The San Francisco call., 1898-04-03
RECRUITING MEN
 FOR THE NAVY
EveY-Day Scene in the Office Where All Sorts of Men Are Volunteering for Service on Uncle Sams
 New Battle Ships
New BattIe-S -Ship ps.

medical examination that Is the only one required for coal paSserS.
 Send this man in, MT. Barr" and Jack went in to strip to the skin and be weighed. measured and thumped, to show his teeth, read letters across the room, name colors and let the surgeon record every identifying mark and cer- tify that he was up to the unrelentlng standard of almost perfect physical manhood that measures every last man that rides the sea for Uncle Sam.
 Here, Peters, the doctor passes you. Let's see what you know" said Officer Barr to a waiting candidate for sea mans berth Whats a topgallant m'st?" Whats the opposite of east by south?" A minute of such ques- tioning and then Peters sat down and reeved a purchase and tied strange knots that bind where the salt spray flies and then he picked up marlin spike and spliced two cable ends with a mastery that backed up his account of his sea experience.
 Three minutes is enough for sea man to prove his seamanship to a sea- man. and then Peters in 1898 was not enlisting for a frigate under Captain Hull and a seaman's examination isn't what it used to be when the engine room was aloft and when stray zephyrs gave guns their quarry.
 The clerk had a bunch of papers ready and six waiting men who had been passed were summoned to a table. The decisive moment has come for you, lads. There's a minute yet in which to retreat.
 Here, Murphy, we haven't got the name of a relative in your record yet" said the clerk to brawny fellow with an unshaven face and seedy clothes.
 T haven't got any relatives I can give, sir
 Well, give the name of some friend. We've got to have somebody to send your dead body to in case you die, you sec" was the kind and cheerfully mat ter-offact explanation to Murphy
 The long articles of agreement were perfunctorily read to each man in turn, a dreary job to the clerk, and there was reverent seriousness in the atti- tude of each raw recruit as he listened to the hard and fast covenant with Un- cle Sam which includes section 1422 of the Revised Statutes
 Now put your name here, Murphy" and Daniel Murphy" Is laboriously in- scribed on a blank line in a big six page document
 And now here in this book And now in this book"
 T didn't get that quite on the line," says Murphy, apologetically, as the job
 
 columns.
 That's all right, Murphy You be- long to Uncle Sam now and you've got a days pay coming to you" says the good-natured clerk. Be here at 8 o'clock to go to Mare Island"
 And so a bunch of six more defenders were added to Uncle Sams force and so the rapid, decisive routine of ac- ceptance and rejectment of men went on through the day.
 They're coming in faster than we con take care of them," explains Officer Barr in a. moment of leisure. About a hundred a day come in and we accept about twenty-five"
 Seamen and coal pasSers are quickly examined and accepted or rejected at the rendezvous. The navy wants skilled labor these days. It wants maehinists. boilermakers, blacksmiths, etc, for the fighting machine of to-day is a big ma- chine shop, supplied with everything but big shop machinery. And it wants engineers and firemen as well as sea- men and coal beavers.
 An engineer is at the rendezvous to examine skilled laborers and when they pass this and the rigid medical ex- animation they are sent to the shops at Mare Island for another examine tion by foremen and engineers there. for Uncle Sam wants none not masters Ol u oueS. VI CouiSe tIle ShlIleQ laDOr enlisted is all for ships. The men in the navy yard shops are merely hired as civilians.
 He passed me quick" said Jack Kelso. jubilantly, twelve minutes after he went into the surgeon. And in if teen minutes more Jack had made the covenant with a jolly joke.
 He sobered up and told why he went into the navy.
 Now, I'm giving up salary of e12 50 a week, he explained. But I got tired of San Francisco and just thought that