Newspaper Page Text
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA. ( FRIDAY, APRIL 4, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES R. GRAY,
President and Editor.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICE
Twelve months > 76c
.Six months 40c
Three months 25c
The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday
and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for
early delivery.
It contains news from all over the world, brought
by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff
of distinguished contributors, with strong departments
of special value to the home and the farm.
^ Agents warted at every postoffice. Liberal com
mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R- BRAD
LEY, Circulation Manager.
The only traveling representatives we have are
J, A. Bryan, R. 'F. Bolton, C. C. Coyle, L. H. Kim
brough and C. T. Yates. We will be responsible only
for money paid to the above named traveling repre
sentatives.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
The label used for addressing your paper
shows the time your subscription expires. By
renewing at least two weeks before the date on
this label, you insure regular service.
In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention
your old, as well as your new address. If on a
route please give the route number.
We cannot enter subscriptions to begin with
back numbers. Remittances should be sent by
postal order or registered mail.
Address all orders and notices for this de
partment to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL,
Atlanta, Ga.
The Recognition of China.
The definite announcement that the United States
government has decided to recognize the republic of
China will be received with intense enthusiasm in
that distant land and with hearty satisfaction by
the American people. Following a conference be
tween President Wilson and Secretary Bryan on
Wednesday, a note is being prepared by the State
department, to be presented to the Chinese govern
ment at an early date.
This timely action by the-United States is sound
diplomacy and true justice. The Wilson administra
tion manifested its regard for China’s rights and in
terests when it refused to become a party to the pro
posed six-power loan through which the young re
public would have been bound body and soul to a
group of foreign financiers. Official recognition of
the Chinese govern, rent will now affirm the thorough
going sincerity of that particular act and will cement
a friendship that should prove fruitful to both
countries.
The relationships between the United States and
the old China were notably cordial. It was the
honest and vigorous stand of our diplomacy more
than a decade ago that spared China from the
avarioe of European powers. At a time when the
partitioning of the empire was threatened, the Uni
ted States lifted an emphatic-demand for China’s in
tegrity and for an open door of trade.
We have even greater cause for a generous policy
toward the republic than toward the former regime.
Under the quickening influence of freedom, the
Chinese people will develop in political and commer
cial power and will become one of the truly great
.nations of the earth. Our recognition of their new
government, which is now fully established and un
challenged, will earn their gratitude and their per
manent good will.
Fighting the Cattle Tick.
The Whitfield county commissioners have done
Well in appropriating a substantial fund to aid the
farmers in a thoroughgoing campaign against the
cattle tick. They will join with the State in em
ploying experts to fight this pest in their communi
ty and put the county’s resources vigorously behind
the movement.
From the standpoint of taxpayers in general and
farmers in particular a better investment of the pub
lic’s money could not he made. Until the cattle tick
is eradicated, Georgia’s great opportunities in the
live stock and dairying industry cannot be realized.
The State authorities, assisted by the federal govern
ment, are doing excellent work in this connection
but it is. important that their means and efforts
should be supplemented by the individual counties.
Stamping Out Zapata.
However questionable may have been the means
Tiy which Huerta attained the provisional presidency
of Mexico,- he will have rendered his country true
service, if he succeeds in stamping out the spirit of
petty rebellion. That is now his chief task and pur
pose. He has found that persuasive measures are
of no avail with that arch mischief-maker, Zapata,
whose marauding bands hold southern Mexico in
terror and have long been a monace to all established
government; and, so, a vigorous, relentless campaign
is being planned.
How successful this movement will prove remains
to be seen. The Zapata forces, though made up most
ly of adventurers who live from hand-to-mouth and
who are fighting for plunder rather than principle,
are so scattered and so adroit in ambush warfare
that it will be no easy matter to reckon with them.
A decisive engagement will be impossible; the Gov
ernment troops must beat from one rendezvous to
another and all the while be exposed to unexpected
attacks. Such a campign will doubtless require
months to make any considerable headway.
In the meantime, the rebels of the north are be
coming more aggressive, so that the despatch of a
large part of the regular army to that region is im
perative. Huerta thus finds himself amid circum
stances akin to those which wrought his predeces
sor’s undoing. Madero’s intentions were seemingly
just and patriotic but he lacked the iron qualities
that were necessary to carry them into effect. In
tins particular, Huerta gives more promise. His
lack of scruple over means when an important end
is to be attained will stand him in good service. If
the army remains loyal to him, he will probably
press his grim program to completion and drown the
rebellion in its own blood.
There is no likelihood that the Huerta regime will
mean self-government to Mexico. Indeed, that coun
try has shown itself, for the time being at least,
incapable of thoroughgoing self-government. Its
freedom is yet to be earned and learned, through
humble tasks and hard experience. In its present
condition, the majority of its thinking people will
doubtless welcome an intelligent dictator. The im
mediate business is to root out anarchy, for there are
times when any government is better than none.
Mexico needs peace above all else for the present,
peace from the irresponsible bands' who are the worst
enemies to true liberty and reform.
The South’s Mineral Wealth.
In a bulletin on the mineral resources of the
South, the United States Geological Survey declares
that the clay deposits of this section “probably ex
ceed in erea and volume those of any other portion
of the United States.” The industrial significance
of this estimate can scarcely be overgauged; and
to Georgia, where vast fields of kaolin lie undevel
oped, its promise is particularly rich. When this
treasure, seemingly humble but royal in its possi
bilities, is turned to account, as inevitably it will
be, the State will take a leading place in one of the
world’s most important fields of manufcturing.
The report of the Geological Survey reveals a
surprising variety of mineral wealth in the South.
Its area of "workable coal is reckoned at one hun
dred and four thousand, six hundred and ninety-six
square miles with a productive capacity for nearly
seven hundred billion tons, of which, up to the
present time less than two billion tons have been
mined.” The Southern States are rich also in iron
ores, found in Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas, Vir
ginia and West Virginia, Maryland, Texas, Tennes
see, Kentucky, Arkansas and Missouri. “The output
of the ten producing States in 1911,” says the
Louisville Courier-Journal in commenting on the
Government’s report, "was valued at seven million,
three hundred and seventy-nine thousand, two hun
dred and sixty-seven dollars; while estimates of
the available iron ore places it at five hundred mil
lion tons, together with a much larger quantity of
low-grade ore.” In addition to iron and coal, the
survey shows that the South possesses deposits of
twenty-two distinct minerals, now yielding something
like a million dollars a year. Noteworthy among
these are lead, zinc, copper, phosphate and building
stone.
There is, perhaps, no Southern State whose min
eral resources exceed Georgia's in variety or in
potential value. Gold \tas found in White county
as far back as 1829 and silver also is in evidence.
It is interesting to recall that nearly three-quarters
of a century ago a branch mint was established at
Dahlonega, so important had the mining of the pre
cious metals become. Future industry, nowever, is
likely to take other direction^. There is now a
considerable production of iron ore and valuable
deposits of ochre, manganese, and bauxite are being
exploited. Dade nd Walker counties are known
among geologists for their coal fields. Georgia
marble is famous throughout the Union as a building
and ornamental stone and Georgia granite, the sup
ply of which is practically inexhaustible, is becom
ing more and more widely reputed. Brick clays and
fire clays are widely distributed in various parts of
the State and these, in time, will doubtless develop
large economic value.
Indeed, the work of synthetic chemistry has just
begun in Georgia’s mineral deposits. As it pro
gresses, the State’s natural, treasure will unfold
more and more impressively and industrial enter
prises now but dimly foreseen will emerge.
This is a truly remarkable commonwealth whose
soil produces nearly all the necessaries of life, cloth
fiber as well as food, and at the same time embosoms
at
a wondrous store of mineral riches. The industrial
opportunities of the State are no less marked and
varied than those of agriculture. When Georgia’s
day of development is fully under way, it will prove
to be one of the treasure troves not only of America
but of all the world.
A Service of Science to the State.
If the response of the individual farmer is what
it should be and what it ought to be be, the State
department of entomology will be distinctly success
ful in its efforts to check or counteract the ravages
of the boll weevil in Georgia. This destructive pest,
which entered the United States from Mexico some
twenty ; :ars ago, and which has spread until now
it imperils a large area of the cotton-growing States,
is moving steadily upon Georgia. Indeed, its present
outposts are said to be but a few miles from the
southwestern counties, so that prompt and thorough
going action is necessary if its ruinous effects are
to be averted.
State Entomologist Worsham faced a particularly
difficult problem when he set-out to combat the boll
weevil. His hope lay in persuading farmers to plant
varieties of cotton that would mature early and
thereby escape the threatened enemy. But he found,
as he expressed it, “that the early-matur’ng varie
ties were not wilt-resisting” and so he had the task
of developing from the latter a variety that would
mature early.
This, he has succeeded in doing; and the accom
plishment of his department at so crucial a stage of
the State’s agricultural life cannot be overvalued.
Due co-operation on the part of the planters will
save hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of dol
lars and will spare Georgia from the great misfor
tune that befell States which were less prompt and
skillful in their preparations.
The service of the State department of entomol
ogy in this connection is typical of the far-reaching
value of science to public and practical interests. It
should be an example to the Legislature of the wis
dom of dealing generously with all such branches of
the State’s work and of encouraging all the endeav
ors of conservation.
Morgan, The Man.
It is a high commentary on the character of J.
Pierpont Morgan for every one, even his critics, to
declare that the making of money was but an inci
dent of his life, and in no wise its chief end or
purpose. He was the world’s rarest master of finance
because he ruled the millions that swept into his
grasp and was not himself ruled by them as lesser
men would have been. His personal fortune was
probably very great, though by no means among the
greatest of his time; and his control of industry
and enterprise reached into sums almost inconceiv
ably vast. Yet, all these billions express but one
phase, and that a minor one, of a genius that dwelt
in ideas rather than in things and that was more
concerned with the creative spirit than with the
material in which it wrought.
The passing of Mr. Morgan leaves stock markets
undisturbed, partly because his end had been anti
cipated and counter-balanced and partly, too, because
well established Institutions are independent of any
one man, however great he may be. The vacancy of
the financier is flllei- and soon forgotten, but the power
of Morgan, the builder, the breadth of Morgan, the
man, will loom even larger in his memory than in
his life.
Yet, such questioning means little, for after all
"tis not what man does that exalts him, hut what he
would do;” and in the drift and impulse of Morgan’s
life, we see the gleam of true greatness, the light
that is wondrous, whatever be the medium through
which it shines.
THE BAFFLING SOUL
By Dr. Frank Crane
You can measure a wall or a carpet with a yard
stick; you cannot measure the lightning - .
You can cast a plumbline down a pit or fathom the
ocean's depth, bpt you cannot tell
how deep is the grief of a mother
with her dead child in her lap.
You can calculate" the distance
of a star, but there are no lenses
or logarithms by which to esti
mate the joy of two lovers. You
can analyze water, earth or
gases, and determine their con
stituent parts, but you cannot
get at. the elements that compose
innocence, conscience or remorse.
You can set a value in dollars
and cents upon the services of a
salesman or a bricklayer, but you
cannot even approximate the
value of an act of unselfish help
fulness.
What is the price of a golden
Seed? What price-mark shall we
put upon the act of a fireman who dies trying to save
a human being in a burning building, or of a mother
drowning that her baby may be rescued, of the po
liceman shot 'at his post of duty, of such as Regulus
and Nathan Hale?
There are sentiments before which reason is dumb
and even theology is confounded. Moses asked that
his own nam/e he blotted from Jehovah’s remembrance
if his people were not to be saved; and Paul declared
himself willing to be accused for his brethren’s sake.
There is not so tall an angel in the human heart
as self-sacrifice.
There is no shine, of sun, of lamps, or of rose-cut
diamonds, so dazzling and beautiful as certain shin-
ings of the face when a high thought burns behind it.
There are no flowers so tinted and fragrant as
certain flowers that grow in the garden of hearts.
Weigh the clouds and measure the east wind, but
wherewithal shall you gauge the pressure of passions,
or with what aerometer shall you indicate the storm
force of desire?
The earthquake makes its record upon the seismo
graph, but where is the record of the trembling that
seizes souls, such as bleached the heart of Jean Val
Jean?
And what of the spirit’s phonograph, called memo
ry; the spirit’s telephone called sympathy; and the
spirit’s heat and cold, called love and hate?
There are more mysteries in the mind of man than
in all heaven and hell; there are further distances
than* Arcturus, snowier peaks than the Himalayas,
and stiller, stranger deeps than the underseas.
Cause of the Floods
There is every reason t<> believe that the report of
the proposed Labrador current and gulf stream com
mission would show that the present deluge in Ohio
and Indiana, and also the tornadoes and cyclonic storms
of the United States, are directly attributable to the
presence of the col* Labrador current between the
warm gulf stream and our coast.
The area of the warm surface of the gulf stream
may be safely estimated at fifty miles in width and
1,500 miles in length, from which vast quantities of
moist, warm air rise into the initial motive stratum
of the atmosphere moving ever southwestward and
forming a great blanket above us, with a constant
westward tendency. How far this great moist blanket
goes westward before it is precipitated as rain de
pends prima;. / upon its altitude; the altitude largely
depends upon Its initial volume and temperature, and
these upon the cold currents which the blanket meets
Initially. The first great reducing and also condensing
influence is the Labrador current, constantly chilling
the surface or aerial counter-current that flows from
our coast toward the gulf stream.
If it were not for this cold current, the moist blan
ket would seem to have sufficient latent heat under
normal conditions to reach the Rocky mountains before
it was finally precipitated by the ascension, rarefica-
tion and consequent refrigeration caused by these
mountains, precipitating en route part of its moisture
in gentle showers as it gradually cooled under the re
frigerating Influence above it, and thus watering our
arid western plains.
The warmth and moistufe of the Pacific coast are
carried from that ocean by the eastward moving cur
rent of the great initial rhoving stratum above it. This
counter-current does not pass eastward of the Rocky
mountains, while the principal source of our rainfall
and much of the heat of the United States east of the
Rocky mountains come from the gulf stream. The
nearer this blanket layer is to the earth the more it is
affected by wind currents between it and the earth’s
surface. These wind currents cause precipitation and
great or sudden changes of barometric or atmospheric
pressure; the heavy blanket is indented or punctured,
and this induces still greater disturbances.
If the purposes of H. R. bill 28,239 are carried out,
providing for a Labrador current and gulf stream com
mission, the underlying c use of the initial currents
of the ocean and the atmosphere will be ascertained,
and the new incumbent of the office of weather bu
reau chief will be in a position to better the predic
tions of the outgoing Chief Moore.—New York Times.
Across the Atlantic By Air.
The London Daily Mail’s offer of a fifty-thousand
dollar prize for the airman who flies across the At
lantic has bestirred new interest in that romantic
sphere of aviation. It is rather surprising that a
fancy which once possessed America so strongly but
which of recent years has apparently been abandoned
should now be revived by the prudent Old World.
Since Wellman’s adventure in 1910, which ended be
fore it had fairly begun, little has been said or
thought in this country of trans-Atlantic flights. In
deed, all fields of aeronautics have lain more or less
fallow in the United States for seasons past. In
Europe, on the contrary, there have been unflagging
interest and noteworthy achievements. Governments
have appropriated millions for air fleets and capital
ists have invested large sums in air ship manufac
tures. The Daily Mail’s flashing offer is a reflection
of the enthusiasm that has been steadily growing.
Indications are that there wiil be a number of
aspirants to the newspaper’s prize and the historic
honor it holds for any one hardy and fortunate
enough to achieve it. Gordon England, a British
aviator, and Herr Rumjjler, a German inventor have
already signified their intention of entering the con
test; the Eleriots and Captain F. S. Cody are also
prospective competitors. The Mail expresses confi
dence, based as it declares on expert opinion, that its
trophy will be won before the end of 1914.
When the amazing progress which aviation has
made within the past decade is remembered, it is in
no wise unthinkable that a flight across the Atlantic
may be accomplished within the present generation;
for, the achievements of the past ten years are not
only greater than could have been reasonably pre
dicted, they have also opened the way for exploits
still more wonderful.
^OUAITRY
fjOME TOPICS
{^Co/wera vrms.u H-Smcwi
WHAT REALLY COUNTS.
It matters little where I was born.
Of if my parents were rich or poor;
Whether they shrank from the cold world’s scorn,
Or walked in the pride of wealth secure;
But whether I live an honest man,
And hold my integrity firm in my clutch,
I tell you my brother, as plain as I can,
It matters much.
It’s yourself, my brother, and my sister, that real
ly counts. You might have a lordly English title to
boast of away back in the passing centuries and still be
sorry folks in the century you live in. And when you
sift it down to the bottom it is your own integrity,
your uprightness and your honor that is going to count
here as well as hereafter.
Perhaps I have not been eager or properly indus
trious in hunting up roots for my family tree, but I
know the criticism that is heaped on various people
who assume to be superior people in the history of their
forbears when the world understands they are simply
boasters or perhaps mistaken. Such a mistake will
continue to be embarrassing to those who assume too
much, and also those who lay claim to superior notice
because some of their kin was a governor or a general
away back yonder. There is nobody going to get on
the housetops to yell to passersby that Mr. Lorimer or
Mr. Archbold, who have lately been disgraced by ex
pulsion from two of the highest positions in the coun
try. Yet those two men happened to be caught, fetand
out, and in my opinion were equally as good as some
reputations I am acquainted with who were equally
as culpable, but who escaped detection for a long time
and who deserved the same fate if human justice had
been properly meted out according to the force of public
opinion. Honesty is the basic stone of all individual
characters, honesty of purpose, honesty in thought and
honesty in action. It is “inner light that never fails,"
and without guch ingrained honesty the individual risks
both character and real happiness in his intercourse
with the world. It surely means much when a person
is truthful especially to his own hurt. It takes a brave
person to stand up and oppose those who are en
trenched in power «,nd authority, especially when one
feels that the truth and the facts demand such oppo
sition and that falsehood deserves to be unmasked.
Especially is this true in modern politics. Nearly every
capable person deserves to be of service to the coun
try that he claims as his own, but the rancor and the
rage that pursues the man who dares/ to oppose old
traditions and the politicians who make money and
acquire fame by deceiving the masses is something im-
measureable and outrageous when encountered. I
have seen such remorseless conduct when it was ac
tually known that such politicians were corrupt vote
sellers and unworthy of trust, yet the masses, who were
led along by senseless cries, actually wer© ready to
crucify the patriot because he dared to tell the well
established truth on these unworthy legislators. The
millenium will be here when the honest men of these
United States can band together and have sufficient
authority to enforce the law of honesty and plain jus
tice to rich and poor alike.
CHEAP PROTECTION FROM LIGHTNING.
In the year 1909 the following appeared in a widely
circulated farm journal. I thought it was worth sav
ing. After the terrible cyclone and flood experiences
of the present month I think it is a good time to re
print it in the columns of The Semi-Weekly Journal:
as from 700 to 800 people are killed, twice as many
injured and an immense amount of property destroyed
by lightninL every year, Prof. Henry, of the weather
bureau, thinks more attention should be given to pro
tection from, lightning. The professor has recently pre
pared a paper on this subject, and it has been published
as Farmers’ Bulletin No. 367, of the United States de
partment of agriculture. In explaining what lightning
is and how to prevent buildings from being struck, he
gives an instructive elementary discussion of electric
ity, conductors, and nonconductors positive and ega-
tive electrification and electricity in thunder storms.
It is the practical part of this paper, however,
which will appeal most strongly to the farmers of the
country. Prof. Henry shows how lightning rods that
are "inexpensive yet effective" may be put up by any
body. The following is his list of the necessary ma
terials: Enough galvanized iron telegraph wire to
serve for th e rod, a pound of galvanized iron staples to
hold the wire in place, a few connecting tees, and a
pound of aluminum paint. He says: "While iron is
not so good a conductor as copper, it is less likely to
cause dangerous side flashes, and it also dissipates
the energy of the lightning flash more effectively than
does the copper.”
The method of putting up the rods is explained and
illustrated. This bulletin is for free distribution.
I shall never forget an experience that came to me
in the Palmer House, Chicago, during the Columbian
exposition. My room was on the corner of State and
Monroe, seventh story. A great mass of telegraph
wires circled around that corner. A terrific thunder
storm came up in th e night, a record breaker. My son
and myself were occupying the capacious room and the
blaze of the lightning became so terrifying that we
dressed ourselves and sought one of the parlors. It
seemed to us that we were to be actually scorched
with the blazing flashes. Th© Irish chambermaids,
several hundred, spent the night in terror on their
knees, as the housekeeper told me. After day broke
and the storm subsided, I gFew to believe that the mass
of wires that circled that high corner were perhaps
our principal help as to safety.
NITRATE OF SODA.
Every year somebody makes an experiment and
then tells us of the wonders that come out of this
super-excellent fertilizer. If it didn’t cost so much
there would b e more general use of it. But the cost
is largely counterbalanced by its superior excellence
and the small quantity that is applied. For market
gardeners it would appear that nitrate of soda is abso
lutely th e best that can be used on certain marketable
plants.
An excellent farm journal says: "To insure, the
very best development of strawberries top dress with
nitrate of soda just after the fruit sets." I suppose
the "setting" means after the fruit is fairly developed
on the vines.
To make celery do its best the same farm journal
says: “Just try giving the celery frequent applica
tions of nitrate of soda, 100 pounds to the acre." Let
us women try a little on our two or three rows with
which we are experimenting.
Again it says: "Use nitrate of soda at the rate of
six pounds to a 25x50-l’oot lawn and you will get a
highly colored green sward."
Again it says: "Use nitrate of soda to force your
tomatoes, using very small quantities, a small tea
spoonful at the base of each plant every other week."
But you must not forget that while nitrate of soda
is a quick acting fertilizer, it should be applied In
small doses at short intervals. It must not touch the
plant, for it will burn it. Rake it lightly in the soil, a
little way from the plant.
An Absent Minded Prelate
To forget one’s name is embarrassing enough, but to
forget one’s occupation may be more embarrassing still.
Mr. G. W. E. Russell has a story of the late Archbishop
Trench, “a man of singularly vague and dreamy hab
its," who “resigned the See of Dublin on account of ad
vancing years, and settled in London. He once went
back to pay a visit to his successor, Lord Plunket.
Finding himself back again in his old palace, sitting at
his old dinner table, and gazing across it at his old
wife, he lapsed in memory to the days when he was
master of the house, and gently remarked to Mrs.
Trench, ‘I am afraid, mjr, love, that we must put this
cook down among our failures!’"—London Chronicle.
The Life-Saving Service
By Frederic J. Haskin
The United States life saving service has been a
fully organized department of the federal government,
since 1878, and was the first in the world to be put
on a national basis. It has led all others since that
time, both in size and in the devlning and use of In
ventions peculiar to its needs. The United States has
the longest coast line of any maritime power and the
service necessarily parallels it. Today it maintains
thirteen districts and 290 stations. The net annual
expenditures for the fiscal year 1912-1913 were 82,-
346,881.12. Over 10,000 miles of coast were guarded,
including 2,500 miles along the Great Lakes. Rescue
work was extended to 1671 vessels, carrying 6,631
passengers, the total value of commerical and per
sonal property being $11,048,429, in the past year.
• * •
Notwithstanding the great length of our coasts,
which are very dangerous in some places, the life
saving business of our country struggled along with
very pitiful results for nearly a century. The Massa
chusetts Humane society was the first in the field
in 1786, when it put a few huts along the most des
olate and oangerous parts of the Massachusetts coast
for the succar of mariners. The first hut was built
on Lovell’s island, near Boston. In 1807 It established
the first lifeboat station at Cohasset. Federal Inter
est began in 1848 with an appropriation to the society
of $10,000, and later the government put real life Into
its own small service at ( ape Cod. Interest, however,
was spasmodic until 1870-71, the winter of which is
memorable for several fatal storms along the At
lantic coast where life saving station should have
been.
» • • *
George S. Boutwell, then secretary of the treas
ury, took the matter up with such vigor that he se
cured an appropriation of $200,000 on April 20, 1871.
Then Sumner I. Kimball, chief of the revenue marine
service, was put in charge of the life .saving sta
tions. He is the heart of the service and directs It
today with the same sympathy that he did forty-two
years ago. An investigation, made In 1871 by Mr.
Kimball and Captain John Faunce, of the revenue ma
rine service, showed a deplorable condition of affairs
at the various stations due to neglect and lack of sys
tem. More help from congress was forthcoming there
after. In 1878 congress'provlded for the organization
of the service, thanks to the eloquence of the famous
congressman, "Sunset” Cox. The bill passed the
house of representatives without a dissenting voice
and barely lacked a unanimous vote in the senate.
Mr. Kimball was immediately appointed and con
firmed as general superintendent and has held the
positibn ever since.
• • •
The majority of the 290 life saving stations, as
well as the houses of refuge, are located on the At
lantic coast, although adequate provision is made for
the Pacific coast, the gulf of Mexico and the Great
Lakes. A unique station is at the falls of the Ohio
river at Louisville, Ky„ and there Is an Interesting
station on the lake shore at Chicago. The Atlantic
coast has the most stations because of its terrors, and
in some places they are only five miles apart, with
their respective patrols meeting day and night. From
the eastern extremity of the coast of Maine to Race
Point on Cape Cod there are 416 miles which abound
with stony headlands, jagged Islets, rocks and reefs,
and tortuous channels. Cape Cod Itself reaches out
into the ocean forty nMles. Its sand bars have seen
the murder of hundreds of vessels and their precious
freight by the ruthless elements. The coasts of Long
Island and Jersey are exposed to all the eastern
storms and their shifting- sands offer further dangers
to the life saving crew. ,On the gulf of Mexico ter
rific "northers” must be braved. Sudden storms of
great violence on the Great Lakes take their annual
toll of life and ships and defy Uncle Sam’s fighters.
The life saving stations are plain but solid build-'
Ings which shelter the keeper and his crew of six or
seven men arc give storage space to supplies and life
saving equipment. In the majority of stations tha
first floor is divided Into four rooms; a boat room,
mess room, which Is also the general living room,
the keeper’s rom, and a storeroom. Wide double-
leafed doors and a sloping platform running from the
sills to the ground, facilitate the running out of the
heavier equipment. The two rooms of the second
story are for sleeping quarters and for the refuge of
shipwrecked persons. A few large stations have two
extra rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom for visitors.
* * •
In each station is a lookout, where a day watch Is
kept. The roofs of the stations which face the sea
are painted dark red so that they may be seen afar.
They are also distinguished by a flagstaff sixty feet
high, from which signals are sent to vessels In the
international code. ,
* • •
Houses of refuge are, as the name Implies, simply
furnished little places interspersed among the sta
tions. The general equipment of a station consists of
two surf boats with oars, lifeboat compass, etc., a
boat carriage, two sets of breeches buoy apparatus,
including a Lyle gun and accessories, a transportation
cart* a life car, twenty cork Jackets, twelve Coston
signals, twelve signal rockets, a set of signal flags
of the international code, a medicine chest, barometer,
tools, etc. Horses are sometimes used to facilitate
the transportation of boats and supplies to the scene
of a wreck. Wherever it is possible all stations are
connected by telephone. ,
• * •
The station at Louisville is a peculiar affair, and
the only river station in the service. It is a floating
scow shaped hull equipped with two life skiffs and
two reels, each with, capacity to hold a coll of five-
inch manila rope. The station is usually moored
above the dam where boats are in the greatest dan
ger. But it can he towed from place to place and by
being so handled during the great floods of 1883-84,
it rescued helpless persons trom the roofs of houses
and altogether saved 800 people and supplied food to
over 10,000 sufferers. It is one of the show places
of the Kentucky metropolis. The life stations proper
ate very strong and have been known to be carried a
half mile inland by a storm without being severely
damaged.
• • 9
Eight months is the average “active season’’ in
which the crews are on daily duty. The crews go
through drill every week day, the most important
of which is practice with the beach apparatus. A
spar or wreck pole represents a stranded vessel. It is
put seventy-five yards distant—over th© water if
possible—from the place where the men operate, rep
resenting the beach. Each man when called describes
his particular duty. When the order is given the
men pull the apparatus to the scene of the “wreck,"
throw their line, cast the breeches buoy across to the
spar which represents the sinking ship, and thetti pull
the supposedly helpless voyager ashore. A crew is
expected to effect such a “rescue" within five minutes
and the inspector or district superintendent sees that
the mark met. Several crews have done it in two
and on-half minutes. Such proficiency is the rule
that actual rescues frequently are made, in total dark,-
ness regardless of the storm.
m m m
Patrols are out all night, no matter how terrible
the weather. When a sentinel sights a wreck he im
mediately sets off his Coston cartridge, the red, flar
ing light informing the vessel that the life saving
service has sighted her. The nearest station is on
the scene with the speed of a fire department. ' The
self bailing, self righting lifeboats, which capsize but
once in every 118 trips, are used if possible. This
failing, the wreck gun is fired off, often throwing the
hawser as far as 700 yards. The passengers are then
hauled ashore either in the breeches buoy or the life
car. Lifeboats equipped with gasoline motor power
are now used extensively by the service, over 100
types being employed. The service was the first in
the world to make practical use of motor power. All
other nations have copied our plan, and Canada
adopted it bodily. Whatever the means employed* to
rescue human beings and care for helpless shipping,
the life savers are on the job day and night in the
performance of heroic deeds as a matter of course.
■ . -.•4Dvr-A, i-