Now, as to discipline in the American army I cannot speak at present, for the war is yet too young. It may, however, be worth noting that in this particular regiment, while most complete liberty was allowed the men all the twelve days of the rail journey from San Francisco to Tampa, not a single case of drunkenness or any other breach of discipline was reported. Among the 105 men on this boat there has not in the past seven days been a single case of sickness of any kind or any occasion for punishing. The firing discipline during the three times we have been under fire has been excellent; the obedience of soldiers to their officers has been as prompt and intelligent as anything I have seen in Europe; and as to coolness under fire and accuracy of aim, what I have seen is most satisfactory. The men evidently regard their officers as soldiers of equal courage and superior technical knowledge. To the Yankee private "West Pointer" means what to the soldier of Prussia is conveyed by noble rank. In my intimate intercourse with officers and men aboard this ship I cannot recall an instance of an officer addressing a private otherwise than is usual when a gentleman issues an order. I have never heard an officer or noncommissioned officer curse a man. During the engagement of Cabañas the orders were issued as quietly as at any other time, and the men went about their work as steadily as bluejackets on a man-o'-war.
All this I note, because this is the first occasion that United States troops have been in action since the civil war, and because I have more than once heard European officers question the possibility of making an army out of elements different from those to which they were accustomed. I have heard Germans insist that unless the officer appears in uniform he cannot command the respect of his men. On this ship it would be frequently difficult to tell officers from men when the tunic is laid aside and shoulder straps are not seen. There are numberless points of resemblance between Tommy Atkins and the Yankee private; and the Sandhurst man has no difficulty in understanding the West Pointer. But to do this we must go a little beneath the surface and see things, not on the parade ground, but in actual war. For dress occasions the American uniform is far and away the ugliest and most useless of all the uniforms I know. The helmets and cocked hats are of the pattern affected by theatrical managers, the decorations tawdry, the swords absurd, the whole appearance indicative of a taste unmilitary and inartistic. The parade uniform has been designed by a lot of unsoldierly politicians and tailors about Washington. Their notion of military glory is confused with memories of St. Patrick's Day processions and Masonic installations. They have made the patient United States army a victim of their vulgar designs, and to-day at every European army maneuver one can pick out the American military attache by merely pointing to the most unsoldierly uniform on the field. On the battlefield, however, there are no political tailors, and the Washington dress regulations are ruthlessly disregarded.
STEERING GEAR OF NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMERS "COBLENTZ," "MAINZ," AND "TRIER."
The steering gear illustrated below, which has been fitted to a number of vessels in this country as well as on the three North German Lloyd steamers above named, is designed, primarily, to effect the distribution of the leverage more in proportion to the resistance of the rudder than exists in ordinary gears. The latter, as a rule, exert a uniform and decreasing, instead of an increasing, purchase on the rudder, in moving it from midgear to hard over. This important object is attained in the gear under notice chiefly through the arrangement of the quadrant and the spring buffers, which form an essential part of it, and of the tiller crosshead. The quadrant—which, as may be gathered from our illustration, has its main body formed of wrought steel, flanged and riveted, making an exceptionally strong design—works on its own center. It travels through 51 degrees in moving the tiller crosshead through 40 degrees, and in doing so increases the leverage over the rudder to an extent which is equivalent to a gain of 60 per cent. upon midgear position.
CROOM & ARTHUR'S STEERING GEAR.
Being carried on its own center, and not, as is usual, on the rudder stock, and with its rim supported on rollers, the quadrant does not impose upon the rudder pintles any of its own weight, thus diminishing the wear on these parts. This arrangement also keeps the quadrant always in good gear with its pinion, thereby allowing the teeth of both to be strengthened by shrouding, and rendering them exempt from the effects of sinking and slogger of the rudder stock as the pintles wear. The rack and pinions are of cast steel, as is also the tiller crosshead. The spring buffers, which, as has been said, form an essential part of the quadrant, are fitted with steel rollers at the point of contact with the crosshead, thereby reducing the friction to a minimum. The springs, by their compression, absorb any shock coming on the rudder, and greatly reduce the vibration when struck by a sea. They are made adjustable, and can be either steel or rubber.
Our illustrations show the arrangement of the gear as worked by hand at the rudder head, but of course gears are made having a steam steering engine as the major portion of the arrangement—the two cylinders being placed directly over the quadrant—thus securing the well known advantages attaching to a direct rudder head steering engine as compared with the engine situated amidship, with all the friction of parts, liability to breakage, etc., thereby entailed.