Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1912-01-12


tated for some years past. Congress at its last
session was on the point of passing the neces-
Sary law thus to give recognition to the lfe-sav-
ers and it 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 lfe-savers only seek such relief from the
conditions of physical disability and old age as is
freely accorded men in military and naval
service.
Nor is it merely that such plan of retirement
and PENSIONS will do Justice to the surfmen who
it il claimed. run greater risks and endure more
hardahips for the wages paid them than do the
in any other branch of the government
service. Quite aside from this is the influence
that viii be eXerted upon prospective recruits
for the service Indeed the officials of the Life
Saving Service assert that with satisfactory
retirement and pension plan in operation supe-
rior class Of men will be attracted to this voca-
ton where so much must needs depend upon
the individual And by the way, probably very
few of our readers know that the United States
Iife-Saving Service is the largest we'll 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
wreck But, for that matetr if the surfmen did
no more than discharge the duties of their might
patrol" on the lonely stoTm-sWept beaches they
would have to their credit more hazardous and
more arduous work than almost any other class
in the community
Inc scope OF the relief work Of the American
TifcStying 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 seyentyfour out Of this large number
proved to be total loss. Measured in dollars
and cents, the service rendered by these fear
less men was even greater. IN the wrecks Of
the past year there involved property in
cludfrg vessels and cargoes. to the total value
of $f1&S0000, and Of this amount the surprising
proportion of $10057000 was saved This in it.
self makes the two million dollars 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
peried the shipwrecked vessels There were
6,G61 persons on board the craft that met dis
nityfive would have been many times that
number but for the afforded by Uncle
Sans heroes of the beaches.
Former Governor William A. Newell of New
Jersey IS generally recognized IS the founder of
the Iife-Saving Service and he took the initia-
tive 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
stitutes the regulation equipment OF the United
States life-saving crews.
The need thus pointed out made so forceful an
impression upon the mind of Mr.. Newell that he
2fter entered upon experiments with bows
and arrows, rockets and a shortened blunderbuss
as a of throwing lines to ships stranded in
positions inaccessible by small boats Eventually
his experiments eliminated in complete success
10y the use OF mortar or carronade with ball and