The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-10
Whit! f:5gle
fed use of the telegraph in connection
with the postal service.

fed use of the telegraph in connection
with the postal service.
OCEAN MAIL SUBSIDIES.
In pursuance to the ocean mail law OF
March 3. 1891, and after a most careful
study of the whole subject and frequent
conferences with shipowners, boards OF
trade and others, advertisements were
issued by the postmaster general lot
fifty- three lines of ocean mail serVlce-ueu
to Great Britain and the continent, TWEEN
ty-seven to South America, three TO CnIna
and japan, four to Australia and tae IA,
cific islands. seven to the West Indies ana
two to Mexico 1t was not, OF course, ex-
Dected that bids for all these lines Would
Sc received or that service upon them all
would be contracted for. Itwas lntendeo,
in furtherance of the act, TO secure as
many new lines as possible, whlle lncluu-
ing in the list most or all OF the iorelgn
lines now occupied by American ships 1t
was boped that line to England, and
perhans one to the continent, would be
secured: but the outlay required TO equip
such lines wholly with new ships OF the
first class, and the difficulty OF establish
ing new lines in competitor with those al
ready established deferred the bidders
whose interest had been enlisted. 1t is
honed that a way may yet be found of over
coming these difficulties. The Brazilian
Steamship company, by reason OF mis-
colonization as TO the speed of its vessels
was not able to bid under the terms of the
advertisement.
The policy of the department was to Sc
cure from the established lines an lmprov-
ed service as a condition of giving TO them
she benefits of the law. This, in ali in
stances, has been attained. The postmas-
Ter general estimates that an expenditure
in American ship yards of about OOOO, QUO
will be necessary to enable the bidders TO
construct the ships called for by the SER
vice which they have accepted; do not
think there is any reason for discourage
ment or for any turning back from the
policy of this legislation. Indeed, good
beginning has been made, and, as the sub
ject is further considered and understood
by capitalists and shipping people, new
lines will be ready to meet future pro-
posals and we may date from the passage
of this law the revival of American ship
ping interests and the recovery of a fair
share of the carrying trade of the world.
We were receiving for foreign postage
nearly s., COO 600 under the old system ana
the outlay for ocean mail service did not
exceed 100000 per annum. 1t IS estimated
by the postmaster general that, IL All the
contracts proposed are completed, it will
require &, 247, 354 for this year, in addition
to the appropriation for sea and inland
postage already in the estimates, and that
for the next fiscal year, ending June 80,
1893, there would probably be needed about
$3.50, 900.
NAVAL AFFAIRS.
The report of the secretary of the navy
shows a gratifying increase of new naval
vessels in commission. The Newark
Concord, Bennington and Miantonomah
have been added during the year, with an
aggregate of something more than l1,OOO
tons Twenty-four warships of ali classes
are now under construction in the navy
yards and private ship yards, but, while
che work upon them is going forward
satisfactorily, the completion of the more
important vessels will yet require about
wears time Some of the vessels now I'M
der construction, it is believed, will be
triumphs Of naval engineering. When 1t
is recollected that the work of building a
modern navy was only initiated in the
year 1SS3-that our naval constructors and
shipbuilders were practically without eX-
perience in the construction Of large iron
or steel ships; that our engine shops were
unfamiliar with the building of great ma
rne engines, and that the manufacture of
steel forgings for guns and plates was al
most wholly foreign industry-the pro
gress that has been made is not only
highly satisfactory, but furnishes the
assurance that the United States will be-
fore long attain, in the construction of
such vessels, with their engines and arma-
ments, the same preeminence which it
attained when the best instrument of
ocean commerce was the clipper ship and
the most impressive exhibit OF naval
power the old wooden three-decker man
of-war.
The officers of the navJ and the pro-
prietors and engineers of our great private
shops have responded with wonderful
and professional zeal TO the
confidence expressed by congress in It's
liberal legislation. We have now at
Washington gun shop, organized and
conducted by naval officers, that, in Its
system, economy and product, is unex-
celled. Experiments with armor plate
have been conducted during the year with
most important results. 1t Is now be-
lieved that a plate OF higher resisting
power than any in use has been found,
and that the tests have demonstrated
that cheaper methods of manufacture
than those heretofore thought possible can
be used.
/ commend TO your favorable cOnsidera-
tion the recommendations of the secretary
of he navy. who has, l am sure, given to
them the most conscientious udy. There
should be no hesitancy IN promptly com
plotting a navy of the best modern type;
large enough to this country TO display its
flag in all seas for the prote ctiOn of its
citizens and of its extending commerce.
The world needs no assurance of the peace
full purposes of the United States. but we
shall probably be in the future more
largely competitors in the commerle of
The world, and it is essential to the dignity
of this nation and to that peaceful in
fluence which it should exercise on this
hemisphere that its navy should be ade-
guate, both upon the shores of the Atlantic
and the Pacific
THE INDIAN PROBLEM
The report of the secretary of the inter
Tor shows that very gratifying progress
has been made in all the bureaus which
make up that complex and difficult de-
partmeut The work in the bureau of In
dian affairs was perhaps never so large as
now. by reason of the numerous negotla-
tions which have been proceeding with
the tribes for q reduction of the reServa-
tions, with the incident labor of making
ailotments. and WAS never more carefully
conducted. The providing of adequate
school facilities for Indian children and
the locating of adult Indians upon farms
involve the solution of the Indian Ques-
ton. Everything elSe-rations, annuities
and tribal negotiation with the agents,
inspectors and commissioners who dis
tribute and conduct them-must pass
away when the Indian becomes a citizen,
secure in the individual ownership of a
farm from which he derives his sub
sistance by his own labor. protected by
spd subordinate to the laws which govern
the white man, and provided by the gen
eral government or by the local COM
munities in which he lives with the means
of educating his children. When an In
dian becomes a citizen in AN organized
state or territory his relation TO the general
government ceases IN great measure TO be
that OF ward.
But the government ought not at once