The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1920-08-21
LOOKING AT THE NAVY
AS ALlFE VOCATION
Advantages Offered by Navy
Have Become Most
F.! Attractive
BY Clifford A. Tinker

i :.
BY Clifford A. Tinker
In a conversation with naval Of
1icer few days since, I was surprised
to learn that the new navy pay bill
has. by it's passage, placed the enlist
ed men of the naval service in a
preferred position with respect to
earnings when compared with the
average man ashore, whatever his
employment.
zone thing not generally known"
remarked the officer, ut the fact that
an enlisted man in the navy Is paid
In three parts of his full remunera-
tion, divided in this manner:th the cash
he receives each month from the pay
master, which may be considered as
spending money; the food and lodg-
ings. which he is allowed and which
are his Ming expenses; and then
comes isinactive duty pay, or re-
tired pay, which Is in reality his saw
ings."
1t seems that the Navy Pay Bill
contains a provision placing men
with long terms of enlistment on in
active duty with the Fleet Naval Re-
serve at high monthly rates OF pay,
so that men who reenlist and make
service in the navy their life's work
really earn, as accumulated savings,
sum as large as $25, and the
reservist has to serve only sixteen
years in the navy to earn his right to
collect this money-think of it-$1,-
62O.44 year, or $135 a month, In
addition to his spending money and
his living expense! i
Suppose man enlists at the age
of eighteen years." continued my in
formant, "served sixteen years, then
goes on inactive duty with the Fleet
Reserve, and lives to the age Of sixty
flve----we will use sixty-five years for
purposes of computation, although
the average navy man lives to the
age Of about sixty-eight years. This
man collects during his active SER
vice $20,164.72 in cash; and at $50
a month for living expenses, an esti-
mate which is very low, he gets $5,-
76O, or its equivalent; then he CO.
lects $25,927.32 inactive duty pay;
a grand total of $51,S52O4, and all
he gives in return for this huge sum
is'sfkteen. years active duty service. I"
In accordance-with this statement
the recruit is offered by the navy a
sixteen-year job in which his-ad-
vancement is figured slowly, but
which worth IN terms OF spending
money, living expenses, and savings
$270 month, or $3,24O year This
equals shore job paying the worker
$12.23 cents a day, based on 265
working days each year for sixteen
years! Mighty few men in civil life
average anything like this amount.
In addition to the above, the re-
cruit receives free casualty, medical,
and dental insurance, which together
form no small item, as most of US
can testify. But the real factor which
opened my eyes is this: The recruit
is compelled to save enough money q
that at the end of his sixteen years
of active service he will have an in
come of $61.O6 month for the
first fourteen years and then an in
come of $76.S1 a month for the re-
mainder Of his life. No industry that
I can recall furnishes a parallel to
this feature of Navy pay.
'"The casualty, medical. and dental
free insurance." explained the officer,
"extends thru the sixteen years; it
also applies to any term of enlist
ment. a very interesting feature
Of the Pay Bill Is the method of figur-
ing advancement in pay and savings.
Take the case of the man who has
finished his two years service. II he
leaves the Navy he throws his two
years savings away, equivalent to
$3,24O.91 Of the cash which he can
collect In monthly payments thruout
his after life If he reenlists and fin
ishes his sixteen years service.
"Then he is in a. position where
he has only fourteen years to get
the opportunity to collect the sixteen
years savings, and instead Of being
$135 a'month as in the case of the
recruit, they figure 1854 eacn month
for fourteen years. or the equal of a
shore Job at $13.45 a day."
A man who has finished four years
OF active service has much more at
stake, for If he leaves the navy he
loses four years savings amounting
to $6,481S3 of the cash he can COL
lect throughout his life If he fin
lshes his sixteen years service. But
II he continues in the service he has
only twelve years to gain his right to
collect the sixteen years savings, or
at the rate of $180.05 a month for
the remaining twelve years. In this
case his spending money, living ex-
penses. and savings amount to 1898 a
month or based on shore pay, a job
yielding $15.0S day.
There are many other features
which enter into the compensation of
a ltfe's work in the navy, aside from
the pay man receives, and they are
OF much Importance in promoting
contentment and enhancing the joy
OF living. Extensive travel, sure to
be embraced in sixteen years Of naval
service, is an education which would
cost civilian fortune, in fact, not
one man In thousand ever has the
opportunity to visit the Interesting 2
and historical ports Of the world that
are available to the navy man. and
not one man in thousand sees 80
of