Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1902-12-11
The National Guard.
NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
More Ships and Men Needed to Keep
Pace with the Times

More Ships and Men Needed to Keep
Pace with the Times.
For the first time in our history naval
maneuvers 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
should be- l earnestly urge that the in
| crease asked for by the secretary of the
navy navy In the appropriation for improving
| the markSmanship be granted. In battle
| the only shots that count are the shots that
MT. 1t IS necessary to provide ample
| time of peace. These funds must provide
| not only for the purchase of projectiles. but
| Tor allowances for prizes to encourage the
! and for perfecting 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; country, moreover
| which has an army dimnutive 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 tlrst-class navy. The
! efficiency of our navy If the navy is of suf-
! 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 than idle to assert it unless we in
! tended to back 1t up, and 1t can be backed
| up Only by thoroughly good navy. A good
| navy is not provocative of war. 1t is the
! surest guaranty of peace.
! Each individual unit of our navy should
! be the most efficient of its kind regards
| both material anG personnel that is to be
| found in the world. ! call your special at
/ tention to the need of providing for the
manning of the ships. Serious trouble
[ threatens US if we cannot 90 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.
| Inc veteran Seamcn OF our warships are
I of as high type as can be found I'm any
| navy which rides the waters of the world;
| they are unsurpassed in daring, in resOlu-
! ton. In readiness, in thorough knowledge
| of their profession They deserve every
/ consideration that can be shown them.
no more possible to improvise a crew than
It i, possible to improvise - warship. TO
| battery and to send it ahoat with raw
crew. TO matter how brave they were in
E dlyidu4liy, 9 would be to insure disaster if
aioe OF average capacity were encountered.
Neither ships nor men can be impruvised
when war has begun.
We neeG thousand additional officers in
| order to properly man the ships now pro-
| vtdeG for and under construction. The
| classes at the naval school at Annapolis
| should be greatly eLarged. At the same
| time that we thus add the officers where
We need them, We should facilitate the re-
whose usefulness, has become impaired.
Z Promotion must be fostered if the serY-
4 Ice is to be kept efficient.
There is not a cloud on the horizon at
present There seems not the slightest
/ 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 maintain such navy would invite
/ trouble, and if trouble came would insure
/ disaster Fatuous f-complacency or
vanity, or short-sightedness in refusing
to. prepare for danger, is both foolish and
/ wicked in such nation as ours; and
| past experience has shown that such
/ iatulty in refusing to recognize or pre-
/ pare for any crisis in advance is usually
/ succeeded by a mad panic of hysterical
/ fear once the crisis has actually arrived.
Rural Free Delivery.
The striking increase in the revenues
/ of the post office department shows clear
I ~ the prosperity of our people and the
| increasing activity of the business of the
| country.
The receipts of the post office depart
ment for the HScal year ending June 80
! last amounted to 1921, ,S4S 7.26. an increase
/ OF $lO2l6,N53.Nl 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 that the entire postal receipts for
| the year 1869 amounted to but $S,5lS O67.
Rural free delivery service is no longer
| a fixed policy The results following its
! introduction have fully justified the CON
! Sress in the large appropriations made
! for its establishment and extension. The
average yearly increase in post office re-
ceipts in the rural districts of the coun-
| try is about two per cent. We are now
able, by actual results to 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 ten per
| cent.
on November /. 1902. 1850 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.
| "a - a wa ms ha 4 ha
! department petitions and applications for
! the establishment of 1913 additional
| routes. This shows conclusively the want
| which the establishment of the service
has met and the need of further extend
! ing II as rapidly as possible. It Is justi
| fled both by the financial results and by
| the practical benefits to our rural pop
| ulation: ii brings the men who live on
the soil into close relations with the ac-
| tive business world; II keeps the farmer
| in daily touch with the markets: II is a
| potential educational force: il enhances
life far pleasanter and less isolated and
| will do much to check the undesirable
| current from country to city.
| 1t Is to be hoped that the congress will
! make liberal appropriations for the con-
| tinuanCc of the service already CStab-
lished and for its further extension.
Progress of Irrigation.
| Few subjects Of more importance have
been taken up by the congress in recent
| years than the inauguration OF the sys-
TEN OF nationally aided irrigation for the
| ginning therein has been made Now
that this policy of national irrigation has
| been adopted. the need Of thorough
| and scientific forest protection viii grow
| more rapidly than ever throughout the
| public-land states.
So far as they are available for agri-
| culture. ana TO whatever extent they
| may be reclaimed under the national ir-
| rigntion law. the remaining public lands
| should be held rigidly FOR the home
| builder. the settler who lives on his land,
| and for no one else. In their actual us,
| the dcserl-lund law, the timber and stone
| law and the communication clause Of the
| homestead law have been So perverted
| from the intention with which thoy were
| enacted as 10 permit the acquisition OF
| large areas of the public domain for uih-
| cr than actual settlers and tho ruugy-
| Qucnt prevention OF settlement More
| over. the approaching exhaustion or tho
| public ranges has uf late l'd tu mHuh
/ discussion Cos Go the best manner OF using
/ these public lands .u tGH west which HFr
| suitable chiefly or only tor grazing 1--WE
| .uuud and steady development nf the
| west depends upon luH huilt.ur =. ..
| homes therein. Much Of Our prosperity
| HH u nation has h.tu ius fH fH. opera
! zion nl th. homestead bass. bu rH, ufhrr
/ NtuI we should recognize tHr unf fNHf
.u tau EruE.uE ryH nu tne man who cor