Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-21

the fix of our army of man fight
crs. only in worse one. Nearly
all-over four-1fths-ot those
who filed its ranks five years
go are now in other employments "h"te
1ases are more proporttonate to the
higher cost of living and where work is
.ss hazardous.
Realizing that continued disconten.
nong these coast guards must result in
Increased death and destruction along our
Glores the commerce committees of both
ouses OF Congress have just favorably
eported bills granting increased pay of
bout 10 per cent to superintendent.
;aepers and assistant keepers: giving a
alton allowance OF 20 cents a day to all
rcw members: allowing dependents of
han dying from injuries received on duty
b receive his pay in all cases for two
tears after his death. and allowing moth
rs within the official category of depend
fDts. Mr. Summer I. kimbal. general
superintendent of the fe-saving service.
worked hard for pensions for his men.
heir widows, orphans and dependent
Mothers such as was granted lately to
hose of the revenue cutter service. But
he leaders in Congress are not yet in
iumorl 10 grant this recognition to our
'lucky coast guards. who of all our
lighting men, are. year in and year out,
ie hardest worked and by far the worst
exposed to suffering and danger.
Save IA Lives Out of Is.
To learn just what these brave fellows
10 10 earn their salt I called yesterday
tpon Mr.. kirlball. He is a Maine Yankee.
Who was graduated from Bowdoin five
rears ahead OF Tom Reed. and left the
Iaine legislature ten years before the
treat Speaker entered upon his appren-
iceship there. Mr.. Kimball has been in
lis present position for thirty-seven years.
Ind connected with the federal govern
nent continuously since 1867 An inter-
isting man to chat with on any topic
Inc who could stock a Bancroft with per-
tonal "reminiscences of a half century the
Aations great. or Stevenson with
slots of sea tales enough for a lifework-
he has a tongues end ever ready with
the smallest detail of the great system
which he has organized and extended
nong our four great coast lines. He
lhowed me in the official records that
rnce he organized his bureau in 1871 his
.oys have worked at nearly 5000 wrecks
mperiling nearly $4,000 people and about
i3jO.Oo.op worth of property. Fourteen
But OF every fifteen of these human be-
hgs and over two-thrds of this imperil-
I'd property have been saved. Most peo-
pie have the idea that visiting and looking
,ut for wrecks is the only work of these
Horm fighters. Their chief told me that
f people who had gotten into the water
from other causes than accidents to boats
-would-be suicides. lunatics. careless
bathers, skaters. children who fell from
locks. etc.-they had rescued 107 flood
rictms. carried II sick people TO physi-
fians. given direct medical aid to 10
others. recovered So corpses from the
water cared for 13 others found on
beaches. recovered IA lost fish nets saved
10000 feet of drifting sawlogs, worked
~ 81 fires and rescued from the flames
5 horses and 40 vehicles. In addition to
his they rescued a number OF other per-
tons endangered in other ways-fallen
INTO sewers. gotten caught upon break
waters. lost in billiards.. stranded In au-
iomobiles. endangered by runaway horses
and one woman victim of attempted as
sault Thus the life-saving man COM
bines with his best-known duties those
IF fireman. policeman. salvage man. am
oulance surgeon. hospital steward and
norguemaster
Sufferings During Night Duty.
Most of the men disabled in this peril
,us service are victims OF exposure during
he night patrol, at which each surfman
must take his turn along the lonely
beach. None of the four night watches
s omitted In a coast precinct. and
wherever there is darkness on our shore.
lair weather or foul, there stretches an
Endless chain of men. pacing up and
!own. with weather eyes skinned on the
:ea. The stormer the night and the
harder the way the more important Is
his duty deemed. and failure to reach
The signal box at the end of patrol is
punishable by dismissal. even when the
way has to be gained by foundering over
he slippery ice banks on the shingle,
stumbling over the driftwood thrown up
by the mad waves or wading waist deep
through beach gullies dug by the storm.
In degree OF exposure. peril and exhaust
hg toll 'here is no duty IN any branch
" the government service comparable to
hat of the beach patrol Besides the
tcores OF men who hav" been disa bled for
fife by this duty, MIR. KimbaI could recall
The cases of seven who have been found
Head on their beats. Two OF these died
thus in 1909. He told me- also that of
his eight district superintendents who
have died in Office only two have passed
away At home. and one Of the latter was
The victim OF pneumonia, contracted on ,
duty.
Officers Who Have Succumbed.
Two of these officers were drowned.
supt Guthrie Of the North Carolina dis
,rict met this fate by the pitch-poling of
his surfboat at the famous wreck OF the
Huron in 1877. while Supt. Sawyer of the
great lakes district was drowned during
duty on Lake Huron in 1880. Perhaps no
rasC illustrates the ordealS OF these super
htendents better than that of the death
of Supt. Eldridge who succeeded the Ill
fdted Capt Guthrie of the South Carolina
district. Required by the regulations TO
go forty-six miles along the coast. in
February 1872. he started by schooner.
bur getting stuck in the ice shipped
pony and cart across the nearest Inlet
and proceeded thus until the pony
smashed the cart. With the animal now
hiiehed to oXcart. ne walked half of
the time TO keep from freezing. and
caught by nightfa!l a fsherman's de-
serted hut. he had To tear one side Of the
labitation away for firewood. Lying
upon PUSHES, which he cut TO protect him
from the frozen earth he was taken with
thu prenonitary chills and fever of pneu-
mona. from which disease he succumbed
after reaching his destination. Another
such case was that of Supt. Sparrow of
the Massachusetts district who, after
walking to and from wreck for four
teen miles through one of New England's
severest snow storms. in December. 1896
shattered his health, nearly lost his eye