The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-13

made on board the following named
ships: Constellation, Coasters Harbor
! Island, near Newport, X. l.; Vermont,
navy yard, Brooklyn, n. Y; Wabash,
navy yard, Boston, Mass; Richmond,
| navy yard, League Island, Pa; and the
Independence, navy yard, Mare. Island,
| Cal.
&c. Apprentices are under the imme-
date supervision of the bureau of nav
/ igatiOn. Information regarding enlist
ment viii be furnished by that bureau
or by the commanding officers of the
above named ships.
p. Apprentices who are enlisted in
the east will be given a course of train
ing at Coasters Harbor Island, near
Newport, r. l., and those enlisted on
the Pacific coast at Mare Island, Cal,
I before bein gsent to sea.
IS. An apprentice may be allowed to
purchase his discharge from the ser
vice during the first IS months of en-
/ listment, upon the written request of
his parent or guardian, which request
must be made upon blanks. which will
/ be furnished, upon application, by the
/ bureau of navigation.
/ 20. Any apprentice discharged during
/ his minority at the request of his par
ert or guardian, must refund any in
I debtedness to the government and the
/ value of the outfit furnished him upon
enlistment. in addition to the cost of
/ his discharge.
Although the circular does not say so,
good apprentice boys chance for pro-
motion does not stop at petty officer"
1t must, however, be remembered that
to be a first class petty officer" in the
marine of the United States is by no
means a small honor. 1t represents a
good living and comes after much
harder work than has caused two
thirds of the commissioned officers of
the naval powers of the continent to re-
ceive their parchments.
There is open to such lad the posi-
ton of a warrant officer, and he has
every opportunity in case of war and
a sudden expansion of the naval de-
partInent to obtain a commission. "A
warrant officers pay at sea is 81, 800
quite a comfortable sum to earn
through the medium of the apprentice
system.
Grown men who want to enlist in the
navy must, in the first place, be native
Americans. Now and then a foreigner
with exceptional ability is taken on.
Only in rare instances men not citizens
of the country are shipped.
The doctor of the receiving ship to
which a man applies for admission de-
cides about his required physique, and
the recruiting officer of the same ship
which lays bare the very soul of the
applicant, not only with regard to his
professional ability, but his life's
history and his morals.
a man who has served in the navy
for a certain length of time, and has,
by his conduct, qualified himself for the
honor, gets what is called "a continuous
service certificate" This certificate en-
titles him to promotion over every out
slider Men holding such a certificate
are the ones most desired by the naval
powers, and they are most frequently
enlisted in the service. With such a
certificate in his pocket the man is ac-
tually entitled to enlistment, unless,
in the interim, his conduct has been
bad. The document is in itself a guar
anty of good character and most high
g priced by the pOssessor.
Only $500 men can serve in the navy
of the United States at a given time,
and with 70000,000 people to draw from.
it is not surprising that the naval SER
vice of the United States should be so
hard to enter.
The recruiting officer who examines
candidates has no regard for anything
except the benefit of the navy OF his
country. The man who wants TO be n
sailor because he can be nothing else
gets no sympathy from him. One of the
many he goes back, sometimes not
knowing wherein he has been short.
When a man enters the service by
way of Annapolis or Coaster Harbor
Island, naval officers consider that he
has chosen his career and will do the
best he can in the station in which he
is placed. The commissioned officer and
the enlisted man show each other great
respect, so long as they are both "all
right" They criticise each other
sharply, and the best friend a man be-
fore the mast has is a wardroom Off
GER, and a wardroom officers best
friend is the man before the mast To
get the best crew is the ambition of
every commander of a ship. and ne
would rather be short of men than have
a bad crew.
The United States navy stands pro-
eminent among the navies of the
world for having the best men before
the mast or abaft it. To belong to it
is a pretty good sign that one is
good man.