Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1902-12-13
NEEDS of THE NAVY.

NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
More Ships and Men Needed to Keep
Pace with the Times.
For the first tImesin our history naval
under the immediats command Of f the n ad-
n mfa OF the bn & 5
the nayy, but it is yet far from what it
or Sy the aa the of the he
navy nay In the appropriation Tor improving
the only shots that count are the shots that
hit 1t is necessary to provide ample
time of peace These funas must provide
not only for the purchase of projectiles. but
gun crews, and especially the gun pointers.
under which alone it is possible to get GOOD
There should be no halt in the work of
aGditionaI fighting craft. we are a very
Which has an army dimnative i indeed eds When
power. We have deliberately MADE our
own certain foreign policies which demand
ist IaaE canal will greatly Increase the
1cient Size: but if NV we have an ina &c
navy, then the building of the canal would
Of Morse
should be treated as the cardir al feature of
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
Eseh Of unif Of our navy should
be the most efficient of its kind as regards
found in the world. call your special at
tention to the need of providing for the
threatens us if we cannot 90 better than
we are now doing as regards securing the
est type of sailormen. of sea mechanics.
The veteran r seamen of our warships are
navy witch rides the waters of the w World r
ton, IN READINESS. in thorough knowledge
of their profession They deserve every
But there are not enough Of them. It IS
no more possible to improvise a crew than
+ build he finest ahp w the
battery. and to send It afioat with raw
dixidu "a would be to insure disaster if
a zoe o, aySerage capaclay we're eniconntered
We need a thousand additional officers in
order to properly man the ships now pro-
videG for ard under construction. The
be- srea hsva At the lame
time that We thus add the Officers where
tirement Of those ct the head Of the list
ice is to be kept efficient. e
Is not Cloud on the h horfzSn at
chance Of trouble with a foreign power.
of things may continue: and the way to
insure its continuance is to provide for
to saa feat navy wP n nVisa
trouble. and if trouble came would insure
vanity. or sh a in refusing
to prepare for danger. is both foolish and
past experience has shown that such
faulty in refusing to recognize or pre-
succeeded by mad panic of hysterfcal
fear once the crisis has actually arrived.
Rural Free Delivery.
The striking increase in the revenues
OF the post ohce department shows clear
Increasing activity Of the business Of the the
last amounted to sia1sss. o47 e. an INCREASE r
the largest increase known in the history
of the postal service The magnitude of
fact that the entire postal receipts for
in the experimental stage: it has become
Introduction have fuzzy justified the con-
fres ;t In the jargs app T made
average yearly increase in post office
ceipts in the rural districts of the coun-
able by 9oa actual P pesuts to show ae that
where rural free delivery service has
enable us to make eomparisons the yearly "
increase has been upward of ten per
On November 1902. II. SO rural free
IN oneraion eSnrins aot and
third Of the territory of the United States
the action Of the
department petitions and applications for
the establishment of 1918 additional
routes. This shows conc1usfvely the want
which the establishment of the service
has met and the need of further extend
ing it as rapidly as possible 1t is justf-
fed both by the financial results and by
the practical benefits to rural pop
the son into close relations with the ac-
tive business world: 1T keeps the farmer
in daily touch with the markets.: 1t is
potential educational force: it enhances
q NJ mr. T70a IA rYr1
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
tinuance 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 of nationally aided irrigation for the
arid regions of the far west A good be-
ginning therein has been made. Now
been adopted, the need of thorough
and scientific forest protection will grow
more rapidly than ever throughout the
So far as fhev are available for agri-
culture. and to whatever extent they
may be reclaimed under the national fr-
rigation law. the remaining public lands
should be held rigidly for the home
and for no one else In their actual use
| the desert-Iand law. the timber and stone
homestead law have been 50 perverted
from the intention with which thew were
enacted as to permit the acquisition of
large areas of the public domain for 9TH
| quent prevention of settlement More
over, the approaching exhaustion OF the