The Washington herald., 1916-06-15
SEEN AND HEARD
BY GEORGE MINER

New york. june Lying ~ the Huosor
river off New York City is the steam yach
Ranger. She is good-szed boat handsomel,
appointed and the property of Thomas w. Slo
cum. She is now in commission and Mr.. Slo
cum sleeps aboard of her nearly every night
He leaves his business in Thomas street, goe'
out to the yacht, which has steam already up
and as soon as he is aboard she glides dowr
through the harbor and bay while Mr.. Slocun
in enjoying his dinner and cigar. If it's fai
weather, the yacht is anchored outside or il
the lower bay for the night. In the morning
he has swim oversize and is brought com
fortably back to town and business again.
It's quite an ideal way to live durng th'
summer months, but of course there is nothing
remarkable about it, as lots of wealthy New
York business men do the same thing. Wha
rs remarkable is that in the cabin OF this boa
there are some invaluable relics of American
history. Among others, there is letter from
Paul Jones to Mr.. Slocum's grest-grandfather
Also there is the identical flag that Paul Jone:
few at his masthead when he fought the famou:
battle with the Scraps.
No wonder this yacht of Tom Slocum's i!
called the Ranger after Jones famous ship or
which the American flag unfurled for the
first time and on which the American flag wa:
first saluted by foreign power. That oc
CURED in a French harbor in 1916.
1t that Mr.. Slocum's great-grandfathei
and Paul Jones close friends. Hence al
these souvenirs and this sentiment.
my great grandfather" said Mr.. Slocum, "wa
a Welshman and a shipmaster The Englst
kept capturing his ships until he got tired Of it
So he quit and came here and became Ameri
can citizen. By singular coincidence, | hap
pened to sail into the harbor OF Newburyport
Mass, exactly one hundred years to a day
after my ancestor first sailed in there. He wa
in command OF his ship and l of mine
But he went in under canvas and l under steam
suspect that my boat got in quicker anc
easier and that l had enjoyed rather more
comfortable trip than he had.
Mr.. Slocum is a strong advocate OF prepared
and one of the moving spirits il
getting up the monster preparedness parade
that was held in this city month ago. HI
tells that they are still busy paying for tht
bands, which were the most expensive part o
the whole affair. He is also the chairman o
the civilian committee Of the naval training cruise
and is giving great deal OF time and attention
to helping the government in this undertaking
"One OF the most remarkable things abou
that parade, said he, was the way that meI
who had military training and no expert
two. They learned between Canal and Twenty
third streets. By the time they got uptown ole
army men were amazed at the precision the,
showed in keeping alignment and in wheeling
1t takes months to teach recruits to do tina
properly. 1t because these preparedness
paraders used their brains and had brains tc
use. More than that. they were all in earnes
and wanted to do the best they could. 1t wa
a matter OF personal pride among ntelligen
persons
THE lesson of that preparedness parade lead
to believe that this training cruise of on,
month will do much more to teach the re
cruits who take part in it to be sailors thar
is generally believed. l have heard lot o
people say: What's the good OF sending then
out for only month? You can't turn farme
or bank clerk or a milhand into sailor in
month
Il believe you can make a good deal If
sailor of him in month if he has brains anc
uses them. And that's just what will happen
for these men who enrolling have brains
They wouldn't be eligible if they hadn't, ant
they are going on the cruise for the specia
purpose of using them.
When it's you will find that we hav
five thousand more reserve sailors than we hav
now. | know it costs the government 10
OF money to these ships for this cruise
but it is the cheapest kind of naval instruction
that could be given"
Everybody is coming to the front to hell
boom this civilian cruise Thousands of moving
picture houses flashing announcements tellin,
about it. Four or FIVE special films are bein,
taken showing life on a battleship and jus
what the recruits will do. These are to b.
shown in all the moving picture houses in tn
country In than two thousand railroad
stations within a radius of a hundred miles o
New York the railroad companies have pu
up posters and hung bundles of circulars de
failing the requirements.
Fifty thousand cards given out every nigh
announcing the cruise by the managers of tn
New York theaters. Posters are being hun,
in every cigar store, drug store, hotel and res
taurant and on at least half the newsstands
In the reading rooms and smoking rooms OF
every boat on every of the twenty-eish
lines of passenger steamers running out Of New
York bundles of circulars kept on hand