The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1912-01-11

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 lifesavers only seek such relief from the
conditions of physical disability and old age 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, run greater risks and endure
hardships 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
for the service. Indeed, the officials of the Life
Saving Service assert that with. a satisfactory
retirement and pension plan in operation supe-
lioT class OF men will be attracted to this
tion where so much must needs depend upon
the individual. And, by the way, probably very
few Of our readers know that the United States
Lite-savng service is the largest as we'll as the
most efficient in the world. Like the f1remen
In our cities they duty all the time and
they risk their lives every time they go to
wreck. But, for that mater, if the surf1nen did
nc more than discharge the duties of their might
patrol" the lonely sorm-swept beaches they
would have to their credit more hazardous and
more arduous work than almost any other class
III the community.
The scope of the relief work of the American
Ine-SaVlng service is expanding all the while.
During the past year the lifesavers rendered aid
in the case of nearly 1,500 wrecks and thanks
largely to the aid of these brave and experienced
men only seventy-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 was even greater. In the wrecks of
1.-THE past year there involved property in
GLIDING vessels and cargoes to the total value
OF S11SS0,o00 and of this amount the surprising
proportion of $1O,O57 900 was saved. This in it,
self makes the two million dollars year which
Uncle Sam spends his Life-Savng Service
seem like pretty good investment and that Is
without taking into consideration the lives i'm
pered on the shipwrecked vessels. There were
6661 persons on board the craft that met dis
aster last year and the total loss Of life, which
was fifty-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
tho life-Saving Service and he took the initia-
tive as the result of marine disaster which he
happened to witness during the summer of 1899
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 United
States fe.saving crews.
The need thus pointed out made so forceful an
impression upon the mind of Mr. Newell that he
soon after entered upon experiments with bows
and arrows. rockets and shortened blunderbuss
as means of throwing lines to ships stranded in
positions inaccessible by small boats Eventually
his experiments eliminated in complete success
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