May 1903
A BOY'S CHANCES IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY
By Secretary of the Navy Moore; in The Young People ' s Magazine.
YOU ask me, " What are a boy's chances in the Navy? In the first place the fact that Uncle Sam is sending out enlisting parties to look for the choice youths who have the right kind of metal in them answers an important part of the question. It indicates that there is a demand. In most of the walks of life which the youth seeks to enter, there is already a crowd, and, to a certain extent at least, he has to create a demand for himself. Of course it is true that a boy who wins success anywhere must make himself in demand, and the Navy is not in need of any other kind; however, a boy goes into the Navy at present in acceptance of an urgent invitation, provided he is able to answer the physical and mental requirements. In the second place the Naval Service today is not what it used to be. Anxious mothers, who have a certain amount of fear at the thought of a son becoming a naval apprentice, do not have the same cause for hesitancy they may have had some years ago. Not only the man behind the gun, but the man behind the coal shovel, the man behind the wheel, the man in front of the engine, and, not by any means least of all, the man in front of the galley range — each of these is the subject of solicitous thought by men who are distinguished commanders of ships and squadrons.
I mean by that to convey forcibly the fact that each of the many trades, callings, and occupations, which constitute. the industrial life of the modern warship, is being scrutinized for avenues of improvement. Let me say that there is a consistent and comprehensive effort being made to improve the conditions surrounding the enlisted men afloat. This effort has already borne such fruit that I think I am justified in saying that in no other Navy are the conditions of comfort, which surround the men of the Navy of the United States, approached.
Now, a word as to the ages of boys who are eligible, and the material rewards our young fellows may expect in this branch of Uncle Sam 's service; for it is on this point that the live boy will ask his first question. A boy from fifteen to seventeen years of age who enters the United States Navy as an apprentice is well cared for. The safeguards that are placed about his health and |
