The Portland daily press., 1898-05-13

Rear Admiral Dewey and his men Will
not have been fully rewarded for thelr
victory at Manila when they receive 1he
thanks of the Congress and the meoais
ordered to be struck for them. Unaer bhe
law they have become entitled to rlch
bounty. Unless the numerical import
ance of the feet of Admiral Montl1o mas
been overestilnated, it's losses overstated,
the officers and men of the Asiatic squad
ron will be entitled to share among them,
when the time arrives for distribution,
something like s1s5 900 bounty money.
Section 1885 of the Revised Statutes OF
the United States, which is just Is good
as it was the day it was made law in
1864, provides: ga bounty shall be paid
by the United States for each person on
board any ship or vessel of war belong
ing to an enemy at the commencement of
an engagement which is sunk or other.
wise destroyed in such engagement by
any ship or vessel belonging to the United
States, or which it may be necessary to
destroy in consequences of injuries sus-
tanned In action, of 500. If the enemy's
vessel was of inferior force, and of $500 If
of equal or superior force, to be divided
among the officers and crew in the same
manner as prize money; and when the
acutal number of men on board any such
vessel cannot be satisfactorily asoertained,
it shall be estimated according to the
complement allowed to vessels of Its class
in the navy OF the United States; and
there shall be paid as bounty to the cap.
tors of any vessel of war captured from
an enemy, which they may be instructed
to destroy, or which is Immediately de-
stroyed for the public interest, but not
in consequence of injuries received in ac-
ton, $50 for every person who shall be on
board at the time Of such capture. /"
| According to the reports from Manila
the Spanish feet consisted Of ten or eleven
cruisers, gunhoats and torpedo boats,
with crews amounting in all to not less
than 1900 men. Admiral Montijo was un-
consciously increasing the bounty fund
with every vessel he sank, and Spain un-
doubtedly will have to pay for those losses
in making up the indemnify at the close
of the war. At SlC0 fer each man Of the
Spanish naval force the amount to be di-
vided among the American sailors will
be- $l87, 300 The vessels Of the United
States were, If anything, undermanned.
The numbers will be under rather than
over the following figures: Cruiser Olym-
pia, officers and men, 415; cruiser Balti-
more, officers and men, 1856; cruiser Bos-
ton, officers and men. 1856; cruiser Raj
eigh, officers and men, 222; guDboat Con-
cord, officers and men, 1893; gunboat Pc
trel, officers ands men, 1879; gunboat No
Culloch. officers and men, 100 Total,
1913.
The $1S7, 300 will be distributed to the
| feet under section 1881 of the Revised
| Statutes relating to prize money. Ad-
miral Dewey under that statute will get
one-twentieth Of the whole amount of
bounty awarded to his command. That
will give him $780, If he has fleet cap.
tain, or what passes for one, he will have
a share of something like $500. There
will be left to be distributed to the ves-
| sells Of the feet, according to their pay
rolls, about Sl75, 600. This will 60 to
seven ships, and in about the following
shares: Olympia, 5000; Baltimore,
| $40, 900; Boston, $25, 900; Raleigh, $a2, 900;
Concord. $50, 600; Petrol, $4,000; MoCul-
loch, $1,000.
| To the commander Of each single vessel
there will 60 one-tenth Of the amount
assigned to be distributed to that vessel
The commanders of the ships will get
amounts, respectively as follows: Cap-
tain E. V. Gridley, Olympia, S4500; Cap
tain N. M. Dyer, Baltimore. $4,000;
Captain Frank Wildes, Boston, $4,000;
Captain J. B. Coghlan. Raleigh, $4,000;
! Commander Asa Walker. Concord,
$1,000; Commander E. p Wood, Petrol,
$1,000; Captain d. E. Hodgsdon, McCul-
loch, $780, The amount to each seaman
will not be great. 1t ia believed that it