Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-08-13

to the government, but he is made to
suffer for 1t as if he had been guilty
OF a crime.
Since the government refuses to al
low him TO make good the $1,000 in
instruments, the only course open 10
him is to contract debts which he VIII
have the greatest T. liculty in paying.
The pay OF a lieutenant-commander, II
he is untrammelled by debts, Is not
more than sufficient to admit OF the
comfortable maintenance OF a family.
In the case of most officers CT this grace,
or even OF higher grades, there Is niue
surplus with which, 10 meet unusual
obligations.
1t is regarded as a part 70 the code
of honor of a naval officer that ne shail
keep out of debt; but, until he reaches
at least the grade of captain, he tnds
this extremely difficult, if he has a ram
lily depending upon him.
The difficulty in keeping a clean IMAM
cial record is due to the nigSardly Gus
tom, which obtains only in the united
States navy, of making officers a
their share of all entertaining aboard
ship out of their W pockets. III the
President dimes on a man-of-War, lhe
expense of the dinner must be met Dy
the officers of the ship. II, when the
North Atlantic squadron is at Newport
there is entertaining, tie ofhcers pay
for it. The same is true when a united
States ship is in foreign waters and re-
ceives on BOARD foreign naval of1eers or
diplomats. It Is essential to the dignlty
of the American flag that there should
be a certain amount of entertaining,
particularly in the case of ships on for
eign stations. and the American officer
is never dereIict in his duty in this d.
r%ection, but the inroad upon his private
funds is often very onerous.
The point is well illustrated by a
story which Rear Admiral Henry l..
Howison (retired) tells Of an experience
in the harbor of New Orleans. the ad-
miral was a captain at the time, and
the ship which he commanded a/racted
considerable attention from the o1ncers
Of foreign men-of-war which happened
to be In port. The captain of an Eng
lish man-of-war was particularly polite
to Capt. Howison. Hardly had the lat
ter dropped anchor, when he was invlt'
ed to dine on the English ship. Inc
following day Capt. Howison entertain
cd the English captain. Then the ENG
lishman again invited the American 10
dinner, and this invitation was, OF
course, followed by an invitation to dine
on the American ship. When still an
other invitation was received from the
English captain, Capt. Howison Declined
it, and he was obliged to humiliate him.
self and his country in giving his reas-
.on. Capt. Howison frankly told the
Englishman that he could accept no
more dinners because he could no al
ford to pay for the return dinners out
oil his own pocket, and his government
made him no allowance for such a pur-
pose.
me English captain was amazed at
this statement. He promptly called on
Capt. Howison and said: MY dear sir,
I feel like apologizing to you, never
realized your situation. Why, every
captain in the English service has an
ample fund upon which to draw for en-
tertainment. can't draw on that fund
for my personal use, however, but only
when | have as a guest a foreign naval
officer or government representative.
Now. my lear fellow, just come over
and dine with me every night
1t is needless to say that this whole
sale invitation was not accepted.