The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-21
NAVAL WARRANT OFFICERS.
4 Retired Boatswnin Tells of DIFF
ficulties They Labor Under.

| from the Boston Evening Transcript)
| ''It seems to me that most people do not
| understand the difference between a war
rant officer in the navy and commits
| stoned officer" sais Boatswain William
| Jones (retired). who lives at $50 Fifth
| Street, South Boston. BOatswain Jones Is
| one of the men who came through the
| hawse pipe and knows the duties and
| feelings of warrant officers from actual
| experience. THE difference simply is that
| the warrant officer is not in the direct line
| of promotion, whereas the commissioned
officer has the chance of becoming adj
| miral. The great body of warrant officers
| in our navy not including the machinists
and others who only recently STAINED the
| warrant rank. are men who ser led their
| time as apprentices in the navy-I mean
| the bo's'ns. gunners, carpenters, and sail
| makers Moreover. they are the pick OF
| all the apprentices.
AN apprentice enters the service as a
lad, and is bound by his parents or guard
| ian to remain in the navy until ne is of
age. At first he is rated as IA third-class
apprentice; later. when he Is qualified, he
| passes up to the second class, and. finally
when he attains the age OF twenty-one he
| finds himself a first-class apprentice. Men
who enlist in the service after having
served their apprenticeship faithfully are
always given preference in making petty
| officers-bo's 'ns, guEners. and sailmakers'
mates, quartermaSterS. maSterS-at-armS.
IL is from the ranks of the ex-apprentices
who have achieved the rate of chief pet
y
grade-that the warrant officers are select
ed. They are sterling men, studious, ac-
complished in all that appertains to man
o'-war work, and almost without an eN-
ceptior. dignified fellows OF perfectly cor
| rect habits. II takes dignified man and
one who knows his business thoroughly
to pass through all the grades from
third class apprentice to warrant officer;
that's fact | want you to bear in mind.
| IL a young man is wild there isn't one
! chance. in a thousand that the, officers
over him would not know it, and If they
do know 1t, he can never get a recommen-
dation for promotion to the warrant rank.
The commissioned officers watch him for
years before he comes up for appointment,
and they know his character perfectly.
Why it is a fact that the officials in the
Navy Department at Washington have
recourse to records which will tell them of
all the little misdemeanors he has COM
mitted since his entrance into the service
as an apprentice boy, and they can often
tell of minor events of this character
which he has forgotten. The warrant Of
ficer's habits must be much more correct
than those of the Junior commissioned
officers He must prove beforehand that
he will be creditable officer; he must
walk Spanish in other words
In many ways the position of warrant
officer Is neither a happy nor desirable
one. | know of many warrant officers who
sometimes actually long to get back to
the enlisted grades they formerly held.
For, as you will see, the warrant officer
in our service is neither fish. flesh, nor
fowl. He feels that he cannot associate
with his old friends among the enlisted
men as freely as he used to. because such
is contrary to the custom of the navy and
would tend to lower their estimation of
him as an officer. At the same time he
feels that the commissioned officers re-
gard him in somewhat the same light as
he does the enlisted men; he cannot par
ticipate in their social affairs. The war
rant officers wear the officers uniform
and are saluted and treated as such by
all on board. Let me say right here that
if he knows his business the warrant Off
GER is respected and treated courteously
by all. from the admiral down If he
does not know his business the warrant
ships the warrant officers have a mess of
their own, but on the smaller ships.
where there is not full complement Of
warrant officers, they mess with the pay
clerk and the cadets.
Under these circumstances. the war
rant officer for years after his elevation
feels more or less like fool in his deal
ingS with his old friends. the men Of the
fo'c'sle. But they fully understand his be
havior and make due allowances for the
necessary reserve. He, however, finds it
rather hard to meet his former mates and
have them exchange SafuteS, for he re-
allies that they know he is not looked
upon as a social equal by the commits
stoned officers of the ship. He feels like
a man who is being made fun of by his
acquaintance. His conduct toward the
men with whom he formerly exchanged
tobacco and snapped stories must be as
dignified and reserved as that of the COM
missioned officer. In no way can he as
sociate on terms of equality with the men
of the 70 c sic
Cut of from social companionship with
the commissioned officers and barred by
the regulations from mingling with the
men for ard. the warrant officer in our
navy has a pretty hard time of it. There
is not much fun in it for him. He's be
tween the devil and the deep sea-, as the
win I fnsE Vtrffh nrtf lnrtht
there are a great many warrant officers
I'm our navy who would gladly exchange
their duties for those of chief petty Of
ficer. The chief petty officer gets good
pay, knows that he is an enlisted man,
can associate freely with his fellows
among the enlisted force and enjoys HIM
self. Now. some of these enlisted men
are among the most interesting characters
imaginable. and TO deprive a man of their
society after he has been used to it for
years is hard sometimes"