The patriot., November 08, 1918, Morning, Image 4

About The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955

Image provided by: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

                
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United States Shipping
Board IsTrainingThou
sands of Recruits for
the Merchant Marine
iMERICAN crews for American mer
chant ships."
This is the slogan of tf»e United
States shipping board, which has in
hand the great task of creating an
adequate personnel for our new mer
chant marine.
In years past, whenever the subject
of creating a merchant marine In pro
portion to the country's commercial importance
came up, the question was raised : "How are we
going to get men for American ships?"
Young Americans had got out of the way of sea
going. The country did not think in terms of
ships. Foreign seamen chiefly manned what ves
sels we had. Qur shipyards could not compete
with foreign yards.
The war has changed all that. The change has
been little short of magical. The United States of
America now leads the world in shipbuilding. It
will soon lead the world with its seagoing citizens.
Thousands of young Americans are turning to the
aea every month. The old era of the square-rig
gers, to which friends of the American merchant
marine fondly refer, is rapidly being dwarfed by
what is taking place in our merchant marine today.
As an example of the extraordinary change going
on in the matter of crews, may be éited a phe
nomenal jump in September recruiting for the
merchant marine reported by the United States
shipping board from Washington, in the following
bulletin :
An increas* of 491 per cent in s month. In the
number of recruits for the merchant marine signed
on the United States shipping board, was reported
by the board. The figures covering four weeks end
ing September 12, are as follows: Week ending
August 22, 913 men; August 29, 1,779; September S,
2,697; September 12, 4,4M. The figure« for the latter
week exceed by 484 men the cumber the board had
announced as an expected maximum for the month
of September. The men are accepted for training
as saUors, firemen, coal passers, cooks and stew
ards, and will be put.aboard training ships at Bos
ton, New York, Norfolk, New Orleans, San Fran
cisco, Seattle and Cleveland.
Every little while one hears somebody ask,
"What is this merchant marine we hear so much
•bout?"
Nobody need feel ashamed if he does not readily
visualize this new commercial maritime force of
the country. The nation for many years past has
been building up such an admirable navy that
many people confuse the merchant marine with
the navy, thinking that all ships are under naval
control.
The merchant marine is quite distinct from the
navy. It is, indeed, a navy in itself—a commercial
navy—of vessels engaged in business voyages.
The United States shipping board has cbarge.of it,
and it is run as a national business organization,«
much the same as the nation's great railroads are
run by the railroad administration.
The shipping board consists of five members,
•sen of high training in business affairs, appointed
from various parts of the country. Its chairman
la Edward N. Hurley of Chicago. Its headquarters
are in a business building in Washington.
Control is exercised by this board over every
merchant ship of more thap 2,500 tons sailing un
der the American flag. The vast shipbuilding pro
gram of the country—resulting in "the bridge of
Ships to Europe," which enables us to send mil
lions of men to the fighting front and sustain them
there—is In the hands of the shipping board. The
shipbuilding is done by the Emergency Fleet cor
poration, operated by the board, and directed by
Charles M. Schwab, a master mind In the steel
world and known from coast to coast as a business
genius of the first order.
The merchant marine today Is American to the
«ore.
American daring and seagoing ability are taking
o«r merchant ships safely across the seas and
Nwk again with shuttielike regularity.
All this la being done by volunteers, who take
op the work because they recognise the greatness
of the opportunity to help their country in a new
opoch of expansion.
The mariner lh the merchant maria* la not an
collated man. A scratch of the pea la all that
Mods him to his job ; yet he la as firmly fixed in
ft* aà if he were there by the operation of the
•elective aerric* lair.
Every man working for the new merchant ma
rt hat Ms la not merely a war job, im
ragh Ms work may be as part of his
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It becomes.
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than that
ran Crews for*
American Ships
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used for transport purposes will be turned bock to
their original uses as commerce carriers, and will
call for merchant crews.
The work of manning the merchant marine with
all-American crews thus becomes one of the great
est of the government's present activities.
It is being carried out entirely by the United
States shipping board through its own recruiting
service. This service has national headquarters at
Boston—a famous old seaport and a natural cen
ter for American sailors—and has training sta
tions also at New York, Norfolk, New Orleans, San
Francisco, Seattle and Cleveland. It maintains
• fleet of 12 training ships and is training 6,000
men a month.
The system of securing recruits fot this service
—they are not enlisted, but sign a contract to serve
for the duration of the war, with the privilege of
serving as much longer as they like—is exceed
ingly simple.
Observing the effectiveness of establishing
branch post offices in drug stores, the shipping
board applied the idea to recruiting and estab
lished Its recruiting stations in each store of a
well-known chain throughout the country. There
are 6,854 of these stores, and in each the proprie
tor or head clerk is sworn in as a "dollar-a-year
man" to work for the United States shipping board
rine.
special enrolling agent of the merchant ma
These enrolling agents ifegan their work last
spring. They got to going strong In August of this
year, as the figures already quoted indicate.
The men whom they sign are sent to seaports
for training, the government reimbursing them tor
their railroad fare.
The young men entering the merchant marine
through the shipping board's training service be
come the special charges and wards of. the shipping
board for the duration of the war.
Their welfare is looked after from the moment
they enter the sendee. They are placed on board
big training vessels, where they are put Into uni
form—-a special uniform, differing from that used
in the navy—and are given a scientific course of
training in the rating for which they "sign on."
Some are trained as sailors, others as firemen,
others a* cooks or bakers or stewards. For the
cooks and bakers special schools are maintained
aboard ship, there being one at Boston and an
other nt New York.
Firemen are given a special school course also,
on the character of aoal, combustion, care of boil
ers and the like. The shipping board maintains a
large school for firemen at Chicago and another
at Boston.
Water-tehders and oilers—the assistants to the
engineers on a ship—are also given special school
training before being taken to sea, at a Chicago
school of engineering.
When the young men thus trained—and some
are quite young, as the minimum age limit Is
eighteen—have finished their special courses they
are sent to sea on merchant ships, in proportion
of four to each six able seamen carried.
Afloat or ashore they are responsible always to
the shipping board, and every time they return to
an American port they report their whereabouts to
the recruiting service headquarters.
In this manner Uncle Sam keeps a paternal eye
on the young men making their first voyagea Be
known them, aqd knows that he can trust them.
They aie part of a big family of young American
sailors of the best sort—Americans whose loyalty
la beyond question, and whose bravery and devo
tion give the lie every day sad every hour of, the
day to creek »landers that have been circulated
since the war began against the *** a *«,*•*_
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promotion, pay
the best in any maritime
service in the world.
An able seaman today gets $75 a month and his
board. During wartime he receives a bonus of 50
per cent on his wages on voyages into the war-zone
waters of Europe. Bis life is insured without
cost to him to the extent of twice his yearly earn
ings.
His future is assured if he sticks—and the ship
ping board believes he will stick. It is estimated
that not less than 200,000 officers and men will be
wanted to man the merchant marine after the war,
and it Is expected that every man accepted will, be
an American citizen.
The shipping board Is training officers as well as
crews for the new merchant marine. It has 32
technical schools, in navigation and engineering,
where experienced men receive free instruction
fitting them for officers' licenses.
From June, 1917, when these schools were start
ed, to September, 1918, more than 10,000 students
were admitted to them. Every student was an
American citizen, fitted to enter by two years at
sea. or, in the case of engineers, equivalent tech
nical experience.
Graduates of these schools are on the bridges of
American merchant ships today in all of the seven
seas, and the present classes of the school contain
• more than 1,200 students.
a
Washington Was Wise
There is something of poetic Justice in the fact
that one of the first of the old sluices to be re
habilitated was the Chesapeake and Ohio, the
building of which was pushed by General George
Washington, who was the first president of the
construction company which called it into being.
The Father of His Country was so convinced that
the future prosperity ef the nation had much to
do with water transportation by canal that he
obtained a leave of absence while he was still
commander of the Revolutionary army that he
might start the survey for the waterway with
which he hoped to connect the waters of the
Chesapeake bay with the unsalted Ohio. The
project was never realised, even in part, until
long after his death, hut to this day the canal is
a carrier of trade between Cumberland, Md., and
Georgetown, in the District of Columbia It de
rives its water portly from the Potomac, and iY
deepened would be of much Importance to the
national capital. It has for years been under
railroad control. The government has now placed
additional boats upon It and the lock crews are
working night and day. The channel Is becom
ing a s busy as it was hi Civil war days, when
800 boats, ten times the number which it had
when the federal authorities took charge, were
in constant operation.—Walter Harrington In the
American Review of Reviews.
KING. QUEEN ON JACK.
A rookie at Camp Zachary Taylor had been
transferred to one of the headquarters companies
to fill the vacancy left by an orderly who was
sick at the base hospttaL He was sitting at the
desk when the captain entered.
"Good morning, general,'* was the greeting of
fered by ihe recroît after executing a salute that
resembled a One-armed woman pitching hay.
"I'm am general* the captain replied.
"Good morning; colonel," was the next saluta
tion. r '
"I'm ne colonel. I am a captain," answered the
offieer as fie gave the rookie the Julius Caesar
typ«
I featured that you was
h* the fleck," chirped the
dangers from the lurking
submarine without a tre
mor. The submarine peril
has acted only as a stim
ulus to merchant marine
recruiting.
These facts make the
shipping board hopeful for
the future of the merchant
marine personnel.
It is expected that a
large percentage of these
wartime sailors will re
main In the merchant ma
rine after the return of
peace. The inducements
for them to do so are many
and practical. There is
great opportunity for rapid
promotion, and the pay is
the best in any maritime
El
HAS ABANDONED ALL HOPES OF
MAINTAINING SEMBLANCE OF
AUTHORITY IN KINGDOM.
ORGANIZATION PROCEEDING
Charles Has Issued An Imperial Ordi
nance Authorizing All Soldiers To
Enroll Under Various New
Governments.
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New York. -The organization of va
rious nations within the former mon
archy of Austria-Hungary is proceed
ing, according to news dispatches
received here. Apparently the Em
peror Charles has abandoned all hope
of maintaining even a semblance of
authority over much of his former
kingdom. *
An Exchange Telegraph dispatch
from Zurich, Switzerland, says that
the Archduke Joseph, cousin of the
emperor, left Budapest after the inde
pendent government of Hungary had
been proclaimed there. The dispatch
says that Emperor Charles instructed
the authorities to yield to the new
power without resistance and to avoid
all conflicts with the people.
The emperor also has issued an im
perial ordinance authorizing all offi
cers in the country to place them
selves in the service of the armies
constituted by the various newly
formed governments and to permit
the soldiers under their commands
to serve likewise.
Count Michael Karolyi, the leading
spirit in the organization of the new
Hungarian government, has sent a
telegram to the Berlin Tagçblatt sav
ing that a successful revolution has
taken place in Budapest and that the
Hungarian National Council has taken
over the governmenL
"The military and police acknowl
edge the National Council complete
ly," said Count Karlyi's message.
"The inhabitants are rejoicing."
A dispatch from London says that a
German wireless dispatch picked up
by the British Admiralty says that
according to an imperial proclama
tion the Austro-Hungarian navy has
been handed over to the South Slav
National Council, sitting in Agram.
In the decree the Austro-Hungarian
authorities make an express reserve
about the ownership of the fleet, but
say until the international question is
settled there is no objection to the
employment of national emblems by
the side of the war flag after the trans
fer to the council.
In the transfer of the Danube flo
tilla to the Hungarian government the
flotilla commandant is instructed to
release non-Hungarian members of
the crew.
For American Prisoners.
Washington.—A special ration» fo*
American soldiers held prisoners in
Germany to be distributed by the
American Red Cross in Denmark and
Switzerland has been prepared by the
Quartermaster's Corp 3 . Packages
containing food for seven Jays will
be sent to the prison camps weekly,
with special packages of delicacies
for invalids.
re
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the
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Eagle-1 Commissioned.
Washington. — The Eagle-1, first
of the new type submarine patrol ves
sels ordered by the navy, was put in
commission at Detroit, and will be
sent immediately to the Atlantic
coast. Several of the boats probably
will be ready in time to get out be
fore winter closes the inland water
ways.
There Will Be No Coal Famine.
Washington.—There will be no
coal famine the coming winter or
even an aproach to the hardships of
last winter. Fuel Administrator Gar
field announced, but the public must
continue to co-operate with the Fuel
Administration in conservation meas
ures, as far more coal Is needed now
than in normal times.
Speeding Up Training.
Washington. — Army training
camp commanders have been ordered
to eliminate from their schedules all
work that can be done after the men
arrive overseas as one of the moves
of the War Department to epeed up
the enlarged war program and over
come delays resulting from Interfer
ence with draft calls by influenza.
Postpone U. D. C. Convention.
Charleston, S. C.— Becâuse of the
epidemic of influenza, the twenty-fifth
annual convention of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, sched
uled to meet In Louisville, Ky., N>
vember 12-16, has been postponed in
definitely by the president-general, U.
D. C., Misa Mary B. Poppenhelm.
Shipping la Resumed.
London.—Dfltch newspapers say
that shipping concerns in Holland are
taking steps preparatory to resuming
iegu.t .1 trips to England and Amer ici
in consequence of the withdrawal of
the U-boat menace.
Must Have Fruit Pits.
New York.—The government needs
1 . 600,000 pounds of nut shells and
stones dally for manufacturing
gas mask charcoal, and la unable to
* that amount
O!
SCHEME TO SCARE AGENTS.
Tobias Knowal peeped through the
wiudow of his office, then tiptoeing
to his desk put a flannel bandage
around his neck, put his arm in a sling,
ran his hands through 1ns hair and
limped to the door.
".Mr. Knowal?" inquired the caller.
"Yes," groaned Knowal. "What can
I do for you?"
"You appear to he far from well,"
said the caller.
"Appear to be !" echoed Knowal.
"Do you think I'm doing this for fun?
But what can I do for you?"
"Oh— er — I won't trouble you now."
said the caller hurriedly. "Any time
will do." And he departed.
"It's some trouble," murmured
Knowal, pulling off his bandages. "But
it's really the quickest way to get
rid of these life insurance agents.
That one won't trouble me again, any
how !"
Poor Prospects for the Bride.
"I should think the girl's parents
would object."
"What do you mean?"
"The parents of the girl one of
the kaiser's sons Is going to marry."
"Why should they object?"
"How would you like a daughter
of yours to marry a young man who Is
soon to be kicked into the cold world
without even knowing a trade by which
he can support a wife?"
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THE HAPPY
ONE
"So Mis« Grif
fins Is married at
last?"
"Yes. And who
is the happy
man ?"
"Her dear old
dad."
Figuratively Speaking.
"Wouldn't let you hold her hand,
eh?"
"She gave me to understand that
some other fellow held an option on
it,"
"Did she have on an engagement
ring?"
"No."
In a case like that the claim onght
to be staked out."
in
U.
ici
of
to
An intuition.
"Yon went wrong the way you al
lowed that girl to take you. She
doesn't know the road."
"Well, do you know. I had an idea
I vYis being miss-guided."
The Reason.
"W'hy is that screeching woman in
tl«e next flat continually singing her
'Ho hoi' song?"
'1 guess that's what she is cultivat
ing her voice with."
The Painful Part.
"Jones doesn't want his wife to go
away."
"Feels the separation, no doubt."
"Yes, from the necessary coin."
Would Like a Correction.
T have called to ask you to correct
a mistake in your report of a speech
by Mr. Bloggs, the independent can
didate, last Tuesday."
Editor of Duilbury »fliessenger —Do
you represent Mr. Bloggs?
Visitor—No; I was the voice from
the back of the hall which you report
ed incorrectly as shouting, "It's a lie !"
What I really said was "You're a liar F*
—London Punch.
The Doctor's Side.
"Doc, you charge some people more
than others,,don't you?" inquired the
grocer. "People with money, for In
stance?"
"Sometimes."
"Suppose I charged you that way?*
"That would be all right, provided
you didn't charge poor people any
thing, a custom not anknajfrl it^ . d<ww
tors."
Natural Tendency. „
"Funny about that sleepwalker." -
"Wbat was?"
"He got up in the night and went
straight arorfud the corner to a wake.*
What I« Is. I .
"Pa, what is overhead conatruettont*
asked the human Interrogation point,
who had listened, to some remarks
about the street car fare case
"It's what causes your ma to make
several trips to the milliner while her
headgear Is being created " explain
ed the usual source of information.
»
Natural Enough.
Jones—The typist made four giar
hifc errors this afternoon.
Partner—She's only rehearsing—she
is to marry tomorrow.