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Show THE MEN ON WAR FLEETS. B A brief dispatch from New York last week said many hundred men from the Prince Ad-. Ad-. miral's fleet were not reporting when their time BmVJ of shore-leave had expired. Another dispatch Hj says that two hundred of them were left when the fleet sailed. That is a reminder of another dispatch pub-Hj pub-Hj lished a few days since to the effect that the H American navy was suffering much from deser- This has been a serious matter in both the BPM United States navy and in her merchant marine for many years. In the flush days of California Hj almost every ship that left San Francisco bay, went to sea short-handed. What is the matter? Ours are a naturally sea-going people; the wages paid to American seamen are greater than the same' order of laborers can get on shore; the work is not so severe as the work on the farms or in the coal and iron mines, except on very long voy-Hj voy-Hj ages. There is vastly more that is interesting to Hj see in the sailors' than in the farmers' or miners' life. Why should there be trouble in securing sea- men? We suspect the trouble is in the discipline enforced at sea. There is no talking over matters with the "boss." Ours is a free country, but armies and navies are imperial institutions. The commander is an autocrat, his officers are lesser autocrats; the men are simply machines. But they are thinking machines, and not every commander knows how to handle them. That want of knowl-edge knowl-edge causes friction, with the result that, at the first opportunity, the human machine escapes. It is different in lands where, from the cradle, IHj men grow up with no expectation except a life of incessant toil with little reward. Before us is a translation of a letter written by a Japanese naval officer who served under Admiral Toga. His opening sentence is: "We owe the victory Kj in the Korean Straits to the men of our fleet." Then he explains that because of the nature of his country "there is more work to be found on the water than on shore. The waters along our coasts are full of fishermen. The first fisherma. in; ourr fishing fleetr is fit for active service in our navy after a six weeks' drill." He further says: "The instruction given to our sailors- fs infinitely superior to the instruction given to sailors in the Britishnavy. A stoker cannot gain admission into our navy until he has followed a regular course of stoking on land. Our stokers stoke better than the stokers on British ships, and the other men of our fleet are equally excellent." He does not enlarge on the way gunners are trained, but says. "To the superiority of our men as men habituated to the sea and drilled for war we owe our victory at Tsushima." He refers to Admiral Toga, says when he sailed away no one knew where he was going, but "no one doubted him. Every one in Japan had confidence in him. We all knew that he was doing his duty, and that he would be where he ought to be when the time came!" I1 another place he says: "No Japanese sailor has ever been disciplined except by active service on the seas and by the regular routine drill." That either shows how obedient the Japanese sailor is, or that those in command believe they can punish him for any ordinary offense by holding him steadily up co his daily work. On both coasts of the United States there are many fishermen. New England sends out a little host every season. On a smaller scale a great many are engaged on our northwest coast. Could our navy be equipped from the pick of these fishermen, fish-ermen, there would be cause to be proud of. Why cannot it be done? It surely could be if the men who command our ships were all wise men. |