Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-12-04

throughout tHelT CAREERS.
The National Guard.
The measure providing for the teorgani-
cation of the militia system AND Tor secur,
ing the highest efficiency in the national
guard, which has already passed the mouse,
should receive prompt attention and &C
ton. 1t is of great importance that the re-
lation of the national guard to the militia
ard volunteer forces of the United States
should be defined, and that in place OF our
present obsolete laws a practical and ef-
ficient system should be adopted.
NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
More Ships and Men Needed to Keep
Pace with h Times.
For the first time in our history naval
on a large scale are being held
under the immediate command of the ad-
miral of the navy. Constantly increasing
attention is being paid to the gunnery Of
the navy, but it is yet far from what it
crease asked for by the secretary of the
navy In the appropriation for improving
the craftsmanship be granted. In battle
the only shots that count are the shots that
funds for practice with the great guns in
time of peace. These funds must provide
not only for the purchase of projectiles, but
for allowances for prizes to encourage the
and for perfectine an Intelligent system
under which alone it is possible to get good
practice.
There should be no halt in the work of
building up the navy, providing every year
additional fighting craft. We are a very
rich country, vast in extent of territory and
great In population; a country, moreover,
which has an army diminutive indeed when
compared with that of any other first-class
power We have deliberately made our
own certain foreign policies which demand
the possession of a frst-class navy. The
isthmian canal will greatly increase the
ficient size; but If We have an inadequate
navy, then the building of the canal would
be merely giving a hostage to any power
Of superior strength, The Monroe doctrine
should be treated as the cardinal feature of
American foreign policy; but it would be
worse thar idle to assert 1t unless we in
tended to back 1t up, and it can be backed
up only by a thoroughly hood navy. Agood
navy Is not a provocative of war. 1t Is the
surest guaranty of peace.
Each individual unit of our navy should
be the most efficient of its kind as regards
both material and personnel that is to be
%tention to the need of providing for the
manning of the ships. Serious trouble
threatens us If we cannot DO better than
we are now doing as regards securing. the
services of a sufficient number OF the high
est type of sailormen, of sea mechanics.
The veteran seamen of our warships are
of as high. a type as can be found In any
navy which rides the waters of the world
ANY oAS eAou PhNbSo III uoi Aip5y An lCcolu-
ton, in readiness, in thorough knowledge
of their profession. They deserve every
consideration that can be shown them.
But there are not enough of them. It is
build the finest ship, with the deadliest
battery, and to send It af1oat with a raw
crew, no matter how brave they were in
dividually, would be to insure disaster II
a foe of average capacity were encountered.
Neither ships nor men can be improvised
when war has begun.
We need a thousand additional officers In
order to properly man the ships now pro-
vided for and under construction. The
classes at the naval school at Annapolis
should, be greatly enlarged. At the same
time that we thus add the officers where
tirement of those at the head of the lis,
whose usefulness. has become impaired,
Promotion must be fostered If the serv.
Ice Is to be kept efficient.
There is not a cloud on the horizon al
present. There seems not the slightes'
chance of trouble with a foreign power
We most earnestly hope that this state
of things may continue; and the a tt
insure its. continuance Is to provide fol
a thoroughly efficient navy. The refusa
to maintain such a navy would invit,
trouble, and if trouble came would insur,
disaster. Fatuous self-complacency Of
vanity, or short-sightedness in refusing
to prepare for danger, is both foolish ant
wicked in such a nation as ours; ant
past experience has shown that sucl
faulty in refusing to recognize or pre-
succeeded by a mad panic of hysterica,
rear once the crisis has actually arrived
Rural Free Delivery.
The striking increase in the revenue
of the post office department shows clear
ly the prosperity of our people and tn,
increasing activity of the business of tn
The receipts of the post Office depart
ment for the Ilscal year ending June 3
last amounted to 1921, S4S,0 47. 26, an increas
the largest increase known in the histor.
Of the postal service. The magnitude o
this increase will best appear from tn
fact that the entire postal receipts TO
the year 1860 amounted to but $3.50
Rural free delivery service Is no longe
in the experimental stage; it has becom
a fixed policy. The results following 1t
introduction have fully justified the con
gress In the large appropriations mad
for its establishment and extension. TIL
average yearly increase in post office re
ceipts in the rural districts of the coun
try Is about two per cent. We are nov
able. by actual results. to show tina
been established to such an extent as t
enable us to make comparisons the yearl
Increase has been upward of ten pc
cent.
On November /, 1902, Il, 65O rural fire.
'o'h~5 i'' btSii al
were in operation, covering about one
third of the territory of the United State
available for rural free delivery service
There are now awaiting the action of tn
department petitions and applications fo
the establishment of 1918 additions
routes. This shows conclusively the war
which the establishment of the servic
has met and the need of further extend
fed both by the financial results and b
the practical benefits to our rural Dor
%ulation; it brings the men who live O
the soil into close relations with the az
in daily touch with the markets; 1t Is
potential educational force; 1t enhance
the value. of farm property, makes farl
life far %pleasanter and less isolated, an
will do much to check the undesirab
current from, country to city.
1t is to be hoped that the congress wi
make liberal appropriations for the col
tinuance of the service already estal
lished and for its further extension.
Progress of Irrigation.
Few subjects of more Importance ha,
been taken up by the congress in recei
years than the Inauguration of the sy
tenn of nationally aided irrigation for II
arid regions Of the far west. A good b.
that this policy Of national irrigation hs
been adopted, the need of thoroue
and scientific forest protection will gro
more RAPIDLY than ever throughout Il
otatCS.
So far as thew are available for agr
culture, and to whatever extent thu
may be reclaimed under the national |
riigation law, the remaining public lan'
should be held rigidly for the hon
builder. the settler who lives on his Ian
and for no one else. In their actual u
the desert-land law, the timber and stol
law, and the Communication clause of Il
homestead law have been SO pervert,
from the intention with which they we
enacted as to permit the acquisition
| large areas of the public domain for OF
err than actual settlers and the cons
+; quent prevention Of settlement. Nor
| over, the approaching exhaustion Of L
public ranges has of late led to mu
: discussion as to the best manner of usil
: suitabie chieav or only for srazinr =
sound and steady development Of t
west depends upon the building up
' aemes na there' has h hsen d Ei our tn prosper per
!, ton of the homestead law. On the 9th
I hand, we should recognize the fact tn
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