Happy 100th Anniversary to the Coast Guard – Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes
Happy 100th Anniversary to the Coast Guard act of 1915! In case you missed my interview about Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes with Michigan Public Radio’s “Stateside with Cynthia Canty” program yesterday and would like to hear it, there is a podcast available on their website through this link. The interview begins at about the 20 minute mark. Listen Here. On this day, January 28th, 1915 – President Woodrow Wilson put pen to paper and signed in to law the Coast Guard act of 1915, thereby combining the Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Coast Guard into a single service, The United States Coast Guard. This marked a victory in a long-fought battle by the Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes, Rev. William H. Law, who since 1900 had been lobbying the government of the United States to provide better pay and pensions for members of the United States Life-Saving Service. The new act provided pay increases and pensions to those serving in the newly formed Coast Guard. — LIFE SAVERS’ PENSION BILL PASSED; LAW HAPPY Duluth News Tribune – January 29 1915 “Sky Pilot of Inland Seas” Worked on Measure for Years W. H. Law, the “Sky pilot of the Inland Seas,” is the happiest man between Duluth and Pawtucket Light these days. He has been working for years to obtain the passage of the bill which puts life savers on a par with Navy men and naval reservists and – this is the big feature of it – pension them on retirement. The bill passed the senate last week, and Mr. Law, writing from Detroit to W. H. Cook of this city says: “I regard the passage of the bill as a birthday present, as the news ca me to me on my sixty-second birthday. I am delighted over the victory for it means so much to the brave men who have long deserved this recognition on the part of the government. The bill provides a 10 per cent increase in pay at the end of every five years of service and after 20 years the chance to retire with 75 percent of the salary and allowances as a pension, It also places the life saving service and the revenue cutter service in a new department, the Unites States coast guards subject to orders from the treasury department. The Bill will affect 2,000 men, 576 in 64 stations on the Great Lakes, the rest in 224 ocean stations. For 24 years W. H. Law has been known as the “sky pilot” of the Great Lakes. His parish extends from the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River to Duluth. His parishioners number into the tens of thousands, Each year, be pays several visits to every life-saving and light station on the Great Lakes bringing books, delicacies, mail and good cheer to the men. Each year he addresses a personal letter to every man in every life-saving and Light station in American waters. His lecture text is laughter and optimism: His gospel optimism, laughter and happiness: his sermon. happiness, optimism, good cheer and laughter, He preaches the doctrine of “fellowship of humanity.” — Happy 100th Anniversary to the Coast Guard act of 1915! ...
Interview with Stateside with Cynthia Canty – January 27th, 2015
Tune in to Stateside with Cynthia Canty tomorrow January 27th, 2015 to hear an interview I did with Cynthia about the Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes and the 100th anniversary of the United States Coast Guard. The show will air at 3:00 P.M. & 10 P.M.on Michigan Public Radio and Interlochen Public Radio stations across the state. A podcast of the interview should be available after the airing on Stateside’s Webpage: http://michiganradio.org/programs/stateside-cynthia-canty
A Birthday Present for the Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes
One hundred years ago on this day, January 20, 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives, on the recommendation of then President Woodrow Wilson passed the Coast Guard Act of 1915. The bill (S. 2337; a bill “To create the Coast Guard by combining therein the existing Life-Saving Service and Revenue Cutter Service.” ) had been introduced to the U.S. Senate on May 16, 1913 by Senator Charles E. Townsend of Michigan, was referred to committee and ultimately passed by the Senate on March 12, 1914. The bill, if signed in to law, would form the United States Coast Guard by merging the existing Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service. More importantly to the “Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes” Rev. William H. Law, it would provide an updated pay structure and provide pensions to the men in their service. The battle for a law favorable to the welfare the life-savers and their families had been waged by many as early as the late-1800’s. William H. Law, as part of his mission, took it upon himself to inform the public and their representatives in government of this need as early as 1900, after his own life was rescued by men of the USLSS. In his 1902 publication, “Life Savers in the Great Lakes”, W. H. Law includes the following intent: These pages are written and sent out as an expression of appreciation for the services of the Life Savers in taking the author, his son, and a friend from a stranded yacht, with a hope that the people’s representatives in the United States Congress may be favorably disposed toward a bill pertaining to the Life Savers now in the hands of a committee. Though these earlier attempts at the passage of a bill to enact a pension for the men in the USLSS had failed, W. H. Law persisted in his efforts to garner support for a pension bill to be enacted. Working with Senator Charles E. Townsend, they would draft a bill that the Senator could bring to the floor and have a chance of being passed. One of the main sticking points of such a bill was the fact that the USLSS was in essence a civil service and that by granting pensions to the members they would be opening the door for the pensioning of all civil service employees. In order to get around this, the bill would be worded instead as a reorganization plan, combining the USLSS and the Revenue Cutter service into a new organization called the Coast Guard with provisions to place them under the authority of the military, thus removing them from civil service. “If they pensioned the lifesaver they left the field open to the vast array of civil service employees. They [the government] couldn’t do that, so we decided to ask for a reorganization putting the lifesaver on par with the naval reservist and the navy men, where he belonged,” W. H. Law stated to the Detroit Free Press in 1915. While Senator Townsend was preparing to bring the bill to the floor in 1913, the Sky Pilot of the Great Lakes started a lobbying campaign of his own, sending various letters and stories of the brave men of Life-Saving Service directly to the homes of the very Senators and Congressmen who would have a chance to vote for the passage of this bill. The letter was well received and many congressmen and senators wrote back assuring they would do everything they could for the passage of the bill. One senator from a landlocked state sent this reply to Rev. Law: We senators and congressmen from states in the interior have little or no personal knowledge of the Life Savers, and I want to thank you for the information you have given me. I have read with a great deal of interest what you mailed me for it came to my home. Your interesting stories concerning the Life Savers were read by my family and talked over at the dinner table. It was thoughtful of you to send your literature to congressmen and senators while at home, for when in Washington they are very busy. May I trouble you to state, what, in your judgment, would be the best course of procedure to improve Service. From what I have read, I have faith in you and I am sure from your experience in having personally visited all the stations on the Great Lakes, and by keeping in touch with those on the various oceans by mail, you are in a position to give me the material I need in drafting a bill. Rest Assured...
