The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-03-03
SAMPSON VS.. fpArr. ZONES


he pirates aboutt social advantages as
the sine qua nom Of promotion in the
navy, Rear Admiral, Sampson quotes
John Paul Jones3nBuh the hero Of the Bon
Homme Richard gives our latter day
snob- no aid. It ds true Paul Jones, who
was the darling I6f che court In his time.
named social training as one Of the ac-
complishments which a commissioned Of
ficer might profftably possess; but he
never took the position that brave and
trained sailor could never rise from the
ranks without it. Paul Jones also said
that naval officer could make good use
Of French and Spanish; but he never
said that sailors promotion should
hang upon the accomplishments Of his
tongue. Jones likewise held that a
knowledge Of International and. admiral
II law and Of the usages Of diplomacy
sat we'll on a. navaksofficer; but he never
held that a gunner could not be pro-
noted to theaposit1on of ensign until he
had graduated From Annapolis a
John Paul Jones was no Annapolis
graduate. He. learned his seamanship
before the mast and behind the guns. The
great sea fight by moonlight off the Brit
ish coast, in which the inferior and I'M.
seaworthy Bon Homme Richard conquer
ed the famous man-of- war Serapis and
put confidence into every American
-
heart, received no inspiration from the
ball room. The historic cruise Of the
Ranger which made English frigates the
prey of the daring Yankee did not owe
it's victories to court etiquette. The yir-
ility of the Yankee Tar and the glory of
the American flag On the high seas. in
the day Of PAIL Jones as today, has
never rested on the newly discovered
Sampson law of social advantages,
Paul Jones was a seaman and fighter.
He never saw annapolis and never
achieved his victories by social advan-
tages" The same is true of Perry, Deca-
tur, Hull, Lawrence Stewart. Barron,
Stockton, Porter and -Farragut, They
owed their promotion to manhood and
seamanship, not society 1t was not at
Annapolis that Lawrence learned the SEN
timent which inspired his men in his dy-
ing hour: Don't give up the ship!" It
was not by social advantages or court
refinement that Commodore Perry won
that victory which in his historic report
To- h.
guage now familiar on the tongue of the
American school-boy: eve have met
the enemy and they are ours-two ships.
two briggs, one schooner and one sloop''
1t was not at Annapolis that Capt. Hull
learned to fight Old Ironsides, or that
Decatur mastered the art Of whipping
Algerian pirates. Not by season in the
ball room, but by forty-eight years Of
hardship on the high seas, did Farragut
get those qualities which at the storm
ing of New Orleans and Mobile gave vic
tory to the Union cause over Confederate
forts and fleets.
It is admitted by Sampson, the new so
Gal snob who has achieved the rank Of
rear admiral by means of his political
pull, that Gunner Charles Morgan, of the
New York, who aspires to the position Of
ensign for meritorious service, has good
professional ability "a gentlemanly
bearing and would secompare favorably
both professionally and In personal con-
duct and bearing, with other officers of
that grade as far as his technical educa-
ton would permit - Sampson likewise
admits that warrant officers, who have
risen by meritorioug service from the
ranks, "are selected from large class
of men Of very unusual ability, which dis
tinguishes them as perhaps the profess
their technical education stands" But,
says this advocate of society navy,
they "have not had the social advantages
that are requfsitenfor commissioned
officer" The all-tmportant qualifica-
ton of a naval officer. according to the
new Sampson rule, is not naval ex-
perience, not bravery, not technical
knowledge, not manhood: but sit is i'm.
pcrtant that the nayy's representatives
should be men of refinement" And
then our ballroom admiral, whose father
was farm hand and ditchdigger, thus
pictures the terrible calamity that would