The times., 1898-04-05
The Personnel of the May.
From the Boston Transcript)

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
Navy Department. These show that al
| 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 Sur
! vey, LOIS. OF the men in the general
| service, 2,S45 We're petty officers. SO per
| cent of whom were citizens of the
United States, and more than As per
! cent natives. Taking the service en-
| tire, including some special branches
| we find "a per cent citizens and more
| than 81 per cent natives, as agains,
| about u per cent and 80 per cent re-
| spectively one year before; and more
| than II per cent of the remainder had
| declared their intention of becoming
| citizens. In pursuance of Secretary
| Longs policy of Americanizing the
! Navy, the latest instruction sent to re
! cruiting officers require them to enlist
as apprentices none but citizens.
Some little Importance has been Civ
! en- to this movement by the raising OF
| the question, what rights would be rec
| ogniZed, in such case as the Maine
| disaster for example, on the part of the
several governments to which alien en-
listed men owed allegiance, if any in
| demnity were to be paid and divided
| Tnder 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 il
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 ma
| val service similar to that which was
| enacted for the Army in July, 1862, pro-
| yided that any adult alien who has en-
| listed and been honorably discharged
| shall be admitted to citizenship with
out previous declaration Of intention or
proof Oh more than one. years resi-
dence; but thus far without avail. There
seems to lurk in the public mind a sus-
| picion that no material for making sea-
| men is SO good as American native
| stock This is not borne out by facts,
| in the judgment of some of our most
experienced naval officers. These eX-
perts commonly agree that although II
| is highly important that we should
have citizens of the United States COM
mand our ships-men whose natural
sense ooof 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 citi-
zen makes as good a sailor and some
! times little better. This is not so
much a question of ancestry as of early
| environment and training. The YAM
! kee borne is apt to have much more
| quickness of perception, promptness o:
| action, and general adaptability than
| his Br.ish-bor 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
| highly valuableon Where the Yankee
sailor knows all44is rights, and know
| ing, dares maintain, the foreign born
! sailor, ten chances ito one, has never
! set his sluggish Eaind 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 COM
| mon stock and to have had their traits
! differentiated wholly by their home
| surroundings and education; but the
| same difference is to be observed in
! even greater degree between Americans
| and sailors of any other nationality.
| While the native recruit, therefore, is
| always welcomed on the receiving ship,
| the foreign born citizen constitutes a
/ valuable leaven to distribute through
| out the lump, and all experienced ma
val officers recognize this fact.
/ There is another reason which gives
the naval officer a kindly feeling for the
| foreign-born sailor who has become
naturalized The sIatter's citizenship is
! of his own deliberate seeking, and his
| estimate of its value is liable to be
| higher than thatZMhich the native sets
| upon his involuntary heritage. Some
| of the most heroic conduct recorded in
! our naval annals has been that of mer
| born under another flag, but seeking
! service under ours through love of the
liberty it represents.
| The movement for AmericanizinS the
| Navy has gone on for several years. a
| glance over the roster of the old Brook
| lvn in 1885, for instance, shows only 13t
| Americans in a total of 236 bluejackets
and only 10 Americans in total of Al
| marines. At that time, although in
ducements 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 car
trace his American lineage back 10 tbs
| Revolutionary time or earlier was then
as he is now, rare bird in our nava
| service.
| other Islands TO Lose.