The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-13
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORM ALTON
BU REAU
WazhtngtH. d G
THE PROBLEM OF NAVY PER-
SONNEL.
wazhingtA. q. G


American navy is facing a personnel
emergency of considerable proportions.
1t is attempting to find 10000 Iusty
young Americans who are willing to
serve aboard ship under the Stars and
! Stripes for S35 a month, with board,
room and clothing. 1t is attempting
| to do this in the face of the fact that
an associate in the government service,
the shipping board, pays the same
I men 500 a month and keep for the
same work. 1t is attempting to do SO
in the face of the fact that industry is
| bidding against industry thru the land
| for skillfuI hands at high wages.
| In November, 1918, the time ofAthe
signing of the Armistice.. there were
[ in the navy. roughly. 100000 men. or
this number 215, 900 were regular navy
men and $4,000 were naval reserves.
Nearly all of these were enlisted for
| the duration of the war. AS in the
army so in the navy, there was great
| scra mble to get out of the service as
| soon as the war was over. But the
navy had ahead of it the task OF
] bringing the boys home, and it was
J therefore Unable to release its dura-
! ition-of-thewar men Immediately IL
! figured out a scheme of its needs for
| a year. and allowed the force to disin-
| tegrate as rapidly as the men could
| be spared. but not so rapidly as to in
! terfere with its important tasks. II
| planned that it should have 250.0OO
| man in the service in July, 1913; 49,
| 600 in October; 10000 in January,
| 1920, and 1890 on July of that year.
when it figured that the navy would
! be back to normal.
| AS a matter of fact it has let men
| 60 much faster than was provided for
| in the schedule, and there are but
| 10000 enlisted men in the navy to-
| day. There are 900 more duration
| of-the-war men ready for release
| men who are being relieved from such
l. Of
| mines and the peration of transports
BY the time they are out there VIII
| be 5000 new recruits to take their
place which will bring the navy en-
| listed personnel down to 10000 which
| is rega rded as the bed rock figure.
From then on the lists are expected to
| grow.
/ Already the recruiting campaign OF
| the navy is being pushed vigorously
and new men are being introduced
| into the service at the rate of 5000
! a month. AS a matter of fact the
| 110,0 men who are now in the serv-
| ice are by no means thoroly trained.
| OF them $4,000 veterans know the
game, and 5000 are men who have
been recruited since the signing of the
armistice and who, therefore, are in
various stages of development as
! trained seamen. Forty thousand OF
them are in the land establishment,
| chiefly at the training stations, while
| Because of the obvious difficulties
that face the navy in holding on to its
men and getting more recruits under
! present Industrial conditions, many
more or less alarming stories have
been circulated to the effect that our
great new battleships were rusting at
the wharves of our navy yards for the
lack of men to operate them 1t has
! been said that in case of trouble none
| of our great drea&Raught -nuld put
l fO T7d t0
| Those who regard 10000 men in
the navy as a mere skeleton of fight
| ing force should bear in mind that
during those months of 1917 which
preceded the declaration of war. the
navy personnel amounted to but 55,-
! 900, which is half its present numeri-
/ cal strength. To be sure we have
many more ships today than we had
| in 1917, but those ships are mostly
destroyers and other vessels which re-
Quire small complement of men. One
hundred men can operate destroyer,
and fight her successfully, while it
takes 1000 to man the flagship Penn
/ sylvania. It is, therefore, proba Bile
that the fleet, even allowing for the
increase in its size is better manned
today than it was in those years be-
fore the war.
! Half the American fleet today is in
the Pacific. The dreadnaughts, New
Mexico Idaho and Mississippi are the
giants of the great Pacific Armada.
These ships of $4,000 tons are the
greatest floating fortress in the
world today. These ships and other
| of the new and first-class fighting
craft of the United States are kept
manned up to fighting strength and
ready for action. The first thought is
for the vessels that would be able to
| give best account of themselves in case
| of an emergency and for the auxiliar-
les that would support them. Such
vessels are kept ready for action and.
even tho the man power were much
lower than it is today, such vessels
would be able to meet any fleet in the
world and give a good account of
| themselves.
America has vessels fully manned
| that would make up a fleet of greater
| tonnage and greater numerical
strength than any other nation in the
world except Great Britain. At the
| time of the signing of the armistice
| there were more men in the American
navy than in the British navy and 1t
| is doubtful today if Great Britain has
a better enlisted personnel than has
| this nation.
The men who are coming into the
navy today are very largely young
sters. 1t is not to be expected that
men of mature years and established
| earning capacity would enter the navy
are recompenses for service in the
Observation-Disclosures
SThe George NJ