Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-12-04

some time longer until more officers are
graduated from Annapolis and until tho
their duties In these difficulties incident
upon the development of our war fleet the
conduct of all our officers has been cred
table to the service, and the lieutenants
and junior grades In particular have dis
played an ability and steadfast cheer
fulness which entitle, them to the ungrudging
thanks of all who realize the disheartening trials
and fatigues to which they are Of necessity SUBJ
iected.
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 Of things may continue, and the
way to insure its continuance is to provide for q
Thoroughly efficient navy The refusal to main
tain such a navy would invite trouble, and II
trouble came would insure disaster. Fatuous self
complacency vanity shortsightedness In re-
fusing to prepare for danger is both foolish and
wicked In such nation ours, and past expert
ence has shown that such faulty in refusing to
recognize 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
postof1ce department shows clearly the prosperity
Of our people and the increasing activity OF the
business of the country.
The receipts of the postoffce department for
the fiscal year ending June 80 last amounted to
1921 s4s, O4726, increase OF s1O.2l6 s53s7 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 Sc, 51S OCT.
Rural free delivery service is longer in the
experimental stage. 1t has become fixed policy
The results following its introduction have fully
justified the congress in the large appropriations
made for its establishment and extension. The
average yearly increase in postoffce receipts in
the rural districts of the country is about 2 per
cent. We able, by actual results, to
show that where rural free delivery service has
been established to such an extent to enable
US to make comparisons the yearly increase has
been upward OF 10 per cent.
On Nov. /. 1902, 11,650 rural free delivery
- 49,
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 10,748 additional routes This
shows conclusivey the want which the establish
ment of the service has met and the need OF fur
justified both by the financial results and by the
practical benefits to our rural population; 1t
brings the men who live on the soil into close
relations with the active business world; it keeps
the farmer in daily touch with the markets; it La
a potential educational force; 1t 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.
It is to be hoped that the congress will make
liberal appropriations for the continuance OF the
service already established and for its further
tension
Few subjects of more Importance have been
taken up by the congress in recent years than
the Inauguration of the system Of nationally aided
irrigation for the arid regions of the far west.
good beginning 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
Legislation should be provided for the protec-
ton of the game and the wild creatures gener-
ally the forest reserves. The senseless slaugh-
ter of game which can by tudicious protection be
permanently preserved national reserves
Tor the people as whole, should be stopped at
once. 1t Is, for instance, serious count against
our national good sense to permit the present
practice of butclPr.uQ off such q stately and
beautiful creature as the elk for Its antlers or
tusks
So far as they are available for agriculture and
to whatever extent they may be reclaimed under
the national irrigation law. the remaining public
lands should be held rigidy for the homebuilder,
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 per-
verted from the intention with which they were
enacted to permit the acquisition OF large
areas of the public domain for other than actual
settlers and the consequent prevention OF settle
ment Moreover. the approaching exhaustion OF
the public ranges has Of late led to much dis
cussion to the best manner OF using these pub
lie lands in the west which are suitable chiefly or
only for grazing. The sound and steady develop
ment OF the west depends upon the building up
Of homes therein. Much of prosperity as
nation has been due to the operation OF the home
stead law On the other hand, we should recog-
nize the fact that in the grazing region the man
who corresponds to the homesteader may be un-
able to settle permanently If only allowed to use
the homesteader, is allowed to Of arabic land.
One hundred and sixty acres Of fairly rich and
well watered soil or much smaller amount OF
irrigated land may keep family in plenty, where
as no one could get a living from 100 OF
dry pasture land capable of supporting at the
outside onsy one head Of cattle to every ten acres
In the past great tracts of the public domain
have beer fenced in by persons having title
thereto, In direct defiance of the law forbiddins
the maintenance or construction OF any such un-
lawful Enclosure Of public land; For various
hos hoon 1o int ruifh
such Enclosures in the past but ample notice has
now been given the trespassers. and all the re.
sources at the command Of the government will
hereafter be used to put stop to such trespassng
In view OF the capital Importance Of these mat
tiers commend them to the earnest consideration
Of the congress, and If the congress finds difi-
Guilty in dealing with them from lack Of thorough
knowledge Of the subject / recommend that pro-
vision be made for a commission Of experts spe-
cially to investigate and report upon the COM
plicated questions involved.
l especially urge upon the congress the need Of
wise legislation for Alaska. 1t is not to
credit a nation that Alaska, which has been
for thirty FIVE years. should still have poor
system Of laws as is the case. No country has
| a more valuable possession in mineral wealth. in
fisheries, furs, forests and also In land available
for certain kinds Of farming and stock growing.
1t Is territory Of great size and varied re-
sources, well fitted to support large permanent
such provisions for homesteads and pre-emptions
as will encourage permanent settlement. We
should shape legislation with a view not to the
to the building up Of homes therein. The land
laws should be liberal in type. as to hold out
| inducements to the actual settler whom most
desire to see take possession of the country. The
| forests of Alaska should be protected, and, as
secondary but still important matter, the game
also. and at the same time 1t is imperative that
the settlers should be allowed to cut timber, un-
der proper regulations, for their own use Laws
| should be enacted to protect the Alaskan salmon
| fisheries against the greed which would destroy
| them. They should be preserved q permanent
| industry and food supply. Their management
and control should be turned over to the commits
| sion OF Ash and fisheries. Alaska should have .
| congressional committee could visit Alaska and
| investigate its needs on the ground.
] In dealing with the Indians our aim should be
| their ultimate absorption into the body Of our
people, but In many cases this absorption must
| and should be very slow. In portions of the In
| dian Territory the mixture OF blood has gone on
| at the same time with progress In wealth and
| education, so that there are plenty Of men with
| varying degrees of purity Of Indian blood who
are absolutely ndistinguishabe in point Of social,
| political and economic ability from their white
associates. There other tribes which have as
| yet made no perceptible advance toward such
equality. To try to force such tribes too fast is
to prevent their going forward at all. Moreover,
the tribes live under widely different conditions.
Where tribe has made considerable advance and
lives fertile farming soil 1t is possible to allot
| the members lands in severalty much Is the
| case with white settlers There other tribes
| where such a is not desirable. On the
arid prairie lands the effort should be to induce
tural lives and to permit them to settle In vii
| lagos rather than to force them into isolation.
The large Indian schools situated remote from
| any Indian reservation do special and peculiar
| work of great importance; but. excellent though
| these are, an immense amount Of additional work
| must be done the reservations themselves
among the old, and. above all, among the young
| Indians.
The first and most important step toward the
| absorption OF the Indian is to teach him to earn
his living, yet 1t is not necessarily to be assumed
| that in each community all Indians must become
either tillers Of the soil stock raisers Their
industries may properly be diversified, and those
| trial commercial pursuits should be en-
couraged SO far practicable to follow out each
/ his own bent.
| Every effort should be made to develop the In
dian along the lines Of natural aptitude and to
encourage the existing native industries peculiar
| to certain tribes, such as the various kinds OF
basket weaving. canoe building, smith work and
blanket work. Above all, the InGian boys and
| girls should be given confident command Of col
loquial English and should ordinarily be prepared
| for vigorous struggle with the conditions under
which their people live rather than for immedi-
ate absorption into some more highly developed
| community
The officials who represent the government in
dealing with the Indians work under hard condi-
tions and also under conditions which render 1t
easy to do wrong and very difficult to detect
wrong. Consequently they should be amply paid
on the one hand, and the other hand q par
ticularly high standard of conduct should be de-
manded from them, and where misconduct can be
proved the punishment should be exemplary.
In no department of governmental work In re-
cent years has there been greater success than
in that Of giving scientific aid to the farming
population. thereby showing them how most eff
GENTLY to help themselves. There is no need OF