The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-01-03
scoo sAIloamFn SCARCE.

AT the beginning OF 1899 the to;a
number of men in the service OF tbs
German navy was 23,toO, including the
officers and engineers and few sur
geons. gunsmiths, and paymasters. From
Berlin IL Ii reported that with the rap
crease OF the German navy there has
been an increasing scarcity OF trained
young sailors. A few years ago Ger
many furnished a large part OF the
crews OF English vessels. but today the
crews of German vessels are partly
composed of foreigners. With the doub-
ling OF the German navy. as contcmpla-
ted. this difficulty will increase. and
steps are being taken 10 meet dt. At
Bremen the North German Lloyd COM
pany is organizing a cadet school to
train young men for the company's SER
vice.
The demand for additional sailors in
Germany rs not limited To the govern
ment service. however, for the two
chief German lines OF ocean steamships
have, collectively. crews of 1900 sailors,
exclusive OF the lines connecting Ger
man ports with other countries in the
enormous and constantly increasing
German shipping trade. Heretofore a
country supplying many other coun-
tries with sailors has been Sweden, but
The Increase OF foreign commerce of
that country and the demand for Swe-
dish sailors for Russian ships has di-
minished the number of such sailors
available. Moreover. Germany is only
an Of hA -.
recently been an extensive development
of the naval armament and an enlarged
demand in consequence for sailors.
There has been very considerable
increase OF sailors i'm 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 CORE
spondingly. The American line employs
900 sailors and the enlargement OF
ocean travel this next summer TO and
from the Paris exposition will make
further demands upon the service OF
sailors in all trans-At Atlantic lines. Two
European countries which are adding
considerable to their naval equipment
are France and Russia and the in
creased Dutch commerce makes neces-
sary the employment OF n considera-
ble number OF Dutch seamen under the
home flag. Dutch sailors having excel
lent repute and numbering I'm all more
than $4,000. or whom less than 10. 600
are In the naval service of the country.
sailors almost uniformly. IL is an AK
iom or the sea, come from countries
having large water coast and from
parts OF the country nearest to the
coast line. There are. IL is computed a
quarter OF million sailors connected |
with the navies OF the various countries |
and 100000 sailors employed irr COM |
merciai navigation. England, the |
United states, and Sweden ranking in |
ms order I'm that regard Germany. |
France, Italy. and Holland are large
commercial nations. too, and il ha,
been observed generally that German
sailors come from the northern prov
noes OF the country. particularly the
baltic and the North sea, while French
'ailors almost uniformly are drawn
rom the two provinces OF Brittany and
Normandy.
The threatened Gearth OF available
ailors, which some German companies
ire seeking to provide against by the
staohshment of cadet school. affects
'ther countries as well, and unless an
ndlcations are at fault the demand for
ailors next summer win be more ex-
ehsIVe than ever before in the worlds
history.