The Portland daily press., 1878-03-07
The Life.SaYing Service.

There is now before Congress bill pro-
viding for the transfer of the Life Saving
Service from the Treasury Department to the
Naval Department. This bill, introduced in
the Senate by Mr.. Sargent, puts the Service
with all its belongings under the exclusive
control OF the Navy Department. 1t puts
the petty officers of the Navy in charge of
all the stations; compels all whomay enlist in
the Service to.do so under strict naval rules,
makes them liable to draft on board a man
of-war, or for other service, and gives them
seamen's pay. To this bill there are grave
objections, for it will deprive the Service of
the labors of competent boatmen, and SUBJ
stitute aclass Of men who may be excellent
sailors, but who know little of the dangers
of our coast and nothing of the means of
rescue.
The Service as it now exists has been fos-
tered and brought up to its present high
standard by the Treasury Department. Every
improvement that could be desired and
being for the actual good of the Ser
vice, has been adopted. The whole Ser
vice has been and is now constantly under
the supervision of officers and men who
are interested in its welfare. The Ser
vice is especially Coast Seroice, where men
are needed who know every rock. shoal, ledge
or harbor in their vicinity; men who, from
their infancy, almost, have been in boats and
about beaches, earning their living through
their knowledge of locations and skill in
handling their boats. The reports of the
Service from 1871 to 1877 show that in 407
disasters (page 29) imperiling some 473O
lives; 1850 were saved and but so lost. Is
not that a strong argument that the
Service should remain in the hands of
the coast men, whose skill in boats and
knowledge Of locations can make such
a record as that? VIII it not take years of
experience for any number of officers and
men of the navy to begin to come up to that
record? Because man has followed the sea
for years, it does not follow that he is boat
man by any means. There are thousands of
boys from ten to twenty years of age on the
coast of Maine alone that would put to shame
the best sailor in the world when it comes to
hahblin5 q bOots AhO POOACob ACA III buC
world for service in boat are old sailors. The
Naval service is intended for off shore work.
Few If any of the officers ever have any ac-
quaintance with the coast, or any chance to
get acquainted. AS rule what are the sea-
men in the Navy? Are they native born
Americans? and if so, are they not as likely
to have been born and to have lived away
from the coast until old enough to go to sea?
Eight out of ten men perhaps, in the Navy
are foreigners. How then, can they have
the knowledge of our coast that is demanded
of our surfmen, to make the service sue
cess? Must our men, who are acknowledged
to be as fine race of boatmen as the sun
shines on, be obliged to take themselves out
of the way to make room for lot of man.of-
wars-men? Will that course help the Life
Saving Servica? In the bill now in the
House there are numerous sugges-
tions made for the betterment of the
service, as it now exists under the control
of the Treasury Department. And if that
bill can be passed it leaves the Service where
it is now and where it ought to be, viz, in
the hands of the Treasury Department, and
gives our coast men the chance to earn a dol
lar (and many of them need dollars badly
enough. 1t gives to the country the services
of class of men who can as rule be de-
pended on, many of them "well off," and all
willing to risk life and limb for any in dis
tress. There have been some in the Service
who have not come up to the standard and
have been discharged. Others may be found
wanting and so will share the same fate,
until the service can have body of men as
near perfect as any such service can have.
About 1887 the Navy, under orders from the
President, undertook to do the cruising
along the coast, looking out for distressed
vessels, but soon gave it up for the reason
that the Revenue Cutters could do it better.
Now if Naval officers cannot cruise in deep
water, what will they do in shoal?
The bill is not move in the direction of
economy. 1t gives the Secretary of the Navy
power to make as many districts as he pleases,
each district being under the charge of a
Naval officer on shore pay. There may be a
district in each county that borders on the
now amounts to $4,000. Our naval officers
with their extravagant methods of manage
ment, their large clerk-hire, and the great
number OF enlisted men they would insist
upon having, would vastly increase the ex
pense of the Service while adding nothing to
its efficiency. Indeed they will impair its
usefulness, for they will be rapidly transferred
from one post to another, so as to give all a
chance at shsre duty. Before an officer can
get familiar with his station he will be sent
somewhere else. The bill should not pass,
and our Representatives shoald vigorously
oppose it. There is no more reason in trans
ferring the Lfe-Saving Service to the Navy
Department than there would be in trans
ferring the Lght-Honse Board or the Steam
boat Inspection or any other of the marine
bureaus under the supervision of the Treas
ury.