Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 257, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1911 — 100 MUCH EORK DEMANDED OF MEN IN NAVY [ARTICLE]

100 MUCH EORK DEMANDED OF MEN IN NAVY

1 . Officers Complain The? Cannot Secure Re-en-listment of Crews. N*W YORK—(Spl.)—The assertion by a number of naval officers who have carefully studied the subject that the real reason why it is becoming almost impossible to keep men in the navy is due to modern conditions has aroused the naval chiefs, and there is much talk of a general investigation of the subject being ordered. Heretofore, at least one third of th« men who enlisted in the naval service were willing to remain there and make it their life work. During the last three years, however, the number has been steadily falling off until today only a email percentage of first enlistment men are willing to take on again. This means that there is a lack of experienced men on the big ships and unless the conditions are remedied the personnel of the service Is certain to suffer. ’ One of the officers now on duty at the Brooklyn navy yard, a veteran of many years’ experience, says the real reason is the restriction of the men’s liberty. On the old warships it ftras the rule that there was to be no more Sunday work than was necessary. The men were permitted a day to write letters home, lounge about the ship, and generally rest up for the coming week. Under modern conditions all this.is changed. The men are worked hard and, it is charged, unnecessarily ! not only through the week but also on Sunday and there is little to dlstinguish one day from another in the service. j The inevitable result, according to the officers at the yard is that men who have served their enlistment are | loath to continue in the service. The high pressure under which the men are compelled to work from early

in January until late in October is also said to he responsible for increasing desertions. The men got stale, It is pointed out, lost their interest, their spontaneity and their mental alertness. They become more like machines than men and when they get ashore on leave easily fall prey to evil influences. v?-.-, In the old navy from eleven o’clock on Sunday morning until Monday the day was free for the men except for the inevitable duties for those who were on the punishment list. Nowadays things are different and the gun crews are kept at work drilling all day Sunday while the engiue room forces, machinists, etc., are also kept on the jump because,, it is claimed, by those in charge, if they permit them, to drop back for a second the result will be detrimental to the ships’ showing with the fleet. Men who enlist nowadays arb different from the old hard drinking, hard fighting men who manned the wooden ships. They are of a higher orde& of intelligence. Many of them corns from the farms in the middle we3t and they are in great demand in civil life after serving a term of enlistment. These men realize this and they refuse to re-enlist. Unless conditions are remedied, officers here say, the fleet cannot keep up its record. It takes two enlistments to make a first rate gun handler and the same statement Ift jmjw of the perfect engine room force. Officers at the Brooklyn yard ady that the situation is becoming so acute it must receive the attention of the navy department in the near future.