Waterbury Democrat., 1902-12-02
PRESIDENT ROOSEVEETs MESSAGE TO CONGRESS

/ OF our present obsolete laws a practical
/ and efficient system should be adopted.
4 Provision should be made to enable the
secretary of war to keep cavalry and ar
ance Of duty Such horses fetch but a
/ trif1e when sold, and rather than turn
them out to the misery awaiting them
/ to employ them at light work around the
posts and when necessary to put them
/ pafnleSSly to death.
For the first time in our history naval
| sInaneuyers on large scale are being held
miral of the navy. Constantly increasing
4 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 only shots that t. count are the shots
| that hit. 1t is necessary to provide ample
funds for practice with the great guns in
\ time of peace. These funds must provide
/ not only for the purchase of projectiles.
1 but for allowances for prizes to encour-
pointers, and for perfe5ing an Intelligent
! system under which alone it is possible to
/ get good practice.
There should be no halt in the work of
year additional lighting craft. We are
tory and great In population, a country,
moreover. which has an army diminutive
class W We haTe d 9f
! ateIy made our own certain foreign poll
eies which demand the possession of q
| greatly increase the efficiency of our navy
| If the navy is of sufficient size. but if we
/ ing of the canal would be merely giving
| hostage to any power of superior strength
The Monroe doctrine should be treated as
1 the cardinal feature of American foreign
| policy, but 1t would be worse than idle
/ to assert it unless we intended to back it
not a provocative of war. 1t is the surest
! Each Individual unit of our navy should
| be the most efficient of it's kind as regards
found n a and na that is to BE
/ attention to the need of providing for the
manning of the ships. Serious trouble
| threatens us it 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 nigh type as can be found in any
| They are unsurpassed in daring, in reso-
| luton, in readiness, in thorough knowl-
| edge of their profession. They deserve ev-
But there are not enough Of them It is
no more possible to irnprovise crew than
build the finest ship, with. the deadliest
battery, and to send it afioat with raw
crew, no matter how brave they were in
| dividua1ly, would be to insure disaster if d
| foe of average capacity were encountered:
| Neither ships nor men can be improvised
| We need a thousand additional officers
in order to properly man the ships now
| classes at the naval school at Annapolis
should be great enlarged. At the same
VINE a ta tb we t EH aa1 ne 9fcers tS
| tirement of those at the head of the list
! whose usefulness has become impaired.
Promotion must be fostered If the service
| is to be kept efficient.
The lamentable scarcity of officers and
| the large number of recruits and of un-
! skilled men necessarily put aboard the
| new vessels as they have been commits
stoned has thrown upon our officers, and
10 lxy f1a 1F1t- ov1FI 1in1,
/ grades unusual labor and fatigue and has
gravely strained their powers Of endur-
ietup in this strain. It must Continue for
some time longer until more officers are
! recruits become trained and skillful in
| their duties. In these difficulties incident
conduct of all our officers has been cred
liable to the service, and the lieutenants
and junior grades in particular have dis
| played n ability and SteadfaSt cheer
fulness which entitle them to the ungrudging
| thanks of all who realize the disheartenng trials
| and fatigues to which they are OF necessity SUBJ
| jected.
There liz not cloud on the horizon at present.
There seems not the slightest chance Of trouble
| that this state of things may continue, and the
way to insure its continuance is to provide for a
| tain such navy would invite trouble, and if
| trouble would insure disaster. Fatuous self
| complacency vanity shortsig htedness in re
fusing to prepare for danger is both foolish and
| wicked in such nation as ours and past expert
/ e1ce mas SHOWN that such fatulty IN refusing TO
recognize or prepare for any crisis in advance is
usually succeeded by mad panic of hysterical
fear once the crisis has actually arrived.
The striking increase in the revenues Of the
postofice department shows clearly the prosperity
| Of our people and the increasing activity of the
| The receipts of the postofflce department for
the fiscal year ending June 30 last amounted to
$12I s4s, O4726 an increase of s102l6, e5Ss7 over
the preceding year, the largest increase known in
the history Of the postal service. The magnitude
/ of this increase will best appear from the fact
/ postal
amounted to but ss,51s, o67.
Rural free delivery service is no longer in the
| experimental stage. II has become a fixed policy.
The results following its introduction have fully
justified the congress in the large appropriations
| made for its establishment and extension. The
/ average yearly increase in postctice receipts in
the rural districts OF the country is about per
| show that where rural free delivery service has
| been established to such an extent as to enable
US to make, comparisons the yearly increase has
been upward of 10 per cent.
On Nov. 1, 1902 1859 rural free delivery
had been established and were in operation,
| covering about one-third of the territory Of the
| United States available for rural free delivery
service There are now awaislng the action q
j establishment of 1o,74s additionSl routes. This
ment of the service has met ard the need Of fur
i ther extending 1t as rapidly as possible. II is
| justified both by the financial results and by the
| practical benefits to our rural population; it
brings the men who live the soil into close
relations with the active business world; 1t keeps
the farmer in daily touch with the markets. it Ia
i potential educational force; it enhances the
i value Of farm property, makes farm life far
peasanter and less Isolated, and Will do much to
check the undesirable current from country to
i city
i It is to be hoped that the congress will make
liberal appropriations for the continuance OF the
service already established and for its further ex-
1 tension.
i Few subjects of more Importance have been
i taken up by the congress in recent years than
the Inauguration OF the system Of nationally aided
i irrigation for the arid regions Of the far west.
i A good beginning therein has been made. Now
that this policy Of national irrigation has been
adopted the need Of thorough and sclentlfc forest
i protection will grow more rapidly than ever
i throughout the public land states.
i Legislation should be provided for the protec-
! ton OF the game and the wild creatures gener-
ally on the forest reserves The sanseiess slaugh-
ter of game which can by judic;ous protection be
i permanently preserved national reserves
once. 1t is, for instance, serious count against
| our national good sense to permit the present
j practice of butchering of such a stately and
| beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or
tusks.
i 50 far az they are available for agriculture and
| to whatever extent they may be reclaimed under
| the national irrigation law, the remaining public
| the settler who lives on his land and for one
/ else. In their actual use the desert land law,
the timber and stone law and the communication
clause of the homestead law have been 30 per-
| verified from the intention with which they were
| enacted as to permit the acquisition of large
areas of the public domain for other than actual
settlers and the consequent prevention of settle
i ment Moreover The approaching exhaustion OF
the public ranges has q late led to much dis
cussion as to the best manner Of using these pub
lie lands in the west which are suitable chiefly or
4 only for grazing The sound and steady develop