The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-09
THE NAVY AS 4 BUSINESS.
What It's Worth An Money 10 Those
Who Follow 1t In England.
From the London Mail.

From the London Mail.
The boy who proposes to join the royal
navy as its humbest member, with the in
tent!on of climbing to the giddy hight
occupied by an admiral of the fleet, ought
TO equip himself with the elixir vitae but
even then experience might prove to him
that he has had more ambition than he
could satisfy. In the navy you may start
so to speak, at bedrock. A generous war
Office offers the private a shilling a day,
but in the navy the salary of boy"
works out at less than sixpence a day.
The first step in the ladder is attained
when a navy lad blossoms into an able
ordinary seaman on a seagoing ship, when
he can at once look down on a mere pri-
vate with the naughty contempt that
springs from financial superiority. An or
binary seaman at this stage receives at
least f22 a year. and may obtain an in
crease. 1t is seldom chat a Jack Tar
reaches commissioned rank, but suppos-
ing the desperate chasm bridged. he must
be an oldish man, and he will be past
active service long before he could hope
to run through the high and responsible
positions which intervene between him
and the top of the profession.
A private may solace himself with the
more or less gilded fiction that he. carries
a field marshafs baton in his pocket but
a gallant Jack cannot dream that he has
the magnificent cooked hat of an admiral
of the fleet in his handbook. The seats of
the mighty in the navy, though gorgeous
and terrible for a seaman to look upon,
are strange TO relate, not so well stuffed
In a pecuniary sense as the seats of the
mighty in the sister service, and this in
spite of the fact that England is prone to
consider the navy as her principal safe
guard Roughly speaking. field marshal
would correspond with an admiral of the
fleet, according to the rate of commits
sion, but while a field marshal can earn
ZIG a day or IS, $40 year. his naval paral-
lei must be content with f2.10 and such
allowances as my lords of the admiralty
may direct. This pecuniary inferiority is
visible elsewhere. An admiral may be
said 10 correspond with n general but
the general has considerably more money.
The same may be said of the lieutenant
general who finds his parallel In vice
admiral Major generals rank with rear
admirals, and both get the same honora-
rum The first-class commodore. how
ever, who may rank with brigadier
general II the date of the latters COM
mission permits. has an advantage over
the brigadier, since the latter only draws
e los. a day.
Rrigadier generals may also rank with
second-class commodores; and here the
army officer again maintains his superb
ority. Colonels rank with captains of
three years standing and get more
money: some lieutenant colonies rank
with staff captains. but since lieutenant
coloners, pay is 1Ss. day. the scale de-
scends on the navy side. 1t will be OBJ
served that. according to these rules, n
cantain in the army Is In rank much in
ferior to a captain in the navy. An ar
INV CAPTAIN with his lis. I'd. a day Is
bracketed with n navy lieutenant or
navigating lieutenant of under eight
wears standing. and in most cases, per-
hans. he obtains more pay, though the
scale Of the naval man varies. and IL Is
possible for him TO eclipse the captain
after a certain period. Happily, however,
our naval defenders do not join the SER
vice for love of money. and they do not
Kicker over their respective emoluments.
Al the same time II would be Disgusting
the fact 20 say that no dissatisfaction
axtsts in certain ranks-the warrant off,
GERS. for instance-thet a commission is
practically unobtainabe in the navy by
n man who has started from the lowest
runs Of the ladder. The most a clever,
Industrious boy can look forward 90 IL
,ha rank Of chief boatswain. chief car
nenter or chief gunner, with a maximum
rate Of nay OF f219 year. Therefore.
from a purely financial point OF view the
navy cannot be said to hold out any very
great attraction. Supporters or the pres
emit system argue thas the A. b. does not
make a good officer. no matter how smart
he NAV be. In the army on the other
hand every announcement Is given to
the Intelligent. ambitious private to gain