The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1902-12-05

the large number or recruits ana or un-
| skilled men necessarily put aboard the
| new vessels as they have been commits
stoned has thrown upon our officers, and
! especially on the lieutenants and Junior
| grades, unusual labor and fatigue and has
| gravey strained their powers of endur-
/ ance Nor is there sign of any immediate
letup In this strain. 1t must continue for
some time longer until more officers are
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
and junior grades In particular have dis
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 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
trouble came would insure disaster. Fatuous self
complacency vanity shortsightedness in re-
fusing to prepare for danger is both foolish and
wicked in such nation as ours, and past expert
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
postoffce department shows clearly the prosperity
Of our people and the increasing activity of the
business of the country.
The receipts of the postofice department for
the fiscal year ending June 30 last amounted to
$l2l, S4s, 04726 increase of $lO216,s5 81
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 1860
amounted to but So, 518 067.
Rural free delivery service is no longer in the
experimental stage. 1t 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 postofice receipts in
the rural districts of the country is about per
cent We 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 10 per cent.
On Nov. l, 1902, II $50 rural free delivery
routes had been established and 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 1918 additional routes. This
shows conclusye,y the want which the establish
Inent 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 populations; 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
q 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
IL 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.
good beginning 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 public land states
Legislation should be provided for the protec-
ton OF the game and the wild creatures gener-
ally on the forest reserves The senseless slaugh
ter Of game which can by judicious protection be
permanently preserved our national reserves
for the people as whole, should be stopped at
once. 1t is for instance, a serious count against
our national n. good sense to permit the present
practice OF outcher1ng of such stately and
beautiful creature as the elk for its antlers or
tusks.
50 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 rigidly for the homebuilder,
the settler who lives on his land, and for 70 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 per-
verted 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
ment Moreover, the approaching exhaustion of
Q
cusson as to the best manner Of using these pub
lie lands in the west which suitable chiefly
only for grazing The sound and steady develop
ment Of the west depends upon the building up
OF homes therein. Much of our prosperity a
nation has been due to the operation OF the home
stead law On the other hand, should recog-
nize the fact that in the grazing region the man ,
who corresponds to the homesteader may be un- !
able to settle permanently if only allowed to
the same amount Of pasture land that his brother,
he bomesteader, is allowed to Of arabic land.
one hundred and sixty acres of fairly rich and
well watered soil or a much smaller amount OF
IRRIGATED land may keep family in plenty, where
as no one could get living from 100 acres of
dry pasture land capable Of supporting at the l
outside only one head Of cattle to every ten acres
In H. past great tracts Of the public domain
have been fenced in by persons having no title
hereto, in direct defiance of the law forbidding
he maintenance or construction Of any such I'M :
av-ful Enclosure of public land. For various :
sasons there has been little interference with :
,Irh Enclosures in the past but ample notice has
.c,y heen given the trespassers, and all the re.
ounces AZ the command Of the government will =
eTlsftsr be used nut stop to such trespassing