The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-03-06
THE B~LUEJACKETS A G
TARs VINO SAVE THEIR MONEY! OR
SEND n HOME.

Good Dons by Tars with Their Money.
WASHINGTON. March 5.-Thc Bureau Of Ac-
counts Of the Navy Department has the heavy
Job under way Of settling the money accounts
OF the blueiackets and marines whose lives were
lost in tho Maine disaster. Tho amount In.
volvod Is large. Fully four-hfths OF tho mem.
bers of an American man-of.war's crew carry
at least q portion Of their pay on the paymnsters'
',ooks from the beginning OF n three years cruise
until the ond Of II. The green mon, Just be-
ginning their ma val service do not, as a rule,
perceive at the outset the desirability OF laying
up any of their wages. But when they begin
to notice men whose cruises have ended laying
aft to the nayamstcr's Office to take possession
of the goodly piles Of money accumulated by
the exercise of no great amountsof self-deniai
during q three-year stunt. they usually profit by
the example. and begin to sct by q portion Of
their monthly money themselves. The mon
forward on an American man-of-war never
como into possession Of tho money they save
with the paymaster until their enlistmcnts are
up. Before monthly money is served out the
officers OF divisions make the rounds among
their men and draw up lists setting forth the
portion of his pay each man wants to draw
and the portion he wants to carry on the
books. Tho latter sum is placed to the blue
Jackets ar marines credit on the paymaster's
books, and II draws interest at tho rate OF 4 per
cent. until the end Of the cruise. when no 10 paid
of in full. A considerable majority of the
men who lost their livos In the Maine wreck had
comfortable sums Of money thus represented on
tho Names paymaster's books, and the amount
of each of these deposits forms n part of the
records OF the Navy Departments Bureau Of
Accounts, naval paynasters boIng required to
make monthly returns of such deposits.
The still heavier and moe complicated task
OF settling with the victims heirs-at-law for the
personal gear Of the men lost In the wreck will
soon be undertaken. The heirs will certainly
receive from the Government checks that will
fully cover the v ,lue OF this personal property
in every instance. The Bureau of Accounts
has on file a separate list OF the personal pos
sessions of every man forward in the naval SER
vice OF the United States, and these lists arc
corrected by ships writer's, under the super.
vision Of executive officers, every three months.
This personal belongings check system was
not in operation at the time OF tho Samoan
naval disastor, and tho department oonse.
quontly found itself In something of o predica-
mcnt when II came to settling with the men
forward and with the heirs OF stho victims for
the loss of their personal gear. Tho men who
manned tho lost mcn-of-war at the time Of the
disaster in Apia harbor united in filing claims
against the Government for the loss OF a really
monumental lot of stuff such as sailors on war
ships are not as n rule ommonl possessed of.
Only about one bluejnckct in twenty in Uncle
Sans navy, for example, is tho posscssor of n
gold watch, yet the number Of gold watches
that are now, according TO the reading of these
Samoan disaster claims, reposing ON Apia's
coral reefs is very largo. Again. only about
half o dozen men in each m an-of-wa- ships
company carry deck sewing machines as part
Of their gear. tho men who own the machines
fashion Clothing. chiefly uniforms Of White, Tor
their shipnatCs. Yet quite a number Of the
men forward who were in the Samoan disaster
seemed to be posscssors Of sewing machines.
according to the claims they filed with the
Navy Department. All of these claims were
accordance with the very letter OF The claims,
no items of the lists being stricken off either by
the Bureau Of accounts Or BY tho Treasury
final arbitcr in such matters. 1t was consid-
cred no doubt that men who passed through
cane ut Apia were likcly to err somewhat in
making inventories from memory. and nobody
,ntsr posed. any RP Pro- p against Inst the sner settling ntiGn ,S Of
samoan disaster tho Bureau OF Accounts had
forms printed for the quarterly listing Of the
possessions of the men on war vessels.
only n comparatively small lumber OF the mon
who went down in the Maine wreck were mar
rieI. The receiving ships do not accept naval
recruits who are married. and most OF the married
bluciackets i'll the American naval service en-
barked on the sea OF m~ntrimony after their en-
LiU i ooC WV AN oAitpuiC tbC
fact from the recruiting officers on the receiv-
ing ships that they were married. Some mon
ariny, q from sgao Stormy n 'n natrimsoni Ia hi Ses. and these csc
men. knowing that they stand no show OF ac-
coptance il thoy confess to the soft impeachment.
married." Is asked them. Nothing is done in
the way Of punishment to such mon when, II
few months after their enlistment. they begin
to forw ard portions OF their wages to their wives
through the paymasters. j.,
The married men; as a general thing. send
most Of their monthly money to their wives
OF the chief petty officers, in tho United States
pay ranges from $50 to $75 a month, with ho-
muses. for continuous SERVICE, their wives re.
E %asfor comt9P5sh ., i tSs CHINA rs stssjo is a. a CHIEF 1ss
present time who has not seen his wife.
who lives in Brooklyn. for twelve years. He
ducc his wife to move to Japan for years past.
But she likes brooklyn. and 30 there Is II good,
n nf lis i %ss as"alq 3he m IN ths tiamalyhi has n resnisr 1ll
sent his wife $50 a month of his pay, and hts
boys have become mon and gone TO work for
thomaelves, and two OF his daughters have
grown into young women. got married. and had
children born 70 them since he last saw them as
terat-arms will probably return to the United
States in a few months and finish his naval ca.
reer on the North Atlantic station.
Only chief petty officers or f~rst-ratc petty
officers in tho American naval service can af-
ford to, maintain wives. and those who do get
companionship % their wives for IA couple or
months at tho conclusion of thei. three. year
cruises have to keep their noses pretty close TO
the Grindstono to make ends meet at homo. In
the cities contiguous to all American navy
yards there arc attractive young women who
have the discernment to regard a MARRIAGE
with a chief petty officer or first.rate petty Off.
Ger in the United S aies Navy as q clever ar.
ranEcment from n pecuniary point of view. aud
many of Uncle Sans minor naval officers are
badly bitten by odvanturesses who marry
them solely for, tho purpose of securing q steady
Income. The older men among tho petty OIL
GERS get the worst Of II, as u rule, in this way.
Like the old pensioners Of the civil war whose
vary yOung widows havo lately been the subject
the old. time petty officers are inveigled into
matrinony by schening young women, and
when they 20 off of their cruises thoy instruct
their paymasters TO forward threo-quarlcrs of
their monthly money to their wives. In very
many cases, when hoy return TO- tho ports at
wives, they find them missing.