The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1915-11-25

should not be allowed to continue"
Can one wonder in the face of this
statement that people visiting salmon
canneries on the Pacific coast find a
condition which brings them to refuse
to eat luscious meat of the salmon for
two or three years thereafter, or until
the memory Of what they have seer
has been dulled by time.
The secretary say that the light
houses along our coast are not con
nected by a telephone system. Tele-
phones were installed during the
Spanish-American war, but they have
been allowed to fall into disrepair and
are out Of use"
Have we not a most enterprising a
ton, when one of the executive Off
GERS Of the government must make
such a confession?
81 know of one week near a light
house where for lack of a telephone
lives were lost, for neither the light.
house nor the life saving station close
at hand had any means of communities
ton" continues the report. II do not
believe the generous American people
desire their lighthouses to be without
telephones, or their fisheries inspectors
to be at the mercy for transportation
of the people whom they are supposed
to watch" Although recommends
tons have been made to congress
covering all these matters, yet it is not
always that congress legislates, eve
when told its plain duties.
The annual report Of the commits
sioner of lighthouses to the secretary
of commerce for the fiscal year ended
June 80, 1914, has been published. Il
says that: 1T Is believed that the
efficiency Of the service has been in
creased by the reorganization Of July
1910, and that the work Is more econ
omically performed. UP to July l
1914, there had been an increase OF
2,4S5, or more than 81 per cent in the
number. of aids maintained owe the
corresponding number on July /, 1910
while the general appropriations fol
the support of the service for The
fiscal year 1915 are about $500, 900 les:
than those for the fiscal year 1911" NJ
one but a government official coult
forgive increased inefficiency in The
face of the statements the commits
sioner has furnished.
While Alaska has lavished its riches
upon this country, the government o
the United States has withheld from |
the most common Of right of rights
that of of travel from the in
terror to civilization. Private owner
ship has been discouraged. An excuse
for this Is to be found in part in tn
attempted exploitation of the country
While no honest man will defen'
any system that plumbers the publ
resources, yet it may be that it woul'
have been a good bargain for Uncl'
Sam to have paid the extraordinar.
price which the pioneers of Alaska ex
pected. In any event. here is an illus
tration where development anne t
an absolute standstill. 1t required
years of patient suffering before tn
people of that rich territory secured
the promise of railroad facilities tina
would enable them to bring their ma
tural riches into use.
Porto Rico under u administrator
has increased in efficiency many hun
dreds of per cent, and enjoys toda,
the most prosperous commercial rela
tons with the world of any of the is
lands of the West indies, or of govern
ment furnishing an element of conf
dence which will bring capital and en-
terprise into action in advancing an,
particular region. This Is evidence tina
there is ground for optimism. for wit
all that may be said regarding tnlng
that we are leaving undone in tn,
United States, yet our real stabilit,
apparently rests in our national In
tegrity. the existence Of which ha
been thoroughly demonstrated. TO tn
world.
There are thousands Of people VIII
grow excited ove the problems of pro
tecting our interests in case Of war
and who believe that the government
should maintain an almost invincibl'
position upon the high seas.
The great war in foreign countries
has checked the world. and It present.