The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1900-01-25
GOOD sAuORMEN ARE SCARCE
Demand for Them Now Exceeds the
Suwuly-Causes for the Shortage.

Demand for Them Now Exceeds the
suuuly-Causes for the Shortage.
At the beginning of 1899 the total num-
Der of men in the service OF the German
navy was e, 400, including the officers and
engineers and a few surgeons. gunsmiths,
and .paymasters. From Berlin 1t is reported
that with the rapid growth and proposed
further increase of the German navy. there
has been an increasing scarcity OF trained
Young sailors. few years ago Germany
furnished large part OF the crews of Eng
lish vessels but today the crews OF German
vessels are partly composed of foreigners.
With the doubling of the German navy, as
contemplated, the difficulty will increase,
and steps are being taken to meet it. At
Bremen the North German Lloyd company
is organizing L. cadet school to train young
men for the companys' service
The demand for additional sailors in Ger
many is not limited to the government SER
vice, however, for. the two chief German
lines Of ocean steamships have, collectively,
crews of 4,80 sailors, exclusive of the lines
connecting. German ports with other cOun-
tries in the enormous and constantly increas-
ing German shipping trade Heretofore a
country supplying many other countries with
sailors has been Sweden but the increase of
foreign commerce of that country and the
demand for Swedish sailors for Russian
ships has diminished the number Of such
sailors available. Moreover, Germany is
only one of the countries in which there has
recently been an extensive development of
the naval armament and an enlarged demand
I'M consequence for sailors.
There has been a considerable increase
OF sailors in consequence OF the enlargement
and Improvement of the United States navy,
and the demand Tor them In the merchant
marine of the country has been increasing
correspondingly. The American line en-
broys $500 sailors, and the enlargement of
ocean travel this next summer to and from
the Paris exposition will make further de-
mands upon the service of sailors in all
transatlantic lines. Two European coun-
tries which are adding considerable to their
naval equipment are France and Russia, and
the increased Dutch commerce makes neces-
sary the employment of considerable num-
Der of Dutch seamen under the home flag.
Dutch sailors having excellent repute and
numbering in all more than 10000, of whom
less than 10000 are In the naval service of
the country.
Sailors almost uniformly. it Is an axiom
of the sea, come from countries having a
large water coast and from parts of the
country nearest to the coast line. There
are, it is computed, quarter of a million
sailors connected with the navies of the
various countries and 100000 sailors en-
ployed in comercial navigation, England
the United States, and Sweden ranking in
this order in that regard. Germany, France
Italy and Holland are large commercial ma
lions, too, and 1t has been observed general
ly that German sailors come from the north
ern provinces Of the country, particularly
the Baltic and the North sea, while French
sailors almost uniformly are drawn from
the two provinces Of Brittany and Normandy
The threatened dearth of available sailors
which some German companies are seeking
to provide against by the establishment of a
cadet school affects other countries as we'll
and unless all indications are at fault the
demand for sailors next summer will be
more extensive than ever before in the
worlds history.