Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 258, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 October 1916 — NAVY NEEDS MANY NEW MEN [ARTICLE]

NAVY NEEDS MANY NEW MEN

Campaign for Recruits Planned by Officials to Show Young Fellows Advantages of Service. Washington.—Plans for an active enlistment campaign have been put ou foot by the navy department to procure the sailors and marines provided for in the recent preparedness legislation. More than 2,500 recruits a month will he required to bring the navy up to the 20,000 authorized increase in personnel. Judging from the army’s experience in the past few months naval officers realize they , will have a hard time finding suitable young men. Even during the Mexican crisis army enlistments seldom were more than 8,000 a month. The navy will immediately begin an educational caiupuign. Literature describing life on a man-of-war will be scattered nation-wide, andr motion pictures portraying the romance of a sailor’s life will be made. The navy intends to go'into the rural districts, and there as well as in the big showhouses of the metropolitan sections will the life of Uncle Sam’s guardians of the waves be thrown on the screens.

Special inducements haye been arranged by congress to tempt young men to take up the service as a profession. Pensions and bonuses for long-time enlistments have been provided and the department’s literature will call attention to the opportunities of the seamen to provide a nest egg against the incapacity of old age. Tbe 2,500 men a month needed will go partly toward the authorized increase and partly toward tilling up the gaps created through honorable discharges. The department expects a considerable decrease in the percentage of men quitting the service, owing to the special inducements that are now being offered. In recent years recruits have been none too plentiful, as there is considerable ignorance as to how well the navy really pays and what chances it offers a young man to see the world and save money. The navy intends to dispel this ignorance.