creased to eleven dollars and a half per month. Later on he will get twelve dollars and a half.
 The average age of the American navy man is twenty-seven years. He Is enlisted mostly at New York Boston,
 Philadelphia, Norfolk and Mare Island
 or San Francisco. It is fact not gen. orally known that by far the best men come from the lake region. Physically they are of superb type. Navigation on the lakes Is peculiar. There is little sea room. Squalls are quick and
 storms violent. These conditions de-
 mand fast action on the part of men who brave the elements on the unsalted
 seas. The lake seaman is quick-witted.
 He is of ready decision. He is never able to divest himself of his early train-
 ing, and, though in the middle Atlantic, if given an order will spring instantly to it's execution. The constant facing
 of danger makes him brave man be- fore he joins the service, and the minor
 details of navigation are, of course, fa-
 miliar to him. He keeps, too, 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 enduring Furthermore, translation from the wheat fleet of Lake Michigan to the quarters of a man-of-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 pro- duced sailors whose equals the world has never seen. It no longer gives them to us, because the school itself has become almost a thing Of the past. The present fleet is not one-twentieth of its former size. The men who manned it in the old days are dead or retired,
 and their sons have found other ways of making living, but in it's time it
 was a wonder. From this school came
 the sailors who astonished the world in | 1872, 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 fifteen on | the New England coast will make voy- | ages while asleep that would deter older men with their senses about them, The sons of MT. Kipling's Captains Coura- l geous, though few in number, give ev- | idence of their blood They no longer sail the clippers that showed their heels | to the vessels of the earth, but they are fully competent to do it on call
 | The American according to the testl- | mony of experts, is not braVer sea
 man than the Englishman, but ne IS a | better seaman He will execute all or der while man from the older country | is thinking about it. He will do Jop of knotting or splicing while the Brlt- isher is getting his tools. He IS more | intelligent and will learn twice as idst. Because of the climate that mas olesseu
 him and his progenitors and because ol | the conditions under which they ana ne
 have lived, he is faster on his rect III
 months time he will have at HIS in-
 gers ends that which will take the lof-
 eigner a year to learn partly. The req
 son for this is apparent. In nine cases
 out of ten the British sailor mas peeh
 always a sailor. That is all ne hlloWs
 and all he cares to know. The Aiileii-
 can recruit may have been laWSel VI
 a doctor, or book agent, used to iiiNd
 ding homes and selling people tiiilgs
 for which they have no earthly use; III
 spite of this, he is amenable 10 olscl- pllne. Three months on shippoaL ,,- U takes the cockiness out of hitn' ihe