The Elk Mountain pilot., 1918-09-05

cOnstwise steamships.
Engineer officers trained at the Stevens
institute of Technology in Hoboken where men
with NJ. f. degree or Its equivalent receive inten-
siVe training In marine engineering.
thousands of men being trained for the
naval auxiliary reserve at the Great Lakes (Ill)
station.
All men turned out by these schools are ns
much part of the navy as If they had been grad
uated from Annapolis All OF t..ese future Off
GERS are American citizens and will form the
natural nucleus of n great merchant marine.
All navy crews merchant ships for the du-
ration OF the war were advocated by the navy
early In the conflict II was the belief that all
such ships should be placed under the strictest
discipline that with permanent crews. efficiency
aboard ship would he Increased; that the ships
would be self-sustaining. in that the crew would
be able to make all repairs: that the !oading and
unloading could be more efficiently done, and that
several hundred thousand Americans would join
the service. where 1t believed they would
remain after the war.
1t was the idea of the service that by this
means the love of the would be planted again
in the American heart. Men who once had sniff
of the salt air would probably never be satisfied
to so back to the cities farms They would
form the nucleus of 100 per cent merchant
marine.
In the beginning nobody wanted u government
controlled cargo service. Steamship owners
feared 1t meant federal control. The navy had
only about 1900 officers and most of these were
needed to aid the 10000 reserve force to break
In the 2OO.OO0 new enlisted men. Gradually,
has been stated. the manning and operation of the
merchant ships devOlved upon the navy and the
overseas transportation service was organized to
handle 1t.
In some quarters 1t is believed that the entire
work of manning and operating cargo ships
should he turned over to the navy. Danger of
strikes Among civilian crews is feared Ships
carrying in time of war should not, 1t Is
thought, he rated as private property OF any in
divitlual company. They must, not be In the
hands of men who working for money only
Illiterate men. anarchists socialists and the dis
loyal may become members of mercantile crews.
whereas only men who intelligent and physic
ally fit may become soldiers seamen of the
nation. Soldiers work for $50 u month and the
sense of duty alone. Merchant seamen receive
today $50 Il month or more and extra pay for
overtime and Sundays, and they are not under
any obligation to remain Mt
AT the outbreak of the there 5000
Germans in the American merchant marine
Sixty per cent of the members Of the Seamen's
union are said to be foreigners. AS the service
was run under antewar conditions 1t i'm
nossible to hire Americans and the class of for
eicners who would work on these ships was large
ly undesirable.
Strikes are said to be likely ut any time aboard
ships manned by foreign aborers. An incident
is cited in which the crew of freighter, bound
IN Europe with a cargo of essentials for our SOL
assist In getting up ammunition when submarines
were reported ahead, on the ground that 1t was
Sunday and the La Toilette law provided only
for watch duty on Sunday.
On another occasion u civilian crew de handed
overtime for. performing on Sunday a certain
duty provided by law. Civilian sailors of cargo
sbins have been caught In the act Of signaling
,o enemy submarines and freroom forces have
bolted for the deck upon the sounding of an
alarm of danger.
Ships manned with naval officers and crews
are safe from strke3 and mutiny. Efficiency and
comnetent operation ure certain. On two three
occasions civilian crews that have struck have
been Instantly supplanted by navy men and the
ship carried through with its precious cargo for
the American men at the front.
Some students OF naval strategy of the
opIn,on thnt great part Of the United States
navy might be sunk without to any great extent
affecting the result Of the war; but II the cargo
ships do not get across the war II lost to tho
allies.