The Western news. [volume], June 22, 1933, Page Page Two, Image 2

About The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current

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Uncle Sam's Peace-time
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4
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
IMB was when the merchant ma
rine was one of America's proud
est boasts. Those were the days
when the famous Yankee clipper
ships were carrying our flag, the
Stars and Stripes, into virtually
every port of the world and when
America, rather than Great Bri
tain. .was the "mistress of the
seas," at least, so far as merchant
shipping was concerned.
But when steamships replaced sailing vessels,
the United States began to lose her place in the
sun In this regard and the Civil war saw the end
of our dominance of the sens with merchant
men. In the years that followed various efforts
were made to regain the place we had lost to
other nations, hut those efforts were not highly
successful. At the opening of the World war we
hatj only 1" ships carrying the American flag
and American trade to foreign ports, and Amer
ican seamanship, as a consequence, had almost
Become a forgotten tradition.
But recent years have seen a change being
wrought, and today, under more recent stlmulat
Ing governmental policies supporting our "peace
time navy," the merchant marine, we have
climbed up to second place In world tonnage
and now a total of 600 ships plow their way
through the seven seas to more than 500 ports
In foreign lands.
To provide for the Increased complement of
trained desk officers and engineers to man our
constantly Increasing peacetime navy, Uncle
Sam has four nautical training schools, mostly
aboard real ships, where boys can study, grad
uate and stand a good chance of becoming third
officers or assistant engineers In the merchant
fleet at a rate of pay ranging from $125 a month
for third mates upwards to $300 for skippers and
engineers, and with cruises to Interesting for
eign ports sprinkled In while they are getting A
their education.
These nautical schools are; The New York
State Merchant Marine academy, now baaed at
the Brooklyn navy yard aboard the U. S. S.
Empire State and the Annex; the Pennsylvania
Nautical school, based at Philadelphia, aboard
the U. S. S. Annapolis; the Massachusetts Nau
tical school, based at Boston, aboard the U. S. S.
Nantucket, and on the Pacific coast, the Cali
fornia Nautical school, based at California City,
on San Francisco bay, aboard the U. S. S. Cali
fornia State. Every year the 500 young men, be
tween the ages of seventeen and twenty-one
years, undergo training In these four schools.
For a bird's eye view of life at the academy,
let's visit the Ù. S. S. Empire State.
As one drives Into the Brooklyn navy yard a
khaki-garbed United Stales marine corporal
steps up to the visiting automobile, asks the
caller's business and sends for a bluejacket, who
conducts one past battleship gray painted de
stroyers, cruisers and other navy vessels docked
In the yard. A couple of turns along railroad
tracked streets lead to the gangplank of the U.
S. S. Empire State.
A rifle-belted seaman clicks his heels, salutes
and leads on to the skipper's quarters forward,
below the bridge. The skipper Is Cnpt. L, B.
Green, second assistant superintendent of the
academy, commanding the training ship. He Is
graduate of the United States Naval academy
at Annapolis.
A sharp wind slices across the navy yard, but
Captain Green marches down a gangway con
necting the training ship with Its auxiliary ves
sel lying alongside—the Annex. The latter la a
converted sailing ship. Her once towering fore
mast and mainmast are stubbed. She carries
rigging, but has a broad deck for boat and
other drills. Below decks she la laid out for
school rooms, dormitories, electrical and me
chanical work shops.
Cadets in the Annex are nominal newcomers.
Here they arc taught mathematics, navigation,
hygiene, rope and wire cable use and splicing,
signalling, fire prevention, launching and han
dling of boats and a hundred other maritime
duties. Here, loo, they have their first taste of
discipline aboard ship.
The cadels are hard at work. In one room,
equipped with regulation school desks, they are
deep In trigonometry. Below, In the hold of the
Annex, they are working In the machine shop.
Others are bending and weaving heavy wire
cable ends around an oval eye. Still another
group has taken a heavy water pump apart and
Is busily at work putting It together again.
Captain Green proceeds through the passages,
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Shooting the Sun'with Sextants
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Furlinq the Sails
past blue-uniformed lads. Each group snaps to
"atteMten" and holds It until the senior officer
carry on." "Topside" are several groups
engaged In boat drills, launching, handling long
sweeping oars In heavy life boats—coxswains
standing up, astern In each boat, giving orders.
It's a cold and windy day but the boys bend to
with a will and send their boats cleaving the
navy yard waters.
"Below" Is the real "feel" of the ship. Not a
quick rush to the side to unburden an upset
stomach . . . but the atmosphere of being at
sea. It Is quiet but exciting. The only thing
lacking Is the throb of turning engines . . . the
gentle lift of long ground swells.
Captain Green goes forward to Inspect paint
lockers, shower baths and living quarters, where
the boys sleep in beds, Romantic days of the
hammock have vanished. The skipper admits
that sleeping, when tucked In cocoon comfort
within one's hammock. Is a blissful state, but
there Is more luxury In cadet accommodations
today. Lockers are provided for personal effects
and uniforms.
More cadet study space Is discovered, with
long, polished, white wooden tables that swing
up to the ceiling and out of the way when not
In use. The canteen for candy, tobacco and oth
er luxuries, strikes a responsive note. Mess hall
serving tables, cafeteria style, where 150 hungry
young men can be served in eight minutes. Food
Is sent down from the galley, located on a higher
deck, by dumbwaiter. The whole place shines
with cleanliness.
Next came a visit to the "sickbay" or ship's
hospital. One youngster had a touch of sore
throat but was recovering quickly. A regular
doctor is assigned to the ship. Anyone on the
"binnacle list" Is promptly attended and officers
of the training vessel said there were few pa
say
t lents.
Captain Green and his staff have their own
mess, a room
trimming. Hero the deck and engineer
done In dark wood with light
green
staff units dine at separate tables, because there
always has been a bit of pleasant rivalry be
tween the two groups.
Although boys Join the academy for training
to fit them for captaincy or englneershlp, they
have.their own choice of the branch preferred.
Onre they have completed the school course and
have graduated, there Is little time lost In get
ting them assigned to active duty aboard one
of Uncle Sam's merchant ships.
The boy who wants to go to sen as a pro
fessional mariner Is trained at one of the four
academies to become an officer or engineer and
enjoy life on the rolling deep, and he has the ad
ditional opportunity for service In steamship of
fices asbo i THIS gives him an excellent Incen
tive to grow In the maritime world and to
"point" for an executive position In steamship
circles. This Is not a pipe dream.
for the existence of these four
It Is the de
sign and reason
nautical training schools.
Uncle Sam has to battle for his peace lime
and war rights. Ships must carry commerce, pas
sengers" malls to every country. Commanders
and chief engineers of these ships must be level
boqcjed and well-trained. For this reason, It was
pointed out, unusual care Is exercised in se
lecting merchant marine academy candidates.
Boys must be United States citizens, have high
school education or Us equivalent, be phys
ically, mentally, morally sound ns a new dollar
and must have the qualities that make for lead
ership—courtesy, promptness in obeying com
mands and correct seanianlike habits.
The wheel and chart house come next for In
sped ion. In the afternoon sun the compass^
steering apparatus, engine room telegraph and
other bright work gleamed and glinted from el
bow-greased high polish. It was exactly like any
other American merchantman's bridge except
that there were two large, long tables extending
the width of the enclosed space, upon which ca
dets, studying navigation while on summer
cruise, work out the ship's course. A huge flag
locker was located nearby, bulging with neatly
rolled multi-colored bunting. Atop the bridge was
the diamond shaped radio direction finder loop,
open air binnacle and steering wheel.
Nine times out of ten the U, S. S. Empire
State is steered from the enclosed bridge, or
the flying bridge by a helmsman, generally a
quartermaster. But Captain Green went below
and pointed out the line of steering apparatus
to a room far astern In the ship, where the
rudder tiller Is swung by automatic devices and
where cadets are instructed, at times, In blind
steering. A bridge lookout may be the eyes of
the ship, on such occasions, but cadets are taught
to navigate safely by using Inside compass and
wheel.
The engine room, deep In the bowels of the
vessel, was fragrant with hot oils. Here a maze
of shining Iron ladders wind up, around and
about the powerful driving equipment of the
training ship. All brlghtwork was spotless and
the ship could cast off on short notice, for steam
is kept up In the boilers most of the time. In
tricacies of this department prohibit elaborate
description. It Is a world of machinery In Itself
. . . the pride of engineers who undergo exhaus
tive Instruction and training ashlp and ashore
and who are charged with the mechanical wel
fare of their vessel.
It is Interesting to note that, In most cases,
the captain and chief engineer of a ship hold
rly equal rank. Both wear four gold stripes.
They are associates In command, although In
the last analysis the captain's word Is supreme.
The cadets have an abundance of recreation.
Many are amateur musicians, have their Instru
ments aboard and make use of the ship s piano.
And when some one tears off a large amount of
"In the Evening by the Moonlight" a flood of
barber shop harmony generally haunts the ship.
Captain Green pointed out a number of ca
dets engaged In Infantry drill on the concrete
docks below. This gives them a taste of mili
tary activity. Such military schooling will auto
tlcnlly entitle cadets to become members of
the naval reserve.
Cadet
n
Instructors are capable, efficient and
painstaking. In their work. For them special
Hjning is required. The skipper said that sev
eral had taken not one but numerous Instruc
tion courses. A number of them are graduates
of the Now York Merchant Marine academy,
preferring teaching to life aboard ship where
they start In as third class officers.
Over sandwiches, cakes and orange pekoe in
the captain's quarters plans for summer were
explained.
"We will have our regular training cruise,"
said the skipper, a twinkle of anticipation In his
eyes, adding that "we expect to shove off some
time In June, take In a bit of the Atlantic, for
(sing purposes and touch at several European
tr
cm
ports."
These cruises are duck soup for cadets. The
bovs get their fingers Into navigation and en
gineering and, In addition, sec the vVfirld first
hand. Stops include many Continental and Medi
terranean ports.
One leaves the U. S. S. Empire State with the
Impression of having seen a number of splen
did, clean-cut, ambitious young fellows eagerly
carving out their maritime careers, on a smart
merchant training ship, under the watchful, kind
ly supervision of a "four striper who knows his
stuff." Similar activities are pursued at the
other three nautical schools.
(C \>7 W«»lern N«wipaper Unton,>
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9
National Topics Interpreted
by William B ruckart
Washington.—President Roosevelt's
departure from the White house for a
rest and a fishing
' Presidency cruise calls atten
tion again to the tre
mendous strain to
which a President r.f the United States
Is subjected. Anyone holding that
office has to undergo It and, despite
attempts to make the Job easier, none
has come forward with a workable
plan to lighten the burden.
Presidents have been criticized In
communities away from the national
capital many times In the past because
they took a week or a month off. In
other years, It has been common to
hear political attacks on the Presi
dent then occupying the White House
on account of vacations or recreational
methods that caused their absence
from the executive mansion. Observ
ers here, however, ean In no wise
agree that such criticism Is justified.
On the contrary, I believe the agree
ment would be on a premise that were
the President unable to get away from
his job periodically, he would be a
broken man physically. If not mentally.
In a short time.
The President of the United States
has at his beck and call all of the ad
visers, all of the expert assistance,
everything that Is required to enable
him to do the job. Yet, with all of
this, he cannot dodge the responsi
bility of leadership, and that Is the
erux of the problem. He must lead In
the right direction and that necessi
tates familiarity with every problem
to be solved by his administration. He
receives advice and assistance from
all shades of opinion because it Is
human for men and women to have
varying views. So the President has
to sort them out and arrive at his own
conclusions and those conclusions
either make or break the adminis
tration.
a Heavy Load
* • •
In order to Illustrate the truth of (he
statement that the job of President of
the United States Is a man-killer, lot
us review what has happened since
Franklin P. Roosevelt took office. He
entered the White House with the
most acute banking crisis ever known
staring film in the face; fie assumed
the Presidency when the country's ag
riculture was in the throes of destitu
tion. If not actual starvation ; he took
over the job at a time when 12,000,000
were without work and whose re
sources were gone, and with the Indus
tries of the nation unable to operate
as a whole at more than 50 per cent
of normal activity.
The President, of course, knew how
desperate the conditions were and he
Immediately called congress Into ex
traordinary session, ho closed the
banks for a holiday so they could get
started fresh after they had had time
to determine whether they were sol
vent and he began grinding out a pro
gram for legislation by congress de.
signed to restore order out of chaos.
These things wore done within a
period of ten days and It was thought
the strain would lessen after the hanks
were again operating. But the days
and nights between March 4 and
March 15, the period of the banking
holiday, were only the beginning. Others
presenting Just ns much of a burden
have occurred until the current ques
tion Is : how did the President stand It?
« * *
It may sound simple that the Presi
dent. called congress Into extra ses
sion ; that he closed
Strenuous the banks and that
he did all of the
Days
other things men
tioned above. Unfortunately, It Is not
so simple as It sounds. For example,
Mr. Roosevelt was Inaugurated at
noon, March 4 ; he had luncheon with
a few friends and went to work with
the new members of his cabinet. A
steady stream of men filed in and out
of the President's office, as the new
Chief Executive sought to map plana.
This continued Into the night after
the President had gone to the White
House Itself and long after midnight
he was working on a program for
handling the banking situation. Awak
ened at seven o'clock, the circum
stances of the preceding afternoon and
night were repeated although It was
Sunday. Then, the banking holiday
proclamation was ready.
But the banks, having been closed,
must needs be reopened. Emergency
legislation was required. It had to be
drafted quickly and It had to be bul
let-proof. Bankers and experts In
finance and In legislation were sum
moned; others were called by long
distance telephone and their views and
suggestlons^asgçftalned and members
of the senate and the house had to be
consulted that any slip might be
avoided.
That was just one problem. There
were numerous others, perhaps not
quite ns acute at that time but never
theless vital to the country as a whole.
In order to snve precious moments,
the President was eating his noonday
meal on his desk In the Executive of
Perhaps he had had a group of
flee.
legislators or advisors with him at
breakfast He seldom was able to
dine alone In the evening because
there were questions to he decided at
I once and people whom he had called
I to consult were awaiting the moment
i they were to have with him.
It would naturally seem that the
strain would subside alter the first
few weeks of a new administration,
but such was not the case for Presi
dent Roosevelt. He told the country
during his campaign that he would
like to have "a honeymoon" In office
for awhile. He wanted to start off his
administration without having con
gress In session and with some time to
map plans. But that was not to be.
The "honeymoon," If such It can be
called, has been delayed until now,
and even now he Is not safe from the
worries of his job, nor from the pester
ing of office seeking politicians.
The newspaper correspondents of
Washington are In a peculiar position
to judge the load the President car
rlea Those who are detailed to re
port White House activities are thank
ful when the President sends out word
that there will be a brief respite. It
means a moment In which those writ
ers can safely leave their job and eat
a meal without fearing that the Presi
dent has sent another special message
to congress or has determined to cal!
a world conference or has suddenly de
cided on some less consequential thing
like appointment of a collector of In
ternal revenue or a United States at
torney somewhere.
From the outlines given, It Is obvi
ons there was constant activity. But
the activity Itself would not have
proved unbearable. It was the mental
strain of reasoning out the problems
and their solutions and the determina
tion of which course should lie pur
sued, since always there are two sides
to the question. Frankly, it has al
ways been amazing to me how Presi
dents have been able to survive the
ordeal of their office.
0
Mr. Roosevelt is taking the cruise In
order to recuperate and revitalize him
self. He enjoys the
Welcome outdoors, just as
President Hoover en
joyed outdoors and
President Coplldge enjoyed fishing and
ns President Harding and President
Wilson enjoyed golf and ns President
Taft enjoyed walking and President
Theodore Roosevelt enjoyed horseback
riding. Mr. Hoover, it will be re
called. used to spend week-ends at, a
mountain camp on the Rapldnn river
In Virginia where he could rough It
and fish, and he fished In the Potomac
river, too, when he had time to make
a river trip. President Harding would
rather play a game of golf ns a mem
ber of a foursome with cronies than
do anything else, thoroughly enjoying
companionship. President Coolldge
seemed to enjoy solitude on a yacht,
although usually he had a couple of
Intimate friends aboard when he went
on cm 1 ses.
Actually the purpose of these out
Vacation
ings Is to get away from all of the
demands coming upon the office of
President. He must and should have
some freedom. His physical wellbe
ing Is at stake at all times, for unless
he Is physically fit he becomes in
capable of dealing with the tasks.
• • *
Presidents can receive whomsoever
they desire to receive In their offices,
but the Hat of vlslt
Lawmakers ors has to be culled
closely In order not
to overcrowd the
Chief Executive's time. Some of the
Hide Oat
senators and representatives, however,
have adopted another method of sav
ing time for themselves In order to get
work done.
They go Into hiding.
Otherwise, folks from the home state
would occupy so much of their time
they would not be able to study the
problems of legislation they have be
fore them.
Few of the legislators have the
courage, however, that has been
shown by Senator Tydlngs of Mary
land. His home state being within
street car distance, the Maryland sen
ator has plenty of visitors. He has
solved his problem by posting a notice
on his office Hoor. It says his office
hours are from morning until noon,
when the senate convenes. After that
time, no amount of knocking on the
door will cause It to be opened. It
seems to me that It has required a
considerable determination to take
such a course, but Senator Tydlngs
did and thus far has not caused any
real howl from his constituents.
« « *
Senator Bennett Champ Clark of
Missouri Is causing just a little bit of
disturbance around the White House.
Although the senator is still a fresh
man, so to speak, because this Is his
first full term, he has demonstrated
already that,he Is like his father, the
late Speaker Champ Clark, who came
so near being the Democratic Presi
dential nominee over Woodrow Wilson.
The late Speaker Clark was a thorn
In the flesh of President Wilson. Sen
ator Clark Is proving he Is a chip off
the old block by being a thorn In the
side of the present President. He
broke with the President on the so
called economy bill and he refused to
stand hitched to several other meas
ures, Including the Industrial recovery
public construction measure. The
Missouri senator always has been re
garded ns a Democrat through and
through, but he appears to dislike por
tions of the "new deal" because of
their unorthodox character.
©, UJ3. Waitorn Nowfp«.p«r Union.