Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-25

d
coaling is a thing that happens only once
in a while, whereas the new coal-heaver
sees himself in for it for the length of his
cruise, with no respite.
Matter Of Shore Liberty.
Restricted liberty is another factor that
fattens the desertion rolls The blueiacket
who only gets his anticipated glimpse OF the
world through a portfolio is bound TO pc
come sore to the jumping point. He con-
siders that he has been deceived and de-
frauded, and there Is a side 20 his argu-
ment. at that. A very large proportion OIL
the enlisted force of the navy are on what
Is called the fourth-conduct class list mat
means that they're only allowed shore lib
erty once every three months. They get on
the bad conduct list for minor attractions
of discipline. 1t is very severe punishment
to keep a man on board man-o war loi
three months at stretch. even in nome
port. But when the ship is travelling
around interesting waters and stopping at
ports that the Quarantined men nave peen
hankering to see all their lives, and that
they promised themselves they would see
when they shipped in the navy, the punish
ment is intolerable. How would you IKE 10
be a man quarantined on board your snip
when she was lying alongside Nice or Ven
ice say, and only be allowed to take peek
at those places from over the tops of the
hammock nettings, after you'd promised
yourself close-hand view of them when
you shipped in the navy-when, as mat
ter of fact. your main purpose in shipping
had been to take a look at the world ana
the peoples in it? That is the experience of
thousands of new men in the enlisted serv-
ice of the navy. The quarantlned men. lin
tied to the ship for a quarter OF year at
a stretch, see jolly punches of their ship
mates clambering over the side in whole
watches for shore visits in ports that they
themselves have been pipe-dreamfng about
all their lives, and the best they get Is
,o1,o %Io and a ri n
to watch the going and coming of the sam
pans and the movements of the harbor tugs.
You've got to have that tried on you once
to know just how 1t feels.
II know for a fact that ninety-nine blue
Jackets out of a hundred would rather be
punished for infractions of discipline or bad
breaks by doing five or ten-day tricks in
double irons in the solitary brig on bread
and water than to have their shore liberty
cut off in this utterly heartless and in
furious way. You can't make good sailor
of n man by quarantining him on board his
ship. On the contrary, you can render him
absolutely useless by doing just that thing.
The continuously quarantined man devel-
ops. and is bound to develop, an unpunctur-
able crouch against his superiors and all
hands and himself, and a man with a
more than a man in civil life can do his
work properly when he is dead-sore against
his employers.
Relations With Officers
'I notice that one of the officers of the
navy who has written about this desertion
business says that on too many ships the
men for'ard are controlled by soured and
testy and cranky senior officers, and he
recommends that the enlisted men be d.
rectly dealt with by the younger officers,
who haven't got to the point where they re
SerVice-Chafed There's a good deal IN
that. The grabbed old buckle officers in the
1pCa
carry along with them the old-fashioned
idea that the man for'ard ought to tremble
in the presence of an officer. They are ar
bitrary, domineerng, often totally unjust,
and they can't get over regarding the en-
listed men as their personal hirelings and
vassals. The new breed of young officers
coming out of Annapolis have tot different
ideas as to where the man ard stands.
They are ready and willing to give the
alert and non complaining bluejacket a
mans chance in a mans game, and they
get on with the enlisted men far better
than the old-time officers. When a blue
jacket sees that the officer Immediately on
top of him is disposed to give him square
deal that bluejacket is going to bust eigh-
ty-seven different kinds of blood vessels in
order to do the right thing by that officer;
he'll show more work and discipline and
decency than'u patch hades a mile But
when the same bluejacket sees-as he IS
m ghty quick to see when it comes off that
way-that he is getting the mean end of
mOrphosed into a bucker from away back,
and there is no doing anything with him.
He communicates his disaffection to all the
rest of the men of his division or gang,
and then there is the mischief to pay.
Why Apprentices Quit.
'I understand that the figures show that
more apprentices are jumping ship nova
days than used to be the case, and there is
an answer to that, too. The boys arrive
at point where they don't see much ahead
of them and then they quit. The prizes in
front of them are few and far between, and
they're not such tremendous prizes when
they're gained. L started in as an appren-
tice twenty years ago, for example, and
now I'm chief petty officer. I've worked
pretty hard in the service. and I've had to
behave myself and toe the mark all through
these years, else l wouldn't be in line for
the gunnership that is presently to be hand
ed to me. Well. when become gunner,
that's as far as III get. l won't have the
Presidents commission. but I'll have
warrant from the Secretary of the Navy.
A warrant officer isn't strictly an officer.
He's a sort of a betwixt and bechune. It
lonesome, cutoff sort of a life, too that
of a warrant officer In the navy. The COM
missioned officers have way of looking
down upon the warrant officer, who has
got the device on his collar by the blue
jacket route, and the warrant officer Is
partnership with all of his former bluejacket
shipmates in order that discipline may be
maintained. The warrant officer Is neither
fish flesh, fowl nor good red herring, and
in some respects the billet hold now, that
Of chief petty officer, Is far more desira-
BILE than the one that I'll soon be filling.
Should Have a Chance.
eff a certain number of apprentices were
to be taken from the ships and placed at
Annapolis every year. there to take the
course and study for their commissions and
go right on up the line on equal terms with
the young chaps who get their appointments
to the naval institution, the apprentice
boys would have something in front of
them to fight for, and there'd be mighty
few assertions from among them. That
the way 1t Is rugged in the army-the clean,
ell-behaved young buck soldier can put
himself in line for commission and go
after it from the very day that he holds
up in his hand in recruiting office And
that's the way 1t ought to be in the navy.
Its a pretty good sort of an old outfit,
the American navy. and, respecting the
treatment the enlisted men get in 1t, so far
ahead of any other navy in the world that
there's simply no comparison. But the de-
sertion records show the weak spots of any
kind of a military outfit and there isn't
a weak spot in the American naval outfit
that isn't capable of easy correction"