The record-union., 1898-09-19
PERSONNEL OF THE NAVY.
The Majority Are Native Born, but
MANY Good Men Are Aliens.

The Majority Are Native Born, but
Many Good Men Are Aliens.
An "Old Reader makes this inquiry:
Referring to an article on our naval
sailors. it would be very interesting to
know how many of them are native
born Americans and what proportion
of foreign birth. Many people claim
that the larger number of our sailors
are foreign born or naturalized. Is that
| correct or not, and are there any rec
ords to show it?'
There are records, which are very
carefully made up from the returns OF
the recruiting officers and kept on Tile
in the Bureau of Navigation at the
War Department. These show that at
the close Of the fiscal year 1897, when
the last statistics were summarized,
the number of men in the general ser
| vice was $3.50, and in special service,
| including Fish Commission and Coast
Survey, LOIS. OF the men in the gen
! eral service, 2,S45 were petty officers,
SO per cent. Of whom were citizens OF
| the United States, and more than 4S
per cent. natives. Of the remaining
0,S4O, about 70 per cent. We're citizens
and 5S per cent. natives. Taking the
| service entire, including some special
| branches, we find IA per cent. citizens
and more than 54 per cent. natives, as
| against about ~ per cent. and 81 per
cent, respectively, one year before;
and more than II per cent. Of the re-
mainder had declared their intention
| OF becoming citizens. In pursuance of
| Secretary Longs policy Of American
izing the navy, the latest instructions
| sent to recruiting officers require them
to enlist as apprentices none but citi-
zens.
Some little Importance has been giv-
en- to this movement by the raising of
the question, what rights would be rec
ognized, in such a case as the Maine
| disaster, for example, on the part Of
| the several Governments to which
alien enlisted men owed allegiance, IL
an indemnity We're to be paid and 81
vided? Under ordinary circumstances,
| undoubtedly foreign Governments
would generally share the feeling ex-
pressed by the diplomatic representa-
tiveS Of Japan, of confidence that ,he
Government temporarily employing the
men would see that their dependent
families We're remembered in the dis
tribution, regardless of their nation
ality; but it is possible to imagine com
plications arising in which the status
of these men might cause embarrass-
ment, and it would be better on gen
eral principles to have one rule applied
throughout the service. Efforts have
been made to procure legislation IN
behalf of the naval service similar to
that which was enacted for the army
hot I1IIf
alien who has enlisted and been hon
orably discharged shall be admitted to
citizenship. without previous declara-
ton of intention or proof of more than
one years residence: but thus far with
out avail. There seems to lurk in the
public mind a suspicion that no ma
terial for making seamen 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 experts commonly agree
that although it is highly important
that we should have citizens Of the
United States command our ships-men
whose natural sense of loyalty to the
Government would not be questioned,
and whose material interests would
point in the same direction, since they
appeal to in time of trouble, yet the
adopted citizen makes quite as good
sailor and sometimes a little better.
This is not SO much a question 1f an
cestry as of early development and
training. The Yankee-b born is apt to
have much more quickness of percep-
ton, promptness of action, and genel al
adaptability than his British born
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 unreasoning obadi-
ence, which on the sea prove mighty
valuable. Where the Yankee sailor
knows all his rights, and knowing,
dares maintain, the foreign-born sailor.
ten chances to one, has never set his
sluggish mind 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 a common
stock and to have had their traits diff
ferentiated wholly by their home sur
roundings and education; but the same
difference is to be observed in even
greater degree between Americans and
sailors of any other Northern nation
ality While the native recruit, there
fore, is always welcomed on the re-
ceiving ship the foreign-born citizen
constitutes q valuable leaven to dis
tribute throughout the lump, and all
experienced naval 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 latter's citizenship is
Of his own deliberate seeking, and his
estimate of its value is liable to be
higher than that which the native sets
upon his involuntary heritage. Some
of the most heroic conduct recorded
in our naval annals has been that of
men born under another flag, but seek
ing service under ours through love
Of the liberty it represents.
The movement of Americanizing the
navy has gone on for several years. A
glance over the roster of the old Brook
lyn in 1885, for instance, shows only
JOG Americans in a total of 236 blue
jackets, and only fifteen Americans in
a total of forty marines. At that time,
although inducements 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 can trace his lineage back to
Revolutionary time or earlier was
then, as he is now, a rare bird in our
naval service.-Correspon of the