The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-09

lJeQ WITH courage ana determination
to Overawe the most DISCONTINUED and
rebellious of sailors.
He is a force for civilization as il is
now progressing, and a necessary ad-
jUnct to the advancement of American
commerce. Yet, aside from the tenn
pOrary paralyZaJiOn Of this commerce.
the loss to his family. and the injury
TO his feelings, no great harm would
be done the world if a large ma ority
of him were Withdrawn from it at the
end of a rope; and, if the other end Of
the rope could attach to his own yard
arm, much good would come of the
spectacle in the deterrent effect on the
first mate, who would observe and
eventually succeed him. And if from
Z the opposite yard arm could also de-
pend this first mate, the moral lesson
on the fully as brutal, but less finished.
skillful. magnetic, confident second
mate would be doubled. A second
mate. taken in time and intelligently
treated. may be saved. It is the older
dogs who can not learn new tricks.
But let no reasoning reader assume
from these structures that the Ameri-
can shipmaster, the man who habit
ually robs and maltreats, and OCCASION
ally Starves and murders the unfOrtu-
nate men committed to his care by
the law, is personally blamable for his
moral condition. he is a slave to an
| irOn-hard training which has super
seeded his instincts, and allied him
closely to the noble Apache-who is
'best when he is dead" but is unable
to appreciate it. He is a product of his
environment as completely as are a
certain well known reforming clergy
man and a late police board president,
both of whom once made themselves
exceedingly troublesome to the citizens
of New York But who will say that
these two were not honest and con-
ScientiouS.
The ShiDro a stars Ethics
And the American shipmaster is con-
scientious- Leaving aside his dishOn-
est eXtertion in his slop chest sales
and his robbery of sailors pay by driv-
ing them to desert in foreign ports, he
/ is fairly faithful to a code of ethics.
From the time of his first promotion
he has afflicted his interiors, not be
cause he is fundamentally a savage
but because, having been thus brutal
lied himself. ne thinks it necessary
and right because he has been thor
oughly STEPPED in a system OF disci-
pline which, though ne does not know
it. degrades him in the eyes of Observ-
ing fellowmen-Which would not be toll
Grated in any army, navy or work
shop in the world, and is rarely prac-
ticed in the merchant ships of mon
archical nations whose laws permit
greater license to captains than do the
laws of America.
But the laws of America against as
sault, torture and manslaughter are
not enforced as they should be when it
happens that a sailor is the complain
ant or prosecuting witness They are
not enforced, because, back of the de-
ciSion Of Judges, juries, cOnsuls and
commissioners, there is a, strong pub
lie sentiment, not negative, but posi-
tive, which is nothing more than a be
1 lief that the sailor is an ignorant, ag-
gressive scOundrel, who should be kept
in check at any cost This belief is
not based upon knowledge of the truth
as given in newspaper reports of fric-
/ tiOn at sea; for the newspapers give
little but the bare facts, and facts
alone are not convincing. 1t is based
upon a stronger educational influence
popular literature
Marryat and Cooper dealt with con-
ditiOnS OF the eighteenth and first half
of the nineteenth centuries. and they
painted the sailor truthfully-a strong
man, able to care for himself. W. Clark
Russell succeeded in the field, and for
twenty-five years he held his field to
himself. He has been read widely in
England and America He began when
men now active in public life were
young men forming opinions; when old
men, still active, We're dropping the
conceptions of the sailor given them
I by Marryat and Cooper and We're re-
/ ceptiVe to new ones w Clark Russell
| supplied them. With slight technical
/ knowledge of the sea and Seamen. but
\ gifted with an erratic imagination and
| wonderful power of poetic description.
4 this man produced novel after novel
| whose heroes were chivalric officers
and passengers, and whose villains
were sailors mutinoUs devils only
} kept from murder and piracy By brute
/ force and the acts OF Providence w
| Clark Russell has done more to damn
] the merchant sailor than has any
/ other influence of modern times, and
/ even should he devote the re-
/ mainder of his life to active, posi-
/ tive effort in behalf of the sailor.
! he viii not have time to undo the
wrong he has done But his books
/ have sold; and because they have sold
and influenced public opinion, hundreds
/ of American captains have escaped the
penitentiary. and hundreds of seamen
have endured. and must endure for
| years, wrong and injustice that would
absolve Iandsmen from the charge Of
murder.
The Production Of the Brute.
So much for w Clark Russell, the
| apologist for a brute. who would be
| hanged or imprisoned for life were he
called by another name than captain. r"
1 Let US get back TO the causes which
| have produced this brute The Ameri-
| can captain. as z rule, does not arise
] from the forecastle-from the class OF