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The Revenue Cutter Service Some Facts About a Department of the Government Which an Efieteriey Board Would Now Seek to Abolish--Some of the Things Which it Has _ Accomplished as an Auxiliary of the Mer- chant Marine -- Enforcing Customs Laws, Regulating Shipping, Search- ing for and Destroying Derelicts --Its Important and Inter- esting History N. the report of the Cleveland econ- ] omy commission, recently transmit- ted to congress by President Taft, there appeared a recommendation that the revenue cutter service as at pres- ent constituted should be abolished and that in its stead there should be established a similar service within each department which should do those things that are now done for it by this most efficient branch of the treasury department. It is, therefore, not untimely to review briefly the history of this ever alert and alto- gether useful semi-military branch of our governmental machinery, also to see some of the achievements of this service which it is now proposed to segregate and in so far as its present organization is concerned to abolish. At the conclusion of the Revolution- ary war after the Continental navy had been disbanded we had no sea force available for the defense of our coast line, nor was there any means of protecting our small 'but constantly increasing maritime interests. Soon the need of just such a force.became so apparent that the first congress passed a law creating the revenue cutter service. This was in 1790, eight years prior to the establishment of the navy. For convenience this new- ly created sea force was placed under the jurisdiction of the treasury de- partment and there it has remained to this day.. By November, 1791, ten cutters were ready for duty and from that time until a navy was organized these vessels constituted our only armed force afloat. The officers placed in command had seen service in the Continental navy, the first one to re- ceive his commission from President Washington, being Capt. Hopley "Yea- ton of New Hampshire, who had been a lieutenant on the frigates Raleigh and Dean, during our struggle with England. Originally the work of this service consisted of patrolling the At- lantic coast and the enforcement of the few maritime laws which -we then had. But in 1798 the president was ordered by congress to. place this force at the disposal of the recently appointed secretary of the navy, who in that and the succeeding year made 'use of it in West Indian waters dur- ing our troubles with France. In that work the cutter Pickering captured ten prizes and the cutter Eagle five, a highly creditable record. By con- gressional action in 1799 the president was further authorized to cause these vessels to be employed in the defense of our coasts and in repelling hostili- ties toward vessels and commerce, as for instance' piracy within its juris- diction. Service in Coast Defense During the war of 1812 the ves- sels of this force were used as dis- patch' boats'iand 'for Coast defenses, and again they acquitted themselves well. In fact the first capture made in that struggle was by the cutter Jefferson, which seized the schooner Patriot, Briefly' told, a total' of 14 British vessels with their officers and crews were taken by revenue cutters. Probably the most notable contest during that war was waged by the cutter Surveyor and the frigate Nar- cissus, the former finally yielding to the overwhelming force of the latter. The daring crew of the Surveyor fought so desperately, however, that the commanding officer of the frigate returned his sword to Capt. Travers, with a letter bearing admiring testi- mony of the splendid struggle which he and the men under him had made against such great odds. For many years subsequent to 1815 many of the more efficient officers of the navy asked for and secured. commissions in this survice. During that time few more responsible or difficult duties fell to the lot of the naval officers than those which were given to the commanders of the cutter of the Brit- ish, Provinces, during the fishery diffi- culties: following the treaty of 1818. In the Seminole war in 1836 efficient and substantial aid was rendered by the cutters, Capt. Webb of the navy in his report to the department saying "their prompt and ready co-operation with the army has called forth the highest commendation for the com- mandinge generals." Under a law passed in 1837, the president was re- quired to assign cutters to service along the coast during the winter months for the relief of storm driven vessels, the vessels of the navy which had first been assigned to this work having proved unsatisfactory and so displaced by the older service. that day to this thousands of lives and millions of dollars worth of property have been saved, as will appear later on. Again during the Mexican war, five cutters were engaged in the attacks upon Alvarado and Tabasco. Much work was also performed by them in the blockading of our op- ponent's coast. In 1858, when a naval force was sent to Paraguay, the cutter Harriet Lane accompanied the expedition and Com- Erom: