On August 4, 1790, President George Washington okayed the creation of a Revenue Cutter Service to collect tariffs from U.S.-bound ships. Two-hundred and twenty-seven years later — after absorbing the Lifesaving Service and the Lighthouse Service — the U.S. Coast Guard is alive and well, charged with preserving life and property on the water… along with drug interdiction, counterterror, ice operations, these Huggies, and whatever cash you got.