Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-09-17
has not yet been overcome.

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 fate, most of
them were foreigners. One of my old
commanding officers spoke of ship
on which he served in which one gun
crew was conspicuous from the fact
that most of them were Americans.
They put up a sign on their gun that
read, English spoken here" This
happened, too, on an American man of
war within the memory of living men
of middle age today.
But all of that is now changed. The
navy is more than a calling; it is
profession. The modern battleship is
SO complicated that highly skilled men
are required to keep it up to the STAN
dard of efficiency exaeted. Skilled la
Dor must be we'll paid and in the navy
this is the case Not long ago, the
navy was so near the limit allowed by
law that many applicants for enlist
ment were placed on a waiting list,
over five hundEed being on that list at
one time in this Office.
1t is extremely probable to my mind,
practically certain, that within very
short time the navy will have reach
ed the maximum allowed by law and
applicants will have to await their
turn; also they must be American
citizens.
The officer produced table which
showed that one entering the navy at
the age of Is in the rating of seaman
apprentice, the lowest rung of the navy
ladder, may at the end of thirty years
after having spent $15,666 of his pay,
have to his account in the bank the
snug sum of $29,78S. Of this amount
$12,037 will have been earned in inter-
est of money deposited in the navy
savings bank provided by the govern
ment. His board, lodging and medi-
cal attendance will cost him nothing
during this entire period. Then,
when he reaches ffty-two years of age,
an age which stretches like dead line
across the path of the locomotive en-
gineer, the navy man may retire on
an annual pension of $1O4 a month;
this in addition to the interest on his
$29,7SS.
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 war
rant officer, with salary of $1,000 to
$1,000 a year, with the privilege OF
retiring at sixty-two years of age, as
commissioned officer, with three
quarters pay the remainder of his life.
l was in an upstate hotel not Iona
ago, said the ex-recruiting officer, and
| got into a conversation with an old
farmer. The talk drifted around to
the navy, and the old chap snorted
and wanted to know what good the
government expected to do by teaching
young men sailorizing told MIN
that they were taught considerably
more, and although he was not from
Missouri, he wanted to be shown.
Here are just a few of the things !
told him about, I told him how cleo
tricity is taught in all of its forms;
the uses of motor generators, batteries,
dynamos, steam engineering in all its
phases up to the latest devices in tur-
bines; the principle of explosive en-
gines; the use OF air compressors, and
the use of compressed air.
The modern battleship or armored
cruiser is really a floating trade
school. There is machine shop with
lathes; there a fully equipped black
smith shop, a complete bakery; there
is carpenter shop and places for
ship filters, metal workers, plumbers
and joiners, up-to-date cooking is
taught, and there is a modern laundry
with the latest equipment. Many other
occupations can be found on board a
modern man Of war. There are stem
ographers, typewriters, etc. The store
houses run on the principle Of de-
partment store, the profits of which go
to the purchase of athletic outfits, and
all of this in addition to what goes
to make the man Of warsman proper.