Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-02-28
LOOKING AF TER TARS
How Seamen's Society Watches
 Over Uncle Sam'S Sailors.
REACHES TO FAR CAPE HORN

Not Man Lost Through Shore Leave
 by BattIeship Fleet In It's Long
 Cruise Around South America-Many
 Letters Sent Home From Soeiety's
 Coast Stations.
 That the 15,O0O sailors of the United States battleship fleet were slipping along the far coast of South America, hale and hearty, with ever an eye to old home folks, was reported in New York city the other day.
 From their five branch stations along the route about the Horn the workers of the American Seamen's Friend society are sending to head quarters the news of the eventful days of shore leave in which Uncle Sam's sailors swarmed ashore to their quar- ters for sight of good American face and the rare chance of quiet smoke, talk and long letter to the folks at home. Stamps souvenir postals, reading material from home and stacks l branches, the sOciety's officers declare, and thousands of carefully scrawled missives have left their writing rooms for homes in every part of the United 1 States
 | At Rio de Janero, MontevideO Buenos Aires and Rosario, where headquarters for sailors have been maintained for years by this organiza- tion, the navy tars have been wei. comed, entertained and piloted pretty l clear of the shoals that lie particularly | foul of the course of the sailor in for l eign ports. Human life. vice and bad liquor are valued cheaply in some of i these South American towns. and it goes hard and often fatally with the seafaring man if he gets into the l hands of the natives. Not even his navy uniform has saved many jacky of such cities. and today the workers of the society throughout the lower continent feel relieved and gratifed that the fleet has finally stood off toward its own shores once more with all the tars aboard and alive.
 From Rio de Janeiro a report recent ly reached New York telling of the ad- vent of the Yankee sailors there. With other local organizations the American Seamen's Friend society's branch at New York organized constant enter tainment for the men of the fleet. An tpf h,,r tn which the sailors went on their arrival to have their money honestly changed and embark on excursions conducted about the place for their benefit. Ev- cry square foot of the rooms of this station of the society was packed each hour of the stay of the battleships by the American crews. smoking. yarning or reading and writing home letters. Before the squadron weighed anchor a large meeting of the men was ar- ranged by-the society's workers.
 On the river Plata the society had three stations ready for Admiral Evans men. Here everything was thrown open to the visiting sailors and their path kept as straight as possible. The bloody violence of the crimps of Ro- sario and this entire region has fallen on many a defenseless seaman in the past, and after seven years of hard effort the workers of these branches have only just succeeded in becoming | buffer between them and the visiting sailors. That the American tackles left Buenos Aires in good order is rec ognized as a welcome result of the long campaign. To the friendly offices of this as well as the other branches of the American Seameu's Friend SO ciety the navy tars had been commend ed long before they sailed by old friends in the active branches of the organization at the Brooklyn navy yard and Newport News.
 Five large institutes of the organiza- tion will be on the lookout for the men of the fleet when they touch home soil again at Seattle. Tacoma. Portland. As- toria or Port Townsend. There are some forty-fve of these branches keep Ing watch over the sailorman all over the world. the officers of the society say. That such close touch could have been kept of the Pacific fleet in its continent girdling cruise is regarded by them as a good test of the work.