The record-union., 1899-09-27
SOLDIER AND SAILOR TOO. y
GOOD MEN WANTED FOR THE
MARINE SERVICE.
\ Recruiting Station for the
United States Marine Corps
Now Open In This City.

Soldier and sailor, too," is the way
kipling, the English poet. describes a
marine, an entity about which the ay.
erage unofficial person has had the
vaguest. crudest ideas. And yet, de-
spite this widespread ignorance. the
United State Marine Corps is a body OF
men that played an important part dur
Ing the late War, and is an essential
feature of our navy. By the recently
passed personnel bill' this corps is to
be increased to 5000 men, and every
effort is being put forth to secure
strong, well-built, respectable men for
this corps.
Captain A S. McLemore, who did ex-
cellent work with his company last
summer, has just been appointed the
recruiting officer for the Pacific Coast.
and has established recruiting sub
stations at Sacramento Gn the Ma
sonic building) and at San Jose, In
addition to the headquarters in San
Francisco.
Service in the Marine Corps offers to
men who have had no previous train
ing an opportunity to see the world on
the cruisers and battleships of the
navy, and to learn the queer ways and
customs that prevail in our new pos
sessions-Cuba, Porto Rico and the
Philippine Islands The term of en-
listment is for five years, and durins
that time recruit may become a
non-commissioned officer, crack
marksman and a thoroughly trained
military man. If the right stuff be in
him he may later even receive a. COM
mission, as the law especially provides
for the contingency of good men work
ing up from the ranks.
While the pay at first is small, there
are several considerations which make
enlistment desirable. To begin with,
food, lodging and clothing are fur
nished over and above the monthly
stipend, and medical attention when IL
may be required. Out of the allow
ance for clothing a neat, clean fellow
may put by perhaps as much as $50
in five years, besides anything he saves
out of his pay. Then, the job is a
steady one. and not hard one. There
are no strikes, no shutting down." no
cuts in wages. The marine has his
days off, as we'll as on, while pay
COulluuGS. Lie SldllSLlCS I'll li1C Ao%-e
campaign show how we'll the men are
looked after, what pains are taken by
the medical and other officers to keep
the men up to the mark and physically y
fit
Anyone who saw the battalion at
Guantanamo after three months IN
tents and under tropical sun, could
not fail to be impressed with the ex-
cellence of the organization and the
attention given to those essential de-
tails of feeding, clothing and trans
portation.
OF course, the life in barracks or on
the berth deck of a man-of-war is not
all roses. What life is? But after
the chatting over his green" ways has
died out, and the recruit has learned
to disregard the talk Of a few young
malcontents; after he can handle his
Lee rifle without developing super
numerary thumbs in each hand: after
he learns to feel proud of his corps and
acquires ambition to advance from
grade to grade, things straighten out
a bit, the intelligent recruit realizes
that he works less. worries less sees
more, and leads a more diversified and
interesting life, in proportion to the Ia
Dor performed, than he would at home.
So the lot of the marine" the sol
der and sailor, too,' like every other,
has it's ups and downs and bright and
dark side, but to the sober, honest,
conscientious, faithful recruit, who has
few prospects at home, who wants 10
see the world. to srve his country and
live in average comfort. free from care
and anxiety about the morrow. the
corps offers a good chance-an oppor-
tunity that is unequalled by the other
cnrxyi1pc