Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-04-09
WAGES oF:oUR BLueIAckeTs.
Tars Who Save Their Money or Send II
Home Are Many.

Home Are Many.
! me bureau of accounts OF the nav.
department has the heavy Job under wa,
Of settling the money accounts of tn
fueJaf ketS and marines whose lives Wer'
.ost IN the Maine disaster. The amoun
'naoinred Is large. Fully four-fifths of th'
members of an American man-of- war:
crew carry at least portion of their pay
on tne paymaster's books from the be
ginning a OF "a a three years cruise until the
their naval service, do not as a rule
perceive at the outset the desirablity OF
laying up any of their wages But when
sney pegln 70 notice men whose cruises
nave ended laying aft to the paymaster s
once to take possession of the goodly
piles or money accumulated by the exer-
eise OF no great amount of self-denal
during three-year stunt. they usually
profit by the example anl begin TO set
by a portion of their monthly money
themselves The men forward on an
American man-of-Waf never come into
possession of the money they save with
the paymaster until their enlistments are
up Before monthly money is served ont
he officers of divisions make the rounds
| among their meh and draw up lists set
ting forth the portion Of his pay each
| man wants to draw and the portion he
wants to carry on the books. The latter
sum is placed to the blueiackets or
marines credit on the paymaster's books.
and it draws interest at the rate of four
per cent until the end Of the cruise when
he is paid off in tell. A considerable ma
jority of the men who lost their lives in
the Maine wreck had comfortable sums of
money thus represented on the Names
paymasterS $ books and the amount of
each Of these deposits forms part of the
records OF the navy departments bureau
or accounts. naval paymasters being re-
CURED to make monthly returns of such
deposits.
The still heavier and more complicated
task of settling with the victims heirs
at-laW for the personal gear of the men
lost in the wreck will soon be undertaken.
The heirs will certainly receive from the
government checks that will fully cover
the value of this personal property in
every instance, The bureau of accounts
mas on file separate list of the personal
possessions Of every man forward in the
naval service of the United States. and
these lists are corrected by ships writers,
under the supervision of executive Off
GERS. every three months.
This personal belongings check system
WAS not in operation at the time of the
Samoan naval disaster. and the depart |
ment consequently found itself in some |
thing Of a predicament when il came to |
settling with III" men forward and with |
The heirs of the victims for thp loss Of |
their personal gear The men who |
manned the lost men-ofWar at the time |
of the disaster in Apia harbor united in |
niins claims against the government for |
the loss of really monumental lot of |
stun such as sailors OH warships are not |
as a rule commonly possessed of. ONLY |
sam navy. for eXaml0. is the poSsessor |
OF gold watch. Vet the number of gold |
watches that ar now. according to the
reading OF these Samoan disaster claims /
reposing on Apia's coral reefs is very !
large. Again. only about half a dozen
men IN each man-of-war ships company
rarry thdi. @ deck sewing machines as part OF
tneir gear the men who own the ma
chines neing biuelackets of d money-mak-
ing turn, who fashion clothing. chiefly |
uniforms Uni of white. for their shipmates.
81 to ryItt ti1r.
who were in the Samoan disaster seemed
70 be possessors Of sewing machines ac-
cording TO the claims they filed with the
navy department. All of these claims
careful accordance with the very letter of
the claims. no items of the lists being
stricken off either by the bureau of ac-
counts or by the treasury auditor for the
navy department, who is the final arbiter
in such matters 1t was considered no
doubt. that men who passed through such
an ordeal as that terrible. onshore hurri
cane at Apia We're likely to err
somewhat in making inventories from
and nobody nterposed any pro-
test against the settling of the claims as
dlsasterthe bureau of accounts had forms
printed for the quarterly listing of the
possessions of the men on war vessels
Only comparatively small number of |
the men who went down in the Maine |
wreck were married. The receiving ships |
do not accept naval recruits who are
and most of the married blue
Jackets IN the American naval service
embarked on tn" saa of matrimony after
their eniistments Those who did not |
concealed the fact from the recruiting of
hcers ON the receiving ships that they
We're married. Some men seek a refuge !
IN the navy as many do in the army. |
from stormy matrimonial lives and these |
men, knowing that they stand no show
of acceptance if they confess to the soft |
impeachment, reply. Not any not |
much. when Are you married." is asked |
them Nothing is done in the way Of |
punishment to such men when. a few |
months after their enlistment, they be-
gin To forward portions of their wages
to their wives through the paymasters.
he married mon. as general thing.
send most of their monthly money to
their wives through the pay offices
Probably a majority of the chief petty Of |
tieers in the United States naval service |
are married men, and, as their pay ranges |
from so to $40 month. with bonuses for |
continuous service. their wives receive |
comfortable incomes There is chief |
master-at-arms on the China station az |
the present time who has not seen his |
wife, who lives at Brooklyn. for twelve |
years. He likes the station and has been |
endeaNoring TO induce his wife To move |
to Japan for years past. But she likes |
Brooklyn. and so there is good-natured |
deadlock in the family. During all of his |
absence The mdSter-atarms has regu- |
larry sent his wife $50 u month of his pay |
and his boys have become men and gone |
to work for themselves. and two of his |
daughters have grown into young women. |
got married, and had children born to
them since he last saw them as tots in
short dresses. The Orient-loving MASTER
at-aTmS will probably return to the Uni
ted States in II few months and finish his
naval career on the North Atlantic sta
lion.
Only chief petty officers or frst-rate
petty officers in the American naval ser
vice can afford to maintain wives and
those who do get married for the pleas
ure they derive from the companionsh
of their wives for Il couple Of months III
the conclusion of their three-N ear cruises
have To keep their noses pretty close to
the Srindstone to make ends meet at
home. In the cites contiguous to all
American navy yards there are attractive
young women who have the lisctrnment
to regard marriage with 4 chief petty
officer "A tirSt-ratp DpttN officer in He