Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1902-12-05
NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
More Ships and Men Needed to Keep
Pace with the Times.

NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
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
mira of the navy. Constantly increasing
the navy. but it is Vet far from what it
crease asked for by the Secretary 1s of Of the he
the smaneRip be granted. i IN bsttle
the only shots that count are the shots that
hit, It is necessary to provide ample
time of peace. These funds must provide
not only for the purchase of projectiles. but
tor allowances tor prizes to encourage the
and for perfecting an Intelligent system
uncer which alone it is possible to get good
There should be no halt in the work of
building up the navy, providing every wear
additional fighting craft we are verv
rich country, vast In extent of territory and
which has al: army diminutive indee t When When
compared with that OF any other first-class
power: We have deliberately: made our
the. possession of a frst-ciass navy. The
isthmian:. canal will greaty: increase the
of h our Rays II the is Of SUI
navy, then the building of the canal would
be merely giving a hostage to any power
Of superior strength. The Monroe doctrine
american foreign policy; but it would be
worse than idle to assert it unless We in
tended to back it up, and it can be backed
navy is not provocative of war: 1t is the
surest guaranty of peace.
E fSd ndiydHai unit Of our navy should
both material and personnel that is to be
found in the world. I call your special at
tsntion to ~ the e. need Of providing for tie
threatens us if we cannot DO better than
We are now doing as regards securing the
services of a sufficient Eumber OF the high
The veteran seamen of our warsEips are
of "a. as high H. type as can be found in any
they are unsurpassed in daring, in resolu,
ton. in readiness, in thorough knowledge
Of their profession. They deserve every
S%t fhese h mot enou es o ahGwn m + s
no more possible to iroprovise crew than
it is possible to improvise = warship. TO
battery. and to send it afioat with 1i raw
crew. no matter how brave they were in
d1tyid d would be to insure disaster if
Neither ships nor men can be improvisec,
when war has begun
We need thousand additional officers in
Sfdss to s1 n5 man the ships
classes at the naval school at Annapolis
we need them, we should Facilitate the re-
tirement Of those at the head of the list
Pn11e TSefnn st h has become Impaired
ice is to be kept efficient.
present. There seems not the slightest
We most earnestly hope that this state
OF things may continue; and the way to
insure it's continuance is to provide for
thoroughly efieient navy. The refusal
trouble and if trouble came would insure
disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or
vanity va or short.sightedness in refusing
wicked In such a nation as ours; and
past experience has shown that such
faulty in refusing to recognize or pre-
succeeded by 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
~ the prosperity of our people and the
increasing activity of the business of the
The receipts of the post Office depart
iast am AZ to an increase Sc
OF OF $O.N6S 5s;S7 over the preceding year,
the Ia largest increase known in the his tory
this increase will best appear from the
TACT 1i mat tn the entire postal receipts for
the year 1860 amounted to but $S,51s.os7.
in the experimental stage; it has become
fixed policy. The results following its
INTRODUCTION have fully justified the con-
for it's establishment and extension. The
average yearly increase in post office re-
ceipts IN the rural districts Of the coun-
able by Actual pesuts to we snow tSS
where rural free delivery service has
been established to such an extent as to
enable us to make comparisons the yearly
hoe 0v1 nf
cent.
: o On November ], 1902. 1,e5o rural free
delivery routes had been established and
third of the territory of the United States
available a.; for rural free delivery service
There are now awaiting the action of the
the. establishment of 1o,74s add:t:onai
WI which Mt the establishment of the service
ing it as rapidly as possible It is justi-
fed both by the financial results and by
the practical benefits to our rural pop
tive business ,rorld: it keeps the farmer
in daily, to';ch with the m irkets: it is a
Pot EDUCATIONAL force: it enhances
life far .'"eanter and less Isolated and
Will do ,~''n to check the undesirable
is to be- bccg st to t city
tfnuance of the service already estab-
hshed 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-
tenn or nationally aided irrigation for the
arid regions Of the far west. A good be-
ginning therein has been made. Now
that this, policy of national irrigation has
been adopted, the need Of thorough
and scientific forest protection will grow
more rapidly than ever throughout the
publfc-land states
So far as they are available for agri-
culture. and to whatever extent they
may be reclaimed under the national ir-
rigatten 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 use
the desert-land law. the timber and stone
law. and the communication clause Of the
homestead law have been so perverted
from the Intention with which they were
enacted as to permit the acquisition Of
large areas OF the public domain for 9TH
er than actual settlers and the conse-
over the approaching exhaustion of the
pubic ranges has Of late led to much
discussion n as to the best manner Of using
these public lands in the west which are
suitable chiefly or only for grazing. The
sound and steady development of the
west depends upon the building IN ot
homes therein. Much of our prosperity
as nation has been due to the opera