Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1902-12-04
NEEDS OF THE NAVY.
More Ships and Men Needed to Keep
Pace with the Times.


maneuvers. on large scale are being held
under the immediate command of the adj
miral of the navy. Constantly increasing
the navy, but it is yet far from what it
should be: earnestly urge that the in
crease. asked for by the secretary Of the
navy In the appropriation for improving
the Workmanship be granted. In battle
the only shots that count are the shots that
uncs for is With the grad ga ampe
time of peace These FUNDS must provide
not only for the purchase of projectiies, but
a 1n allowances ICES dor Prizes to encourage the
and for perfecting an intelligent system
under. which alone it is possible to get good
There should be no halt in the work of
building up the navy, providing every year
additional fighting craft we are very
great in population; a country, moreover,
which has an army diminutive indeed when
compared with that Of any other first-class
own certain foreign policies which demand
the possession of q f1rst-class navy. The
i lai canal will greatly increase the
fcient size; but if we have an inadeauate
navy, then the building Of the canal would
gyaS bg to
should be treated as the cardin al feature of
american foreign policy; but it would be
tended to back it up, ,andit. can be backed
up only by thoroughly good navy. A good
navy Is not a provocative of war It is the
Each individual unit Of our navy should
be the most efficient of its kind as regards
both material and personnel that is to be
tenidn IN It the h Wor a call your special at
manning of the ships. Serious trouble
threatens US # we cannot DO better than
we s are now doing as regards securing. the
services OF a Suhclent number Of the high
est type of sailormen, of sea mechanics.
me veteran seamen of our warships are
navy which rides the waters Of the World rid ;
they they are unsurpassed in daring, in resolu-
t tic in reaansS in thorough
consideration that can be shown them.
But there are not enough of them. It is
no more possible to improvise crew than
build the finest ship. with the d eadliest
battery, and to send, it af1oat with a raw
crew, no matter how brave they were in
diyidually, would be to insure disaster if
Neither ships Tor men can be improvised
when war has begun
order to properly man the ships now pro
vided for and under construction The
classes at the naval school at Annapolis
f@e that Rf thys aad e the
we need them, we should facilitate the re-
tirement Of those at the head of the list
Promotion must be fostered if the sery-
ice is to be kept efficient. y &
There is not cloud on the horizon at
present There seems not the slightest
chance of trouble with foreign power
We most earnestly hope that this state
i OF things may continue: and the way to
a thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal
to maintain such navy would invite
trouble, and if trouble came would insure
d aasafter Fatuous
to prepare for danger, is both foolish and
wicked In such a nation as ours; and
past pa - experience has shown that such
faulty in refusing to recognize or pre-
pare for any crisis in advance is usually
succeeded by mad panic of hysterical
tear 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
country,
The receipts of the post Office depart
ment for the nscal year ending June 80
last "a am no. alt to s2 an increase
the largest increase known in the history
Of the postal service. The magnitude Of
this increase will best appear from the
the gm5rG postal ees 1t for
Rural free delivery service is no longer
In the experimental stage: it has become
introduction have fully justified the con-
gress in the large appropriations made
for its establishment and extension The
eepts In IN post cs
try is about two per cent. We are now
able, by ACTUAL results, to show that
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 1, 1902, 1850 rural free
delivery routes had been established and
were in operation. COVERING about one
third Of the territory of the United States
There are now awaiting the action of the
department. petitions and applications for
the establishment hi ;; m of 1918 additional
which the establishment of the service
has met and the need Of further extend
Ing It as a; rapidly as possible. It is justi-
ned both by the financial results and by
the practical benefits to our rural pop
ulation: It brings the men who live on
the soil into Close; relations with the ac-
tive business world; it keeps the farmer
in daily touch with the markets; it is a
potential educational force; it enhances
TIE The value val &c Of farm property, makes farm
will do much to check the undesirable
current from country to city
It Is , to be hoped hat the congress will
iished and for it's further extension. $50
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
more rapidly than ever throughout the
public-land states.
So far as they are available for agri-
culture, and to whatever extent they
may be reclaimed under the national ir-
rigation 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-
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. 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 opera
ton Of the homestead law. On the other
hand, we should recognize the fact that
in the grazing region the man who cor
responds to the homesteader may be I'M