The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1902-12-04

States should be defined and that in place
OF our present obsolete laws a practical
Provision should be made to enable the
secretary Of war to keep cavalry and ar
tillery horses worn out in long perform
tribe when sold. and rather than turn
them out to the misery awaiting them
when thus disposed of it would be better
to employ them at light work around the
posts and when necessary to put them
painlessly to death.
For the first time in our history naval
maneuvers on a large scale are being held
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 Workmanship be granted. In battle
the. only shots that 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.
but for allowances for prizes to encour-
age the gun crews, and especially the gun
pointers, and for perfecting an intelligent
system under which alone 1t is possible to
There should be no halt in the work of
building up the navy. providing every
year additional fighting craft. We are
tory and great IN population. a country,
moreover, which has an army diminutive
indeed when compared with that of any
ateiy made our own certain foreign poll
cies which demand the possession Of a
first class navy. The isthmian canal will
II the navy is of sufficient size but If we
have an inadequate navy then the build
Ing of the canal would be merely giving q
The Monroe doctrine should Ge be tr Se as
the cardinal feature of American foreign
policy, but 1t would be worse than idle
to assert 1t unless we intended to back it
up. and 1t can be backed up only by a
thoroughly good navy. A good navy is
not provocative Of war. 1t Is the surest
guaranty Of peace.
be the most efficient of its kind as regards
both material and personnel that is to be
found in the world I call your special
Of sSs te o5 as
threatens us If we cannot do better than
we are now doing as regards securing the
services of sufficient number of the high
est type of sailormen, Of sea mechanics.
The veteran seamen of our warships are
OF as high type as can be found in any
navy which rides the waters Of the world.
They are unsurpassed in daring, in reso-
luton, In readiness, in thorough knowl-
edge of their profession. They deserve ev-
cry consideration that can be shown them.
no more possible to improvise a crew than
1t Is possible to improvise warship. To
build the finest ship, with the deadliest
NO mater INV
dividually, would be to insure disaster If a
foe Of average capacity were encountered.
Neither ships nor men can be improvised
We need thousand additional officers
In order to properly man the ships now
provided 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
we need them. we should facilitate the re.
tly@v - - Ia
whose usefulness has become impaired.
Promotion must be fostered If the service
is to be kept efficient.
The lanentable scarcity of officers and
the large number of recruits and of I'M
skilled men necessarily put aboard the
new vessels as they have been commits
stoned has thrown upon our officers, and
grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has
gravely strained their powers of endur-
ance. Nor is there sign of any immediate
some time longer until more officers al.
graduated from Annapolis and until the
recruits become trained and skillful in
their duties. In these difficulties incident
upon the development of our war fleet the
conduct of all our officers has been cred
liable to the service, and the lieutenantS
played an ability and a steadfast cheer
fulness which entitle them to the ungrudging
thanks Of all who realize the disheartening trials
and fatigues to which they are of necessity sub
iected.
There is not a cloud on the horizon at present
There seems not the slightest chance OF trouble
with a foreign power. We most earnestly hope
that this state of things may continue, and the
way to insure its continuance is to provide for a
thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal to main.
tain such navy would invite trouble, and II
trouble came would insure disaster. Fatuous self
vanity or shortsightedness in re-
fusrg to prepare for danger is both foolish and
wicked in such nation as ours, and past expert
ence has shown that such faulty 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
post0fice department shows clearly the prosperity
Of our people and the increasing activity of the
business of the country.
The receipts of the postoffce department for
the fiscal year ending June 80 last amounted to
1921 ,S4s, 04726, increase of $10,26s53.s7 over
the preceding year, the largest increase known in
of this increase will best appear from the fact
that the entire postal receipts for the year 1860
amounted to but s,5la,05
Rural free delivery service is no longer in the
experimental stage. 1t has become 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 postofice receipts in
the rural districts of the country is about per
cent We are now able, by actual results, to
show that where rural free delivery service has
US to make comparisons the yearly increase has
been upward of 10 per cent.
On Nov. l, 1902, II, $50 rural free delivery
routes 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 awaiting the action OF
the department petitions and applications for the
establishment of l0,74S additional routes This
shows conclusively the want which the establish
ment of the service has met and the need Of fur
ther extending it as rapidly as possible. 1t Is
justified both by the financial results and by the
practical benefits to our rural population; it
brings the men who live on the soil into close
relations with the active business world; it keeps
the farmer in daily touch with the markets; it is
a potential educational force; it enhances the
value of farm property, makes farm life far
pleasanter and less isolated, and will do much to
check the undesirable current from country to
city.
It is to be hoped that the congress will make
liberal appropriations for the continuance OF the
service already established and for its further
tension.
Few subjects of more Importance have been
taken up by the congress in recent years than
the Inauguration of the system of nationally aided
irrigation for the arid regions of the far west.
A good beginning therein has been made. Now
that this policy Of national irrigation has been
protection will grow more rapidly than ever
throughout the public land states.
Legislation should be provided for the protec-
ton of the game and the wild creatures gener-
ter of game, which can by judicious protection be
permanently preserved national reserves
for the people whole, should be stopped at
once. 1t is, for instance, serious count against
practice of butchering off such stately and
beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or
tusks. ..
So far as they are available for agriculture and
to whatever extent they may be reclaimed under
the national irrigation law, the remaining public
lands should be held rigidy for the homebuilder,
the settler who lives on his land, and for no one
else In their actual use the desert land law,
Oh lam fhae nrf1r,fof ion,