Connecticut western news., 1917-03-08
UNITED STATES NAVY
Recruiting Officer to Visit Canaan Next
 Thursday.

member of the recruiting staff.
 The navy department has ordered a nation wide drive for recruits. A travelling recruiting party is visiting all the cities and towns in Connecti. cut. They will visitWinsted on March 12 to, IT inclusive. The recruiting officers will make their headquarters in the city hall while they are in Win sted.
 One of the recruiting officers will visit Canaan on March 15. He will make his headquarters in the local post office and will give information per taining to the navy to any one desiring it and will examine and enlist men be- tween the ages of IT and 30 for the naval service. Boys under IS years of age must have parents consent to enlist and over IS no consent is required.
 The navy is offering excellent in. ducements to young men who now en- | list. These inducements are caused by the large building program which is now in effect. 8l3,00 tons of con struction for the navy was authorized by congress in the last navy appropria- tion bill.
 Thirty thousand additional men are required by the navy to man the new ships. These men must be recruited and trained by 1921. This will require that these men for the most part must be taught trades The introduction of steam and electricity into the navy has caused our modern battleships to be filled with complicated machinery and it takes expert mechan1cs to run them and to keep them prepared and ready at minutes notice for any emergency. The navy teaches and makes all its own experts, 52 different trades are taught, I7 trade schools are maintained on shore by the navy department, where ell these trades are taught. The general thing is that when boy first enlists he is sent to the naval training station at Newport, K |, where he re- ceives instTuc; ion n seamanship, ordi. ance, signaling, drilling and personal hvgine. This course of instruction lasts for a period of from three to four moAths 1nG boy IS then placed on board a seag.Nng vessel. He is asked what trade he prefer to take up. He is then encouraged ill his chosen line of work and if he shows any aptitude he is sent to trade school where he is placed under expert instructors and given every opportunity to learn.
 l. Opportunity. in the guise of Uncle Sam, is knowledge at every young mans door. Now is the time to get in the new navy and grow up with it.
 Get in and expand as the navy does. Such an opportunity as the navy build ing program has caused rapid promo. tions to high salaried positions in the naval service such as has never occurred before and perhaps never will again. The boy who now enlists has every thing to gain and nothing to lose. Under the new law a boy upon enlist. ing, does not swear to do four years service in the navy. If after he has served one year and wishes to get ous all he has to do is say so and he will be given an honorable discharge. The department want only satisfied men in the service and the fact the S5 per cent of the men, who were honorably dis charged last year after serving four years or more, re-enlisted proves that satisfaction and contentment runs high in the navy today. The ideals of the service were never higher than today. 1 Only the highest type of American manhood is enlisted for the naval ser. vice. Tho navy is no longer refuge for drunkards and buns. The man in the service who gets drunk now is dis. charged forthwith. Drunkards and slackers have not been tolerated in the navy for some time and the consequences are that you can go nowhere in the world and find better, more upright or cleaner bunch of men than those who walk the decks of Uncle Sam $ dread . nought. The navy of today is not the same as 15 or 20 years ago, it has been thoroughly purged of drunkards and men who possess vicisous habits. The navy of today is good enough and fit enough and offers a large enough op portunity for the most exacting mans son.
 l The recruiting officers are not only looking for recruits. They would like to get in touch with all ex.service men who hold honorable discharges from the navy, with the view of enlisting them in the Fleet Reserve. The Fleet Reserve is composed of all ex service men and has no connection with the navy military whatever. Any man holding an honorable discharge from the navy who is under 45 years of age is eligible for the Fleet Reserve. For one enlistment he will receive $50 a year by belonging to the Reserves. If he has served two enlistments in the navy he will receive $72 a year and for three enlistments he will receive $100 year. Under the same law any man completing Is years service in the navy can, at his own request. be trans.