Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1902-12-04

latlon OIL the ndllonal guard 70 ttle ullGitis'
ard volunteer forces of the United states
should be defined, and that in place of our
present obsolete laws a practical and ef-
ficient system should be adopted
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
under the immediate command of the ad-
miral of the navy. Constantly increasing
attention is being paid to the gunnery of
the navy, but it is yet far from what it
should be. l earnestly urge that the IN
crease asked for by the secretary of the
navy in the appropriation for improving
the craftsmanship 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
gun crews, and especially the gun pointers,
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; a country moreover
which has an army diminutive indeed when
compared with that of any other frs t-class
power We have deliberately made our
OWN certain lOTelSn pOICleS winch demand
the possession of a first-class navy. The
isthmian canal will greatly increase the
efficiency OF our navy If the navy is of SUI
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 it up and it can be backed
up only by a thoroughly hood 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 as regards
both material ana personnel that is to be
tention to the need of providing for the
manning of the ships. Serious trouble
threatens tls If we cannot 90 better than
we are now ioing as regards securing the
est type of sailormen, of sea mechanics.
The veteran seamen of our warships are
of as high a type as can be found in any
navy which rides the waters of the world ,
they are unsurpassed In daring, in resolu-
tion in readiness, in thorough knowledge
of their profession. They deserve every
consideration that can be shown them.
But there are not enough of them. It is
no more possible to improvise a crew than
it is possible to improvise q warship. To
build the finest ship, with the deadliest
battery, aT.d to send it af1oat with a raw
crew, no matter how brave they were in
dividually, would be to insure disaster if
foe of average capacity were encountered.
Neither ships nor men can be improvised
when war has begun.
We need thousand additional officers in
order to properly man the ships now pro-
videa for ard 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-
tirement of those at the head of the list
whose usefulness has become impaired.
Promotion must be fostered if the serv-
ice is to be kept efficient.
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
thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal
to maintain such a navy would invite
trouble and if trouble came would insure
disaster. Fatuous self-complacency or
vanity. or short-sightednes in refusing
10 prepare for danger, is both foolish and
wicked in such nation as ours; and
past experience has shown that such
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
ly the prosperity of our people and the
increasing activity of the business of the
country
The receipts of the post Office depart
last amounted to Sl2l ,S4S, .26, an increase
of Sl02l6,Ss3.S 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 1850 amounted to but ss.51S,os7.
Rural free delivery. service is no longer
fixed policy. The results following its
introduction have fully justified the con-
gress 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, 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 1918 additional
routes This shows conclnsively the want
which the establishment of the service
has met and the need of sfurther extend
ing It as rapidly as possible. 1t is justi-
fed both by the financial results and by
the practical benefits to our rural poD-
ulation: 1t brings the men who live on
the sosyinto close relations with the ac-
tive business world; 1T keeps the farmer
in daily touch with the markets; 1t 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 undesira BILE
current from country to city.
1t is to be hoped that the congress will
make liberal appropriations for the con-
tinuance of the service already estab-
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-
tenn Of 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
public-land states
So far as they are available fer agri-
culture, ana to whatever extent they
may be reclaimed under the national ir-
rigation law. the remaining public lands
should be held rigidiy fer the home
builder. the settler who lives on his land,
and for no one else. In their actual use
the GeseTt-land law. the timber and stone
law, and the Communication clause of the
homestead law have been 50 perverted
from the Intention with which they were
enacted as 10 permit the acquisition of
large areas cf the public domain for 9th
er than actual settlers and the conse-
quent prevention of settlement. More
over. the approaching exhaustion OF the
public ranges has of late led to much
discussion as to the best manner of using
these public lands IN the west which are
suitable chiefly or only for grazing. TIE
sound and steady development OF the
west depen1s upon the building Up Of
homes therein. Much of our prosperity
as nation has been due To the opera
tioa of the homestead law. On the other
hand. We should recognize the fact that
IN the gTazisg region the man VITO COR