The Savannah morning news., 1904-11-22
THE UNFORTUNATE
MERCHANT MARIN ER.
Positions He Could FIJI Given TO
Naval officers and Politicians.


Naval officers and Politicians.
From Marine Journal. Nov. 10.
I know that our officers are just as
gallant, just as brave, just as skilled
as the officers Of any other navy
believe that our officers are the best
educated men, as a class, in the world.
l know that our enlisted men are now
nearly all American citizens. l know
that a large proportion of them are
American born. i know that they are
the best clothed, the best sheltered, the
best fed and the best paid men of any
navy In the world, and l believe IL war
ever comes, which God forbid when
fight we must, our chances are our men
will fight as well, If not better, than
the men of any other navy.
This is what the Secretary OF. the
Navy said in a speech recently, every
word of which is true, and no native
born American could, or would. desire
to say less of the navy personnel. But
is it not about time that some public
man, or man of affairs. did something
or said something in favor of the off,
GERS and crews of the merchant ma
rine-that industry from which some
of the best officers and men ever known
TO the naval service were drawn during
our Civil War.
A very able and worthy merchant
mariner, who lost his position recently
through no fault of his own, said to us:
L am weary and footsoTe in an un-
successful attempt to find a position
that feel / am competent to 'fill and
l cannot even get the position of a
night Waterman on, shtpboard or on a
dock, a job which a needy burt unfor-
tunate mariner could always obtain in
years gone by"
This is iamenkable condition, and Is
certainly a reflection on those who have
influenced the filing OF the Offices OF
port wardens, dock masters and other
state and municipal places that ex-
mariners could so ably NIL, with politi-
cal dependents. Then, there are the po-
sitions of the supervisor of the harbor,
the commanders of the scholarships,
governor of the Sailors Snug Harbor,
each receiving a salary from the gov
eminent, all filled by naval officers;
besides, we are informed that a naval
officer recently has been given a leave
of absence for a year to become the
manager of a steamship line out OF this
port.
The Marine Journal knows of many
ex-shipmasters who could fill any one
of these positions as credMably as
those who are filing them now, and
who actually need the wages that go
with these positions to support those
dependent upon them, in a manner
such as they are entitled to through
the valuable public service rendered by
their ancestors as master mariners.
The Chamber of Commerce of this port
is the largest and most influential COM
mercial body of men in the United
States. Its original membership con-
sisted of men interested in shipping,
and at one time it carried on its rolls
many of the ablest shipmasters and ex-
shipmasters the country ever knew.
The Chamber of Commerce at one
time thrived wholly through the sup
port of shipping men. There are a few,
a very few, left, and these cannot yet
have forgotten. the value the merchant
mariner has been to the organization
as we'll as to this great port in helping
to make 1t great, and would be OF the
same service again IL the opportunity
offered. Is 1t then asking too much
that this honorable body, In its own
way, make the effort to have the places
we have named filed by ex-shipmas-
tiers through the proper authorities,
thereby assuring a deserving class of
fellow citizens that they are not wholly
forgotten by at least one commercial
organization which their forefathers
established?