Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-05-23
BOYS, THE BOATS
ARE CALLING YOU
Youths Must Come Forward TO
Man the New Vessels of Our
Merchant Marine.

Washington. Nav T. n tho new
shins of the merchant marine gllda down
tho waya. the need for men grows moro
pross,ng. Abundant opportunity ~ Rid
IN winning tho wnr u offered the crews
of tho now vessels with tho certainty
that when peace coiues therc will be iur-
thcr advent. arc and good pay ~ carrying
American Commerce throughout the
world
Recruiting of the boys and men VINO
r,,,sf go dnvn 20 the sca # America "a
to regain her old place among the mari
time nations is ~ the hands Of the ship
pinr Roarda enlistment s"rvtce5 headcd
hv Henry Howard with headquarters
NJ Boston who has outlined t" nnlon
men and steamship companies what
already has been accomplished
About year ago we realized LIE
shortage that was going to arse When
the new fleet was finished. Mr. Howard
said "and We started the training OF
officers. both deck and engineer. We
established n train of schools extending
| along the Atlantic coast, the 1tait 81
| Mexico. the Pacific coast and the t'reat
| Lakes to enable us 10 get hold of the men
uLo had experience at sea We then
pot. the cooperation of the Steamboat
| fnsncction Service No man WAS ad-
m,ttcd tn our schools for officers unless
he could first qualify for experience re
| ouir.d bv the rules OF the Steamboat
/ 1nsnertion Service That obVates the
training OF any dead material Al Ct
mon go their licenses, We place them.
ms fnr MS possible. on board steamships
AS iuninr officers, tn get actual bridge
experirnce for thirty To sixty days
| During that period they got s15 month
| with nn bonus. paid by the Emergency
Fleet Corporation, 81 that the only eN-
| uense to the steamship companies taking
| these men is the food they eat
"We have turned out officers So fast
that a great many have not been hndut
nos,tions in the merchant marine, an1
have gone into the navy. It has been
IN s certain extent Il short cut to a coin
mission in the navy, going through oul
schools, owing 10 lack OF cooperation
in many of the steamship lines IN TAX M
these men on. We believe, however
+ in view of the acton that was taken b'
the Amercan Steamship Association SOM
weeks ago that this Will now be straight
ened out. and that we will get the places.
There have been licensed, since th
first dav Of June, something over 6,OOI
officers both deck and engineer
trEn aineers nave been giving training
IN various technical institutions, tn
Massachusetts, Institute of Technology
in Boston, the John Hopkins, in Balti
more. Case School Of Applied Science Il
Cleveland. the Tulane University o
Washington, in Seattle. Then outsld
Of those institutions we have been giyin
special engineering courses III phlladelphl
in connection with the ice breaking steame
loaned to us by the City OF Philadelphia
for that purpose. We are also givin
some courses at the Seamens lnstltut
in Now York We are starting an ad
ditional school IN Berkeley, California.
eve have been III touch with I'll
Officers Association in England AMI
J any shortage develops here, we will brln
officers over to hll the plaees We hay
} an offer of cooperation from the Englls
!, | Officers Association. We have teit troi
the very beginning that we ought
develop our own material here To Il
utmost before we call ON any forelg
officers but it looks now as il It migl
: be necessary to call on the foreign officer
n TO have "A reserve force ON hand to me,
: any emergency that may arise.
/. 1--WE have started training ships f
}. training sailors, ilremen cooks and ST
: wards, oilers and water tenders u
d have in operation the Governor Din
v lev at Galveston and the Governor Col
= is at sea. Our program calls Tor glyl
b these ships five days out OF the seven ca
e week at sea. SO rs TO give the men TIN
Is sea legs The old army transport Mea
Y is being used as a receiving ship.