Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-06-04

Spanish sailors forward are i'll treated
habitually by their officers This is not q
prcjudiced or an exaggerated statement.
1t Is literally true. The officers of the
Spanish navy are for the most part youn-
ger sons Of good families who have gained
their billets not by ability nor through
competition, but through the intercession
Of their people at the court The incapac-
1ty OF many of them Is laughable. Their
cruelty Is notorious. From the very day
that n Spaniard is enlisted in the ships
company of one Of his country's war YES
sels-enlisted voluntarily or involuntarily
he Is made to feel that he is no better
than beast. For the slightest infraction
of regulations he is punished in fashion
that makes his fellow bluciackets in nayics
like oar own Or that OF Great Britain
flush with anger The central and con-
Stunning idea of the Spanish naval officer,
says writer In the New York sun, is that
all hands forward aro his servants. There
is absolutely nothing Of this in the Amer
lean navy. Once in awhile when an
American ship is ut sea for considerable
period in tropical waters and all hands,
fore and aft, arr wearing white uniforms,
an officer will pay mess attendant for
scrubbing one OF his uniforms and hang
ing tout on the scrub and wash line. The
officer who requests u man to do anything
like this stands by to have the man refuse.
1t Is thu mans privilege to refuse outright
to perform such task for money or other
wise, but II he accepts the job he is well
paid for IL. In the Spanish navy every
man forward, from the chief petty officers
down TO the unrated landsmcn, stand by
for trick us Wallets for all the officers aft
They arc not asked to wash the officers
linen; they nre not requested to blacken
the officers shoes or pipcclay their belts
they ne commanded to do these things
and tasks more menial, more repugnant
to men of self respect, and the slightest
Indication OF hcsitancy on the part of a
blucjacket Is visited by heavy punishment
When u Spanish officer gets il in for a
chief petty officer for any real or fancicd
cause, he does not Immediately undertake
TO secure the petty officers disratng. In
stead he begins Systematically 10 humil-
ute the petty officer. He calls him vile
names In the hearing of the unratcd blue
Jackets and not infrcqucntly Kicks him
He calls him aft, especially when the petty
officer Is showing n party of women visit
ors about the ship, and orders him to
blackcn his shoes right in sight of all
hands and all the visitors on the main
deck. The writer Wa visitor on board
Spanish gunboat ut CadiZ few years
ago and saw chief petty officer the
ships signal Quartcrmaster, treated in
this manner by a junior lieutenant. FL
nally after the Spanish officer who con-
n ,tf,. hoe
ed and Inundated the man for weeks or
months at n stretch he cooks up set of
charges against the wretch and has the
man court martialcd and reduced from his
rating TO that of an ordinary seaman.
The Spanish blucjackct, standing at at
tention during the progress of drill, may
never know when he is To get the fiat or
even the edge of sword across his back,
welded by an officer Of somewhat impul-
sive disposition, as Blanco might describe
an officer who would order the massacre
of the inmates of hospital maintained by
Cubans. Spanish bluejackets have been
known to be manned for life by such Wis
itations of wrath on the part of officers.
The regulation and approved Iuinishments
prescribed for the correction" Of offend
ers aboard ship In the Spanish navy COM
monty render their victims incapable Of
performing any sort of labor either ashore
or afloat after they have been thoroughly
through the mill.
The stanchion punishment is employed
for the most trivial offenses in the Spanish
navy. The bluejackct who breaks his lib
erty by few hours knows that he is in
for the stanchion lash when he returns
aboard. The Spanish sailors who deserted
their ships by the score in New York at
the time Of the centenary celebration in
1889 Were most of them liberty brcakers
who after having got Whit of freedom
could not muster up the nerve 10 return
10 their ships to get the stanchion lash.
The man who is 20 minutes late i'm return
ing from his leave OF absence from a Span
lsh man % war gets as many cat o. nine
tail blows on his bare back, while his
wrists are securely dashed to stapchion,