Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-12-08

manning of the ships Serious trouble
threatens us if we can not do better than
we are now doing as regards securing the
services of a sufficient number of the nigh
est type of SailOrmen, OF sea mechanics.
The veteran seamen Of our WarshIps are OF
as high a type as can be found III any navy
which rides the waters OF the world; they
are unsurpassed in daring, in resolution, IN
readiness in thorough knowledge of their
profession They deserve every cOnSidera-
ton that can be shown them. But there
are not enough OF them. 1t is no more pos
sible to improv1se a crew than it is posi-
Bile to improvise a Warship. To build the
finest ship, with the dcadliest battery, and
to send it ahoat with raw crew, no mat
ter how brave they were individually,
would be to insure disaster if a foe Of aV-
erage capacity were encountered. Neither
ships nor men can be iMprOyistl when war
has begun.
We need a thousand additional officers in
order to properly man the ships now pro
vided 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-
tirement of those at the head of the list
whose usefulness has become impaired
Promotion must be fOstered if the service
is to be kept efficient.
The lamentable 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 commissioned,
has thrown upon our officers, and eSpe-
calIy Oh the Iientenants and junior grades,
unusual labor and fatigue and has gravely
strained their powers of endurance. Nor
is there sign of any immediate let-Up in
this strain. 1t must continue for some time
longer until more officers are graduated
from Annapolis, and until the recruits be-
come trained and skillful in their duties.
In these difficulties incident uDon the de-
yel0pment of our war fleet the conduct of
all our officers has been creditable to the
service. and the Iieutenants and junior
grades in particular have displayed an abil-
ity and steadfast cheerfulness which en-
titles them to the ungrudging thanks Of all
who realize the disheartening trials and
fati&ueS 70 VIII cL they are of necessity
subjected.
There is not a cloud on the horizon at
present There. seems not the slightest
chance of trouble with 4 foreign power
We most earnestly hope that this state Of
things may continue, and the way to in
sure its continuance is to provide for a
maintain such navy would invite trouble,
and if trouble came would insure disaster
Fatuous self-complacency OF vanity, or
short -sghtcdnpSS in refusing to prepare for
danger is both foolish and wicked in such
a nation as ours and past experience has
shown that such faulty in refusing to rec
is usually succeeded ny ma nanic Of
hysterical fear once the crisis has actually
arrived.
EXTENDING FREE DELIVERY.
The striking increase in the revenues Of
the pOstottice department shows clearly the
prosperity
activity of the business OF the country.
The receipts Of the postot1ice department
for the hscal year ending june 80 last
amounted to SILL S4S, 047. 26, an increase Of
SlO.2l6.S 53S7 over the preceding year. the
largest increase known i'll the history OF
the postal service. The magnitude of this
increase will best appear from the fact
THAI the entire postal receipts for the year
1860 amounted to but $S,51S 067.
Rural free-deliyery service is no longer in
the experimental stage; it has become q
five 10 6 n n
PRODUCTION have fully justified the congress
in the large appropriations made for It's
establishment and extension. The average
yearly increase in postothce receipts III the
rural districts of the country is about two
per cent. We are ROW able, by actual re-
suits, to show that where rural free-deliy-
cry service has been established to such
an extent as to enable US to make compar-
isons the yearly increase has been upward
of ten per cent.
delivery routes had been established and
were in operation, covering about one-third
of the territory of the United States avail
able for rural free-delivery service. There
are now awaiting the action of the depart
ment petitions and applications for the
establishment of 10,74S additional routes.
This shows conclusively the want which
the establishment of the service has met
and the need of further 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 re
lations 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 prop
erty, makes farm life far pleasanter and
less isolated, and will do much to check
the undesirable current from country to
city
BOOM FOR IRRIGATION.
Few subjects Of more Importance have
been taken up by the congress IN recent
bon hn i'm on of
of nationally aided irrigation for the arid
regions Of the far west. A good beginning
therein has been made. Now that this pol
icy 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.
protection Of the game, and the wild
creatures generally, on the forest reserves.
The senseIess slaughter of game, which
can by judicious protection be permanently
preserved on our national reserves for the
people as a whole, should be stopped at
once. 1t is, for instance, serious count
the present practice of butchering off sUGn
a stately and beautiful creature rs the elk
for it's antlerS or tuSks.
SO far as they are available for agricul-
ture, and to whatever extent they may be
reclaimed under the national irrigation
law the remaining public lands should be
held rigidly for the home builder, the set
tier 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 per
NIT the acquisition of large areas of the
public domain for other than actual set
Tiers and the consequent prevention of set
Element Moreover, the approaching eX-
haustion Of the public ranges has of late
led to much discussion as to the best man
ner of using these public lands in the west
which are suitable chiefly or only for graz
ing The sound and steady development of
the west depends upon the building up of
homes therein. Much of our prosperity as
nation has been due to the operation of
the homestead law. On the other hand,
we should recognize the fact that in the
grazing region the man who corresponds to
the homeSteader may be unable to settle
permanently if only allowed to use the
same amount of pasture land that his
brother, the honlesteader, is allowed to use
of arabic land. One hundred and sixty
| acres Of fairly rich and well-watered soil,
or much smaller amount of irrigated
land, may keep a family In plenty where
as mo one could get a living from one
hundred and sixty acres of dry pasture
land capable OF supporting at the outside
only one head of cattle to every ten acres.
In the past great tracts of the public do
MAIN nave been fenced in by persons hav-
ing no title thereto. in direct defiance of
the law fCrbidding the maintenance or con-