The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-04-09
.SEhMEh RECEIVE
EXCELLENT PAY
Wages Of "Jackies" Are Good and
Amount to More in the End
Than That of Any
Other Class.
IS CHANCE TO ADVANCE
eattIeships Are Now Floating Schools
Where Almost Every Trade is
Taught-Many Good
Opportunities.
IS CHANCE TO ADVANCE

1T may be a matter Of surprise to
many" a naval officer said to the
New York World, Ito be told that the
average pay Of the American blue
jacket Is better than that of the rail
road man. But it is no less true. The
average bluejacket, not the picked
man, nor the man of the special class,
but the bluejacket and the recruit who
a just Joined the service, receives a
pay which averages omething more
than 1920 a year.. While this may
sound, smaller, as a matter of fact it
really is larger, because, in addition to
his pay, the navy man gets his board
and lodging n medical attendance
free.
1T may also come as another sur
Prise" this cMcoT continued. etc know
that it is now almost as difficult for a
man to enlist in the navy as it is to
get on the police force Or a position
in the p%ostotfice. That is because of
the rigid physical and mental and
moral examination which the appli-
cant has to pass. No longer Is the
navy q refuge for DRINKS or loafers.
But while the man of vicious Or de-
service there is much Of the old-time
lSJuulCc WlllSu lao LoI ySI DCCh oNCA-
come.
"Twenty, thirty or forty years ago,
particularly in the days Of sailing
ships, the enlisted men Of the United
States navy were not desirable as a
class. AS a matter Of fact most of
them were foreigners. II of my old
commanding officers spoke of a ship
on which he served in which n gun
crew was conspicuous from the fact
most Of them were Americans.
They put up a sign on their gun, Eng
lish spoken here This happened on
American men-of-war within the IAm-
DRY of living middle-aged men.
Changed Conditions.
But all of that is now changed.
The navy now is more than a calling;
it is a profession. The modern battle
ship is SO complicated hat highly
skilled men are required to keep IL
up to the standard of efficiency exact
ed. Skilled labor must be well paid,
and in the navy this Is the case. Not
long g the navy was so near the
limit allowed by law that many appli-
cants for enlistment were placed on
a waiting list, over five hundred be-
ing on that list at one time in this Of
flee. 1t is extremely probable. to my
mind practically certain, that within
a very short time the navy will have
reached the maximum allowed by law
and applicants will have to await their
turn. Also they must be American
citizens"
The officer produced a table which
showed than one entering the navy at
the age of twenty in the rating Of sea-
y,nr ,nynrf{o@-N o,yoc ~
the navy ladder-may at the end of
thirty years, after having spent $14.-,
666 of his pay, have to his account in
bank the snug sur of $2S,7SS. or this
amount .$11 .O37 will have been earned
in interest on money deposited in the
navy savings bank provided by the
government. His board, lodging and
medical attendance will have cost him
nothing during this entire period.
Then when he reaches fftv-two wears
Of age, an age which stretches like a
dead line across the path of the loco
motive engineer, the navy man may
retire on an annual pension of $104 a
month, this in addition to the interest
on his 2S.7ss.
Chance to Advance.
Again should the man show the nee
essary efficiency, he may. long before
the thirty years have passed, have
had ample opportunity to become a
warrant officer, with a salary of 81, 500
to $4,000 per year, and with the priv
ilege Of retiring at sixty-two years Of
age as a commissioned officer on
three-quarters pay for the remainder
of his life.
II was in an upstate hotel not long
ago." said the e~x-recruiting officer,