The times., 1899-01-14

! Prize money will be abolished by Con-
gress. An amendment will be offered to-
day to the naval personnel bill now pend
/ ing in the House. declaring that claims
I arising out of the late war shall be paid,
but that thenceforth and forever after
wards the system shall be abolished in
| the United States. 1t is understood that
the amendment will be adopted.
The announcement was made yesterday
afternoon by Representative Meyer tf
Louisiana. of the Naval Affairs Commit
! tee, in answer to some remarks by Rep
resentative Berry of Kentucky, on the
! fact that Sampson would receive far more
/ prize money than Schley. although his
| services were far less.
The abolition of the system will destroy
a fruitful source of scandal and put it
cut OF the power of the Navy Depart
ment to make its favorites rich by as
! signing them to stations where they are
certain TO fall in with prizes. This sys-
TEN was not unknown in the Civil War
any more than in the Spanish affair.
AS for scandals arising from it, it has
been argued that a certain log book was
cooked in order to bring the flagship
within signal distance so that il might
| claim part in the capture or destruction
! OF prizes that were far beyond its vision.
| In the opinion of many it is a severe COM
mentary on the system that Dewey gets
only about one-ffth as much as Sampson,
( who was never within range OF a battle.
! Officers say that ii is curious that the
system should have so long survived.
1t has been pointed out by those who
/ favor abolishing the system that the Serv-
ice of a soldier is harder and more danger
Gus than that of a sailor, and the property
destroyed is often quite as valuable to the
I enemy. For example. II is pointed out
that in the summary of General sheridan s
, report of the operations of the army of the
! Shenandoah, from August to December
| 81, 1864, inclusive there were destroyed or
! captured 10l pieces of artillery, SO artillery
carriages and limbers 80 caissOns, I2S
double sets of artillery harness, anvi!s,
/ 5.O67 small arms % 900 rounds artillery
ammunition, l31 wagons 1871 ambulances,
medical wagons. 1,006 sets harness, ~
| battle flags, 1913 small arms. 1861, 900
rounds small ammunition. i,2I0 horses,
/ LOCO sets horse equipments, 553 mules, l20
flour mills. l wooden mill, saw mills l
/ powder mill. saltpeter mills, 2.So0 barns,
| : furnaces, ] railroad depot, ! locomotive,
distilleries, i60072 bushels wheat, - 600
bushels OGtS, O.-uiO buSiltiS toIH, ot1 bdI
rels flour 81 $50 tons hay. 500 tons of fod
der, 16i3S beef cattle. 1857 sheep 16.1ii
I swine, $50 calves. l., 600 pounds bacon TO-.
coo pounds of tobacco, 941 miles of rails,
| 900 bushels of potatoes, 1.665 pounds OF
| cotton yarn, factories. Add TO this the
destruction of the James River Canal, canal
boats, iron works, factories Zone tobacco
1 factory destroyed was valued at 5000. .000).
railway bridges, salt, forty-one miles OF
railway, government factories, stores Of
! every conceivable kind. and ii makes to-
tai of many million dollars.
For all this the soldiers received moth
| ing except what was issued in lieu of IA
| tions.
1t is argued that there was no logical
reason for this difference except n differ
ence in convenience. In older times land
soldiers used TO pillage private property
and hold the spols whenever their com
manders saw fit. This, Of course. inter-
fered with the movements OF an army. and
often destroyed the effectiveness of one,
for there are many instances of routed ar
mics rallying and defeating their enemies
while the latter were engaged in pi/ag'.
! 4 sea capture is an entirety. and does not
/ discommCde the captors beyond gett ng il
10 port. Moreover, land engagements arr
so much more frequent and the damage TO
private property so much more serious
when lootng is permitted, that civi lied
nations naturally put a stop TO il hrst
The United States has long stood for the
inviolabiity Of private property on 1he
high seas as well as on land, and it is
probable that this rule will before many
years be in force a part of International
law. 1t is cited that the only source Of
prize money in that event would Be the
capture or destruction of warships AID
there is 10 apparent reason why there
should be any allowance to sailors for thai
more than to an army for the capture o..
destruction of artillery, forts o. munitions
OF war, unless il be the distinction in pay
Army officers are paid higher than naval
officers Of equal grade, as shown by the
! following comparison:
Army.
General ........... Il. ttl