Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-04-06
THE BIG CHANGE
IN NAVY MORALS
Drunkenness Now Not Tolerated
and Honesty Is. Guiding
Principle-The Bad
Old Days
BY A NAVAL EXPERT

| Il who has sons who are considering what
TO do in the world seems 20 have wrong
idea of tho kind OF men we have In the
navy. 1t ia probably from the idea preva-
lent twenty or thirty years ago that every
man wearing the navy blue was drunk
ard: and, generally speaking, he was In
those days and earlier, the bulk OF the en-
listed force was composed of sailor men VINO
drifted away from tho merchant marine 10
try out the navy--to drift back again into
the merchant marine after the enlistment
In the navy had expired
These men of the merchant marine we're.
generally speaking, tough lot, as they
had been kicked about by the merchant
skippers, who were twofsted brutes, and
had TO be TO control the element that made
UP that class of workers in those days
The laws for merchant work gave tho cap
tain great power and at the same time'
required physical force TO carry on the
daily routine Tho sailor was, as rule,
brought on board tho merchant ship the
night before sailing in n drunken condition
and had no idea where he was going until
he sobered up Naturally he was "agin
the government from the beginning and
had to be dubbed into shape
When such men enlisted in thesnavy they
could not help bringing the Same idea OF
"buckling everything in sight" with them,
and the navy discipline had to be and was
very severe, so that such nm element could
be controlled. 1t was not long, however,
before the crew was whipped into shape
and the ships were smart and the drills
excellent In spite of the material. AS long
as n ship was at sea cruising all was we'll
but when time came to give liberty on
shor everything was upset for week or
more. General liberty was tho custCn-
that Is. half the crew was given liberty Tor
forty-eight hours. After their return the
other half was given the Same time on
| shore These days were narrowing ones for
| ALI hands especially for the executive Of
! ncer, who had to do his best to Keep
semblance of discipline during this time OF
| havoc.
IL was considered tho proper thing for
all hands to come back on board so nearly
drunk that they could barely toe the seam
when their names were called to muster
right after their return. Then they woulo
| go Off somewhere and sober up 1t was
common sight to see these men Tnaiy
| empty a bottle of rum just as the poat was
coming to the gangway. Then the erect
would not really get busy until after pass
| ing inspection. Later on, these men would
| be dead to the world for day, ana IL was
| tho established custom to let things go as
| long as the peace was not disturbed py
noise or fighting, ,
In those days the percentage of Ameri-
cans in the crew was small, and all lam
guages were heard about the decks. Ihe
| ships cook was always "Portugee Joe,' ana
| he was nearly always Portuguese, 100
| North Countrymen, Germans, Hawaiians
Greeks Italians made up the crews. and the
officers servants were Chinese, when these
excellent people could be obtained Many
"beach combers'' Cramps of the sea) were
picked up and enlisted anywhere that a
ship happened to anchor.
| No wonder that the fathers of the pres
| ent generation of young men advise against
| letting their sons enlist In the navy with
| such memory extant. It is in line with
| the judges who have at different times
| allowed bad young man to go free pro-
vded he enlisted in the navy.
The Great Change
However, all this is changed, and it is
| time the new condition should be well
| known. The navy of today is made up Of as
fine a lot Of young men as there are any
| where. Drinking is virtually forgotten,
| and the one who fails to be back on time
| from leave is considered freak. Drinking
| is bad form now before the mast as
| we'll as In the wardroom, and nothing kills
a bad habit so rapidly as making 1t bad
| form" The cases Of court-martial for
| drunkenness in the navy are now few and
| far between, and the enlisted men pride
themselves on being clean and sober" on
| their return from leave.
One very good rule has been established
| lately in the service and helps much to
retain the present high standard of the
1 eHllsteu lOTCe, lnlS is an OrueT whereby a
commanding officer may get rid of a worth
| less man or dangerous character by simply
reporting him as undesirable for the serv-
! ice BY return mail authority is given
| TO discharge such man with a bad con-
| duct discharge.
| Most of the enlisted force Is composed Of
young men, men between the ages of six
| teen and twenty-five. OF course, there is a
| large number who make n life business Of
| the service and there will be always on a
| ship a percentage of older men who act
| as backbone for the discipline. These
men are nearly always chief petty officers,
| men of great respectability and Importance
trustworthy and tried. They have been
| promoted through all the grades to their
present positions and have been closely
watched throughout all this service and
| marked by the many officers they have
| served under and arrive at their present
responsible places only through worth and
| long-proved worth. These men are the ones
| of the enlisted force that influence the
| younger men with whom they are closely
| in contact all the time. while they are the
| result of the influence of the officers who
| trained them for their duties So young
man ia now in good hands and he is there
nearly all the time and is not adrift nearly
| half the time as he may be in the city.
Honesty First
There is an atmosphere of uprightness
| know and realize. People there know each
| other by the back" as they say in the
navy, and few succeed in fooling their
| shpmates long, and a crooked fellow Is
| soon known and publicly nicknamed and
| spoken of by his especial crookedness, how
| ever small 1t may be-and few remain who
| have big crooks in their disposition. It
does not take long for the officers to find
out one who is wrong and he gets short
| shrlft.
The one thing that Is most strongly ac-
cented on a man-of-war Is honesty With
| the impossibiity of locking up ones pos
sions on a ship, honesty must be enforced.
II a single case of stealing be known, at
once everybody on board is on edge TO find
the malefactor. 1t Is considered a calamity
| to be on a ship known as a thief ship"
| and everybody feeR ashamed until the
crook is found and severely punished.
Any young man in the navy may learn
any one of many trades, so that he may
earn his living after finishing a cruise.
Some of the trades are machinist. lathe or
planer hand molding. blacksmithing, cop
persmithing. bricklayer, electrician, storage
battery man. . carpenter shipftter, etc.
There is no end. There is even tailor