Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-26

sequences of the occasion by showing I'D at
muster on the quarterback ia mixed uni
forms Of blue and white. Some Of them
stood In line and answered to their names
on this formal occasion of International
courtesy in their bare feet A mob of the
men belonging to the black gang-the crew
members of the engineers department.
that fs-slouched up on deck in their
greasy dungarees. The commanding officer
of an American war vessel who would per-
NIT the men of his ships company to make
any such showing as this, not, indeed, on
the occasion of a reception to a high Off
cial of foreign country, but even at ordi-
nary. everyday quarters at anchor in a
home port OR navy yard. would be court
martialed and summartly dismissed the
service.
Russians. Germans and French.
The forward part of Russian man-of-
war is ruled by a CATO -nine-tails that is
rot SO very different from the Russian
knout. Therefore Russian men-of-war are
moderately well disciplined, If rarely clean.
The Russian man-of-war's man jumps to
the bo'sun's whistle with the huddled
shoulder grunge OF the man who knows
what 1t means to be lasiled to a stanchion
and 10 get five dozen or on the bare
back. The discipline on board a German
man-of-war is of a sort that gives the
German man-of-warS man all he wants OF
it in the course of a single enlistment. Not
one German sailor in twenty ships over
a. gain in the navy of his country. Fully
oae-third of the men who join the United
States navy put in more than one enlist
ment. and this, too in spite of the greater
opportunities American men have of doing
well ashore in civil life.
No naval establishment in Europe, ex-
cept that of Great Britain, equals the navy
Of France for the fine, common-sense dis
cipline of its men and the cleanliness of its
ships. The French man-o'-war's man is
game alert, cheerful and not very bad
sailor. He Is properly treated by his ofh-
GERS. knows hts rights under the regula-
items, and gets them, and does his work
abcard ship like man who is not merely
endeavoring to kill time until the axpira-
ton of his enlistment.
Petty Omcers and Bluejackets.
Foreign critics of the discipline preserved
on American war vessels fancy they make
a strong point when they refer to the fact
that the petty officers on United States
nen-of-war do not rate a salute and ap-
pear to De on altogether too friendly terms
with the bluejackets. In all European
navies chief petty officers. who are en-
listed men precisely as they are in our
navy, are Saluted by their enlisted infer
iors. and it is due to this very fact that
rine out of ten of them suffer prodigiously
from the big mead and become intolerable
tyrants over the bluejackets in the course
of time. No attempt has ever been made 10
compel one enlisted man to salute another
in the naval establishment OF the United
States. A chief petty officer on an Ameri-
can man-of-war is to all interts and pur-
poses commissioned officer, even if he
does swing his hammock forward, and it
gees pretty i'll with the bluejacket who
gives chief petty officer any 'man-owar
slack" on duty. The American bluejacket
thoroughly understands the extent Of the
authority of the chief petty officer, and he
does not abate a whit of his respect for
him because, when ''knock-off has been
shrilled and the smoking-lamp is lit. the
tnfr hi
the gangway.
The foreign critic of our naval establish
ment also points to the off-duty chumni-
ness that undoubtedly exists between
riLes.
what position would the marines on a
United States vessel take, in view of their
constant thickness with the men forward,
in case the bluejackets should mutiny at
sea?' is question they often ask.
Sailors and Marines.
The bluejackets of the United States
navy are so we'll treated that the officers of
the service ceased many years ago to con-
template the possibility of bIuejacket
mutiny aboard an American man-of-war
But if any such thing should occur on
board any United States warship there is
no manner of doubt in the world that the
beginning. Of it would find the ships ma
rine guard in just the place where it ought
shoot the mutinous bluejackets to smith
Greens at the commanding officers word of
command. In nearly every navy in the
world outside of the American navy there
Is perpetual enmity and open hostility and
growing between the bluejackets and the
| sea soldiers. English naval jacks on lib
| erty ashore commonly wait in a body for
the appearance ION the beach" of a marine
Or a couple of marines whom they have
| 1t in for" and when the cespised marines
| show up they are pounded almost to death
| by their bluejacket shipmates. Nothing of
That sort ever happens in the United States
navy. The sailors and sea soldiers get
| aicng first-rate together. AS they are all
drawn from the same class of men, there
| Is no particular reason why they should
not American sailors of the navy have
| got enough judgment to appreciate the fact
| that marines are kept aboard men-of- war
| for the purpose of preserving order among
| the crews, and they no more attempt to
hinder them or bullyrag them than the law
abiding American citizen ashore ATTEMPTS
| to interfere with a policeman in the per-
| Torrance of his duty. A marine is moth
| ing more than a policeman aboard ship
When marine on an American man-of-
war has got his belt and bayonet on and
is putting in the four hours of lis watch. it
| Is his business to make 1t warm for the
bluejacket whom he catches smoking on
the berth deck or committing any other in
fraction Of the rules and regulations, and
the bluejacket knows that it is his bust
ness. But, off duty. the United States ma
| rine swaps pipes with the bluetacket; they
get on famously together, and this state Of
things Is certainly a whole lot better than
the devil-tO-pay condition of matters that
prevails in most other navies-notably In
| the British navy-between sea soldier ami
sailor.
Proud OF Their Calling.
In none Of the worlds navies can you
see men perform their routine and extra
ordinary work and their drills with more
snap. vim. ambition, determination and
genuine liking for the business than on an
American ship of war. 1t is a matter of
pride with United States navy sailor to
be up to the mark of his rate, whether the
rate is that of landsman or a chief boz
| suns mate. The American bluejacket is
| a man of such Independent spirit that he
would just about as lief get into the brig
In double irons as to get called down in
the presence of his mates for derelction of
DUTY, and in general he sees to it that he
does not deserve such calling down. If
he de esn't deserve 1t, he doesn't get it-in
the American navy.
1t is interesting to compare the "daily
report book on the conduct Of brig-con-
fined American bluejackets and the SINH
lar book made up by the ships writer, at
he 80 ~