Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-06-17
WARsHIP CONTRASTS.
Comparison of the Navies of Japan
 and United States.

That the Japanese navy stands for
 utility and severe simplicity was ap-
 parent from the short range inspec,
 tion which the recent visit of some of
 the Mikados warships to the James
 own exposition afforded. There, side
 by side with the American men-o-
 war. 1t was only too apparent that there were striking contrasts between the ships of the two nations. On the
 bows of the Japanese ships is no
 scroll work. such as nipples in gilt about the bows of American men-of-
 war, but instead disc. which is pitch cd forward at a sharp angle, and on, which is painted the rising sun of Japan.
 But the most striking difference of all lies in the color of the ships. Those of the Japanese are of dark drab, soinbre as a thundercloud. and. say. Ing the bit of gilt at stern and bow, unrelieved by any touch of color; mast, fighting tops, smokestacks, su- perstructure, boats. booms, hull, all in the darkest drab and lustreless as the eye of the dead. Nowhere is any pol tshed brass work to wink back at the sun. no gangway ladders whitened with holy-stone. sand and canvas. un- til the oaken steps and frame pieces take on a look like unto that of "wrlnkled skins on scalded milk" Nor are there any fancy manropes. so dear to the heart of the American blue jacket, highly decorative and always spotlessly white, though not essential ly important in the makeup of man. of.war. Instead, on these Japanese ships one Is struck at almost every turn with the same rigid exclusion of nonessentials as distinguishes the paintings and pictures by Japanese artists.
 Then the bandl All know the tunes. mostly martial airs, which the band of an American flagship or battleship is wont to play. but the. airs which the band of Japanese warship discourses are rarely martial. that is. they do not have that ring to the western ear, do not carry the hand to the sword like Dixie" or the 'Marseillaise." h. stead the tunes are more suggestive of dancing or of posturing.
 The library of an American man-of- war is usually supplied with thou sands of volumes. books that run the whole gamut of literature and deal with almost every subject that has ever employed type. The visitor to one of the Japanese ships would have discovered much scantier collection. He would have found hundred or so volumes in the Japanese language, and which his courteous hosts would have told him were of purely scien- tific nature and more or less related to their own calling. being treatises on navigation, ordnance. seamanship, steam engineering. electricity, high explosives. the compass and its devia- tions. tactics. and SO on. He also would have found few books in Eng. fish. German. and French, these be- ing such light and frivolous works as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Darwin's -origin of Species" Bastiat's "ScI- ence of Finance" Walkers Political Economy" and other works of a simi- lar exciting nature.
 The uniform of the Japanese blue jacket is almost identical with that of the English man-of-war's men. Their pay. however. is very small, and ranges from about four dollars a month to s16 a month. Their high. est paid petty oficer receives lower wage than does the apprentice in the American navy. and the ration which Is served to the Japanese bIuejacket would not hold an American boy in
 le naval service over night. The |. panese ration consists almost vhol- ly of rice, with an allowance Of bread twice a week.
 Unlike the American ships. the Jap snese carry no marines Then. too. their small boats are entirely differ ent. their steam launches being long. vaisted. speedy craft. and which seem to have been built originally for tor. pedo boat work. Their smaller boats are most peculiar. the type Of craft which corresponds with the dingey of the American service. being propelled ey a set of quadruple scuIIs. worked lrpm olests rigged oversize.