The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1912-01-13

Deon
tated Tor some years past. Congress at it's last
session was on the point of passing the neces
sary law thus to give recognition to the lifesay-
ers and 1t is believed that these faithful servants
OF the people will not have to wait much longer
now to be accorded their rights-for, be it known
the life-savers only seek such relief from the
conditions of physical disability and old age as is
freely accorded In our military and naval
service
Nor is it merely that such plan of retirement
and pensions will do Justice to the surfmen who
1t is claimed, greater risks and endure more
hardshlps for the wages paid them than do the
men in any other branch of the government
service. Quite aside from this is the influence
that Will be eXerted upon prospective recruits
Tor the service. Indeed, the officials of the Life
Saving Service assert that with a satisfactory
retirement and pension plan in operation supe-
rlor class of, men will be attracted to this yoca-
uon where so much must needs depend upon
the individual. And, by the way probably very
Re" or our readers know that the United States
Llle-SaVlng Service Is the largest as we'll as the
most efficient in the world. Like the firemen
IN our cities, they duty all the time and
they risk their lives every time they go to a
wreck. But, for that matetr If the surfmen did
no more than discharge the duties of their might
patrol on the lonely sormswept beaches they
would have to their credit more hazardous and
more arduous work than almost any other class
In the community.
Life-sAving Service is expanding all the while.
During the past year the life-savers rendered aid
in the case Of nearly 1900 wrecks and thanks
largely to the aid Of these brave and experienced
men only seyenty-four out Of this large number
proved to be a total loss Measured in dollars
and cents, the service rendered by these fear
less men even greater. In the wrecks of
the past year there involved property in
Guiding vessels and cargoes to the total value
OF S1l,SSO,OOO, and Of this amount the surprising
proportion of $10,057 900 saved. This in it.
SER makes the two million dollars a year which
Uncle Sam spends his Life-Saving Service
seem like pretty good investment and that is
without taking into consideration the lives i'm
periled on the shipwrecked vessels. There were
1851 persons on board the craft that met dis
aster last year and the total loss of life which
was ffty-five would have been many times that
number but for the suCcor afforded by Uncle
Sans heroes of the beaches.
Former Governor William A. Newell of New
Jersey IS generally recognized as the founder of
the Life-Saving Service and he took the initia-
i've as the result of marine disaster which he
happened to witness during the summer Of 1889
when the Australian bark Count Perasto" was
wrecked on Long Beach, New Jersey The thir-
teen members of the crew, all of whom were
drowned, might readily have been saved had
there been at hand apparatus such as now con-
stitutes the regulation equipment of the limited
States life-saving crews
The need thus pointed out made so forcefu an
impression upon the mind Of Mr. Newell that he
soon after entered upon experiments with bows
and arrows, rockets and shortened blunderbuss
IS means of throwing lines to ships stranded in
positions inaccessible by small boats Eventually
his experiments eliminated in complete success
es the use OF mortar or carronade with ball and