The Winslow mail., 1898-07-30
THE MEN OF OUR NAVY
More Than Half of Them Are Amer
ican Born,
Three-Fourths Are Citizens of This
Country and the Percentage Is
IncreasinE-Some Disti1G aish-
ting characteristics,

Of the enlisted men in the navy more
than half are native born Americans.
The popular idea does not correspond
with this truth. The Spanish, with the
pitiable ignorance of the Latin race,
have uttered their opinion that our
navy is manned by so many foreigners
that its fighting ability is way below
that of the magnificent and intensely
patriotic" Spanish navy. And once in
awhile an American echo of this senti-
ment is heard,
The cold mathematical fact is that of
the whole number of enlisted men in
the navy 81 per cent. are native born
Americans and "a per cent. are Ameri-
can citizens. Every year shows an i'm
provement, as is evident from the fact
that the corresponding figures of the
previous year show 50 and 72 per cent.
OF the men not citizens more than IL
per cent, have declared their intentions,
When the first thrill of indignation
swept over the country at the news OF
the blowing up of the Maine, some
Americans-save the mark-wrote let
ters to the New York papers saying
that such a fuss over 2e6 dead sailors,
most of them foreigners, was ridicu-
lous; that the men were paid for what
they did, and they died as a carpenter
dies who falls from his scaffold while
working.
But that official list of the navy de-
partment which gives the birthplace of
the men of the Maine-the list which
begins with John T. Adams, born in
Maryland. and ends with John II. Zieg
ler, born in New Jersey-shows that SO
per cent. of the Maine biuejackets were
born in the United States. The proper
tion of native born Americans on the
Maine thus is five per cent. higher than
in the navy at large.
In days when the navy was smaller
and we were more of a maritime nation,
New England furnished most of our
sailers. New Englanders were they
who made our glorious sea record in
the war of 1912. But the coasting and
fishing interests of the northeast are
not what they once were, With their
decadence and with the rising tide Of
immigration into the United States
came the preponderanee of foreigners
in the navy and army. The effect of
this wave is seen in the war of the re-
bellien, when, according to the south
ern view, the south was overcome by
the foreigners in the north, and to-day
the south asserts that it is the only
real simon-pure American section Of the
country. Within the last few years,
n aof1 cd of Hoc h II
to get Americans, either native or nat
uralized, into the military and naval
services, and the law now shuts out the
Hnnaturalized.
Fresh water sailors are welcomed in
the navy. Navigators of the great lakes
have peculiar qualifications for service
in the navy. The lakes are sudden and
frequent in their mpestuousness, and
TO keep afioat requires quick hand and
mind, besides fertility of resource. Aud
while the American sailor generally
learns easily and acts quickly, the sailor
from the lakes is the type of man in
tensified,
There is bravery in all nations. While
It would be hard to say that the Amer
lean sailor is more courageous than his
cousin, the Britisher, there is no doubt
that his makeup enables him 10 act
while the man across the sea is thinking
about what he shall do. The readiness
to learn, the premptness in doing ard
the unrivaled store ef resources are the
distinguishing characteristics of the
American which, aside from bis nativi-
~, make him especially valuable in the
navy.
The British sailor as a rule always
has been a sailor and nothing else, But
the American sailor may have been a
clerk before he entered the service, or
a machinist, or he may have been in
any Of dozen occupations, knowledge
of all of which is sure TO come in handy
some day.
Of all our naval crews probably the
one which is nearest Americanized is
that on the monitor Puritan. When she
was put in commission the effort was
made to officer and man her with Van
KEGS. and SO thoroughly has this been
done that she is known as the Yankee
Inan-of-war. 1t is estimated that to
Americanize the whole navy viii take
five or six years Chicago Times
Herald.