The Winslow mail., 1898-05-21
MAKEUP OF THE NAVY
Many Of Our Good Men Are Foreign
Born.
But the Majority Are Native Ameri-
cans and the Governing Policy
FavOrs Americanixing
the Service.

There are records which are very
carefully made up from the returns OF
the recruiting officers and kept on file
in the bureau Of navigation at the war
department. These show that at the
close of the fiscal year 1897, when the
last statistics were summarized, the
number of men in the general service
was S,6S5, and in special service, includ-
ing fish commission and coast survey,
1,018, Of the men in the general serv-
ice 2,845 were petty officers, SO per cent.
of whom were citizens Of the United
States, and more than 48 per cent. ma
tives. Of the remaining 5,840 about 70
per cent. were citizens and So per cent.
natives. Taking the service entire, in
Guiding some special branches, we find
"A per cent. citizens and more than 54
per cent. natives, as against about 72
per cent, and SO per cent, respectively,
one year before; md more than IL per
cent. of the remainder had declared
their intention of becoming citizens.
In pursuance of Secretary Longs pol
ICY of AmericaniZing the navy, the
ldlGSG luStI uClIOI0 oShS ~ AN~-
officers require them to enlist as ap-
prentices none but citizens.
Some little importance has been
given to this movement by the raising
of the question, what rights would be
recognized, in such case as the Maine
disaster for example, on the part of the
several governments to which alien en-
a11 sc
demnity were to be paid and divided.
Under ordinary circumstances, un-
doubtedly foreign governments would
generally share the feeling expressed
by the diplomatic representatives Of
Japan, of confidence that the govern
ment temporarily employing the men
would see that their dependent families
were remembered in the distribution,
regardless of their nationality: but it is
possible to imagine complications aris-
ing in which the status of these men
might cause embarrassment, and it
would be better on general principles
to have one rule applied throughout the
service. Efforts have been made to
procure legislation in behalf of the
HAWAI- SSTNlCC W l1ldI WHICH w N>iS
enacted for the army in July, 1862, pro-
viding that any adult alien who has en-
listed and been honorably discharged
shall be admitted to citizenship with
cut previous declaration of intention or
proof of more than one years resi-
dence; but thus far without avail.
There seems to lurls in the public mind
+o,- io1 FOR, alr Cr
seamen is so good as American native
stock. This is not borne out by facts,
in the judgment of some of our most eX-
perienced naval officers. These ex-
perts commonly agree that although
il is highly important that we should
have citizens of the United States COM
mand our ships-men whose NATURAL
sense of loyalty to the government
would not be questioned, and whose
material interests would point in the
same direction, since they would have
no other government to appeal to in
time of trouble, yet the adopted citizen
makes quite as good sailor and some
times little better. This is not so
much question of ancestry as of early
kee-born is apt to have much more
quickness of perception, promptress of
action and general adaptability than
his Dritish-born cousin, for instance;
but on the other hand the duller Briton
is apt to have been trained in the school
of Difference to superiors and unreason-
ing obedience, which on the sea prove
hioh1x- valuable INHora tha Won
sailor knows all rights, and knowing,
dares maintain, the foreign-born sailor,
ten chances to one, has never set his
sluggish mind to studying the laws of
his own status. The British sailor has
been mentioned in contrast with the
American merely because they may be
assumed to spring from a common
stock and to have had their traits diff
ferentiated wholly by their home sur
roundings and education; but the same
difference is to be observed in even
greater degree between Americans and
sailors of any other northern nation
ality. While the native recruit, there
fore, is always welcomed on the receiv-
ing ship, the foreign=bern citizen con-
throughout the lump, and all expert
enced naval officers recognize this fact.
The movement for Americanizing the
navy has gone on for several years. A
glance over the roster of the old Brook
lyn in 1885, for instance, shows only
LOG Americans in total of 236 blue
jackets, and only Is Americans in a to-
tai of 40 marines. At that time, al
though inducements were held out to
native Americans to enter the service,
of those who did enter by far the larger
part had escaped being foreign born by
only one generation. The Yankee who
can trace his American lineage back to
revolutionary time or earlier was then,
as he is now, rare bird in our naval
service.-Boston Transcript.
Too Much Realism.
An enterprising young Portuguese
composer, who dreams of founding a