Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-03-23
(By Milton Bronner.l

(By Milton Bronner.)
Washington, March 20.-Suppose
we get all the ships the Emergency
Fleet Corporation hopes to build,
where are we going to get the Ameri-
can sailors and officers to man them?
That is one Of the first questions
that occurred to the government Of
ficials. so they placed these moment-
GUS problems in the hands Of Henry
Howard. a prominent business man Of
Boston, who was made director of the
recruiting service. y.
The result is q series Of schools
which are turning out sailors and Of
ficers.
There rs available a considerable
number OF able seamen and Of officers,
but many more will have to be
trained.
All ships that carry supplies and
troops will be manned by the navy de-
partment. But with what is left the
problem is q big one
Here is Towards estimate Of how
many men it Is going to take to man
the new ships to be turned out in
1913, figuring very literally that the
tonnage will be slightly in excess Of
5000, 900:
-Four thousand one hundred and
sixteen deck officers, 4,1l6 engineer
officers. 1.e44 stewards. 1O,708 deck
Ycrew. 16.917 engineering crew, and
7,o14 stewards crew-43,s15 in all.
The ordinary vessel of $500 tons
has a complement of "a officers and
men as follows: One master and
three watch officers, one chief engi-
neer and three assistants, one chief
steward, 8 sailors. 2 cooks. 3 mess
men. 8 oilers, 3 water tenders and 6
firemen.
A big vessel, capable of carrying
$500 tons or more, will have four
deck officers, 4 engineers, l steward,
IA deck crew, "a engine room crew
and SIN the stewards department.
Thanks to the Emergency Fleet
when able seamen could get training
as officers and opportunity to serve as
onlcers so cheaply as now. Howard
has established free schools where
navigation is taught at Cambridge. and
Gloucester. Mass; Portland and
Rockland. Maine; Baltimore. Newport
News, New York, Norfolk. Philadel-
phia, Jacksonville. Tampa, Florida.
Galveston. Mobile. New Orleans. Los
Eureka. Cal: B%ellingham, Wash;
Portland, Ore; Tacoma and Seattle.
Free schools where marine engi-
neering is taught have zen estab-
lished al the Massachusetts institute
of technology in Boston, Stevens insti-
tute in Hoboken, New Jersey; Johns
Hopkins university in Baltimore, one
in Philadelphia in connection with
the Bourse; Tulane university in New
Orleans, University Of Washington at
Seattle, Armour institute of technol-
ogy at Chicago and Case school Of
applied sciences at Cleveland.
To be a student the applicant must
be. an liable seaman" with at least
two years active experience at sea.
and must, have saved enough money
to maintains himself for two or three
months while taking the course of
After a man has been graduated,
he gets an opportunity, by arrange
ment with the ship-owners. to so to
sea and get training Is a junior Of
icer for two months at SIS a month.
Those who have studied to be chief
engineers are sent to the factories
where the turbines are being built.
They help the skilled workers there
coast. and hep install it in the ship.
so that they are familiar with every
angle of it. Then they are ready to
80 to sea and run the engines.
The school where lapdsmen are
turned into ordinary seamen" has
it's headquarters at Boston, where the
Emergency Fleet Corporation has. a
pier for which it pays $4,000 per
month. 1t also has two training ships,
the Calvin Austin and the Governor
-Dingley, which put out to sea FIVE
days out Of each week and so give the
pupils actual sea service. The steam
ship Meade is used as a receiving ship
and living quarters. The pupils have
80 days of intensive training to teach
them, as they may choose. to be sail
ors, f1remen. oilers, stokers. water
tenders. cooks or stewards. Owing to
the dangers in the submarine zone,
they also have two hours life boat
drill each day, being shown how to
launch, lower and handle the boats.
The men are not required to main
tain themselves. Uncle Sam gives
them a dark blue sailor uniform and
feeds them. and pays them $50 a
month. They sign an agreement to
serve in the mercantile marine for the
duration OF the war. There has been
no trouble about getting pupils. There
is a waiting list of about $500. {!
At present the recruiting service
has facilities to train about 900 Of
ficers and 2.c00 ordinary eame a
month. 1t has. from the Emergency
Fleet Corporation. an allowance of
100000 a month for expenses. 1T
costs about SIS to train a deck oficer.
$65 to train an engineer officer, and
more expensive. because the govern
ment feeds him and pays him.
Howard is a great believer in
working with union labor. He, there
for", named an advisory committee,
composed of the presidents Of. all
unions thai have anything to do with
the merchant marine. They meet
800 80 - l,.:-> --sAL Ls-.
regarding the schools and the supply
Of men Tor them. -
The recruiting service has also or
ganixed a sea service bureau. This
is intended by Howard as a follow-up
system. * He does not want men to
give up their time and energies to At
themselves for the sea and then find
no berth. Consequently. this bureau
sees to it that the men find employ
are exempt upon application of the
Fleet Corporation, so long as they
stick to their agreement to 20 to sea.
In order that the many men who
will be turned out as ordinary seamen
may not lac work. arrangements are
being made whereby they can be put
into the regular shipping service. Two
able seamen are taken out Of the
ship roster and four ordinary seamen,
school, are put in their places. An
able T4eaman is one who has had
threesSeats'sa active service at sea.
HIGH WATER AFFECTING
WISCONSIN TRAIN SERVICE
ssWinona, Mimi. March 20.-Traflc
i on the Burlington and Green Bay
railroads IL seriously affected by the
hiGh water. The Burlington tracks
are under water at Stockholm, Wis.