eigners.

There was a time, and not a great while ago, when the gunners and
crews of United States men-of-war were, with very few exceptions,
aliens, who spoke the English language with difficulty, and who did
not have, and could not be expected to have, any of the patriotic
spirit which makes effective fighters in naval engagements. While this
condition still exists to some extent, the growth of the apprentice
system is bringing about a gradual change.

As early as 1837 an attempt was made to establish a naval apprentice
system. In that year Congress passed an act making it "lawful to
enlist boys for the navy, not under thirteen nor over eighteen years
of age, to serve until twenty-one." Within a few months several boys
were received as apprentices aboard naval vessels. Six years later,
however, the system was abandoned as a failure, owing to a false
impression which had gained wide currency that the apprentices would
receive commissions in the navy.

Capt. S. B. Luce and the officers of the practice-ship "Macedonian"
investigated the apprentice systems at Portsmouth and Plymouth,
England, twenty years afterward, and made such favorable reports that
Secretary Welles was induced to revive it in the United States navy.
This was done, and during the civil war the system was in successful
operation, but soon after the close of the war it was again abandoned.

In the following years the want of intelligent seamen of American
birth in the navy was greatly felt, and in 1875 Secretary of the Navy
Robeson deemed it advisable to resume the enlistment of boys under the
naval apprentice law, which was still in existence. As an experiment
two hundred and fifty boys were enlisted and placed on the frigates
"Minnesota" and "Constitution" and the sloops of war "Portsmouth" and
"Saratoga," which were commissioned as training-ships. Since 1875 the
training-station and vessels have been very important features of the
naval establishment.

The regulations governing the enlistment of boys are simple and few in
number. The boys must be between the ages of fourteen and sixteen
years, of robust form, intelligent, of perfectly sound and healthy
constitution, free from all physical defect or malformation, and of
good moral character. They must be able to read and write, although in
special cases, when a boy shows general intelligence and is otherwise
qualified, he may be enlisted notwithstanding the fact that his
reading and writing are i