The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-05-29

small vessels now at navy yards has
been examined, and the department finds
not one can be spared for presentation to
Liberia.
Few rulers among the great powers of
the world are so well provided with Off
cial yachts as the president Of the United
States, and while he makes compare
lively little use of either the Dolphin or
the newly acquired Sylph, there are no
finer vessels Of their class afoat flying
the rulers distinctive flag. They are now
al the navy yard here and will be used
soon by tpe president and some invited
guests.
AS an official yacht the sylph has no
equal of her size She was purchased
from some rich owner for the Spanish
war, and is fitted out with more sump
tuous equipment than any boat of her
class in American waters.
The crew of the battIeship Texas, ac-
cording to reports received at the navy
department. has given a great deal Of
trouble to the commanding officer during
the cruise of the vessel in the last six
weeks. 1t began at Galveston, where the
vessel, with the flagship New York, was
sent to take part in a celebration last
April, and was repeated at Bermuda,
from which point the squadron sailed for
Porto Rico to assist in the ceremonies
incident to Gov Aliens Inauguration. All
during the cruise the crew apparently
gave trouble, and as a result ten court
martials are now being held on the ship
at New York.
The charges against all of the men are
of such a nature that, If found guilty,
most of them will be sent to the govern
ment prison at the Boston navy yard.
A large number were disrated and other
wise punished before the courts were or
dered.
Naval men here have a scheme in prep
aration, according to the New York Post,
for establishing a system of naval re-
serves to supply, in case of need, the
$4,000 bluejackets demanded by the navy
as it now exists. The scheme is to pay
a retaining fee to the fishermen along the
coast from Maine to North Carolina, and
require of them, in return for this an
nual payment, service for four or five
months yearly on board training ships.
Seamen are regarded as the proper raw
material for crews of cur warships and
the fishermen are practiced seamen. They
are compare lively useless, however,
aboard the modern warship without train
ing, and the idea is to let them pursue
their calling during the larger part Of
the year, and during the rest Of the year
serve on the training ShlpS. Advantage
would be taken of the seasons during
which fishing is impracticable. After
training for few months the fishermen
would be passed into reserve, and receive
a yearly sum, in consideration of which
they would be under obligation to serve
in the navy when called upon. England
has such a reserve for her army and
navy, and it has worked we'll Recently
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 9TH
er British colonies have formulated re-
serve systems. The Canadian system
draws largely on Newfoundland fisher
men. The Newfoundland men, it is said,
are engaged in the fishing industry about
six months of the year The naval militia
of the various states constitutes a sort
of reserve, which was drawn upon during
the war with Spain, but it is desired to
have a reserve system entirely under con-
troll of the navy department, by reason,
it is said of the recent reluctance eVince1
on the part of some of the naval militia
of the states to embark on practice uises
on naval vessels.
j S. Van Antwerp.