Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-12-04


| stand above their Ncompeers in any other
military service Every effort should be
made by training, by reward of merit
by scrutiny into their careers and ca
pacitv to keep them of the same high
excellence throughout their careers.
More Officers Are Needed.
We need a thousand additional officers
in order to properly man the ships now
provided 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
retirement of those at the head of the
list whose usefulness has become inn
paired. Promotion must be fostered if the
service is to be kept efficient
! The Iamentable 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 commits
| stoned, has thrown upon our officers, and
| especially on the lieutenantS and junior
| grades unusual labor and fatigue and
| has gravely strained their powers of en-
! durance. Nor is there sign of any imme-
! date let-up in this strain. 1t must con-
| tinue for some time longer, until more
/ officers are graduated from Annapolis.
and until the recruits become trained and
/ skillful in their duties. In these difficult
| ties incident upon the development of our
war fleet the conduct of all our officers
has been creditable to the service, and the
lieutenants and junior grades in particu-
| lar have displayed an ability and stead
fast cheerfuIness which entities them to
| the unguudging thanks of all who realize
the disheartening trials and fatigues to
which they are of necessity subjected.
No Cloud on Horizon.
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 it's continuance is to provide for
thoroughly efficient navy. The refusal
| toHnaintain such navy would invite trou-
| BILE, and if trouble came would insure dis
aster. Fatuous self-complacency or vani-
\ ty, or short-sightedness in refusing to
prepare for danger, is both foolish and
wicked in such nation as ours; and past
experience has shown that such faulty
In refusing to recognize or prepare for any
| crisis in advance is usually succeeded by
/ a mad panic of hysterical fear once the
/ crisis has actually arrived.
The striking increase in the revenues
| of the postoffice department shows clearly
| the prosperity of our people and the in
creasing activity of the business of the
| country.
The receipts of the postofice department
/
amounted to $121, 047.26, an increase OF
/ $1O216,S5Sd 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 1860 amounted to but $S,51S,067.
Rural Free Delivery.
Rural free delivery service is no longer
| in the experimental stage; it has become
/ ELL. 4Aa
| introduction have fully justified the con-
gress in the large appropriations made
| for it's establishment and extension. The
average yearly increase in postoffice re-
| ceipts in the rural districts of the country
| is about 2 per cent. We are now able,
| by actual results, to show that where
| rural free delivery service has been es-
| tablished to such an extent as to enable
| US to make comparisons the yearly in
crease has been upward of 10 per cent.
On November /, 1902, 1850 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 10,74S additional
routes. This shows conclusively the want
which the establishment of the service
| has met and the need of further extend
ing 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 relations with the active bust
ness world; 1t keeps the farmer in daily
touch with the markets; it 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 undesirable current
from country to city,
1t is to be hoped that the congress win
| tinuance of the service already establish
ed and for it's further extension.
Arid Land 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 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. -r.-.
Legislation should be provided for the
protection of the game, and the wild crea-
lures generally, on the forest reserves
The senseless slaughter of game, which
can by judicious protection be perma-
for the people as a whole, should be
stopped at once. 1t is, for instance, a
serious count against our national good
sense to permit the present practice of
butchering off such stately and beauti-
full creature as the elk for it's antlers or
hide.
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
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 in
tention 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
settlement. Moreover, the approaching
exhaustion of the public ranges has of
late led to mudh 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 de-
velopment of the west depends upon the
building up of homes therein. Much of
our prosperity as a 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