j IDITAROD PIONEER |
Published Every Saturday Evening at Iditarod, Alaska.
2 Ceo. M. Arbuckle. Publisher No. 38
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JASPEKIAN PHILOSOPHY
A score of years ago, one Jasper, a Tennessee negro
preacher, became famous through a sermon in which he
contended that “de sun do move,” and branded as false
the modern conception of astronomy. Jasper was eloquent,
earnest, and approached very near to true wisdom; but
somehow or other he always fell a little short of the mark.
Perhaps it was because he selected a theory and tried to
fetch the truth up to it instead of reversing the order:
any how, Jasper died and his philosophy died with him.
That is, it died so far as his enunciation of it is con
cerned; but it is eternally bobbing up in the minds of less
gifted people who owe him nothing for their acquirement
of it.
Jasper preached many sermons other than the one
which first brought him into public notice. The subject
matter of one of these was, “Whareber de Hen Scratch
Bar He de Bug Also.” With a course of reasoning predi
cated upon the assumption that the hen’s instincts impel
her to scratch where her food is hidden, his deduction was
that men will find their proper spiritual food if given a
chance and shown the way. He believed that the fact of a
number of people congregating and making a noise over
some religious dogma is positive proof that fat and juicy
spiritual bugs are hidden in it. His philosophy failed to
comprehend the false hopes that are raised in the barnyard
and the fruitless labor following some crafty or mistaken
movement there - fails to consider the reverse side of the!
humanity to which he appealed. It was faulty, but very j
convincing to those who did not take the trouble to scruti-j
nize it closely.
Ah, well; maybe it did good, as was contended by some
of Jasper's critics. The Jasperian philosophy, under what
ever form or name, may always lead to something beneficial,
but as a philosophy it is unsound whether it does or not.
For some weeks now there has been a lot of scamper
ing to a distant point where a bug is supposed to have been
uncovered. This time the bug is golden and the would-be
scratchers are people of all sorts, including some of the
most experienced and capable prospectors, miners and busi
ness men in the country. There is a chance that they may
uncover a very large bug—yea, many of them; and every
right-thinking person will be more than glad if they do—
will rejoice if they disclose riches exceeding any and build
a meti'opolis greater than any in the Northern empire. But
j LADIES' GOODS SALE
> STSLL ON
>
>
5 Come while stock is still complete
11. GOLDSTEIN Fro;',s0’;e 30
; Just Received Swell Line Sven’s Nettleton Shoes
C. J. Hurley, President J. P. Gleason, Vice President A. Bruning, Cashier
American Sank el Alaska
Corner First Are, and Richmond St., Iditarod
CAPITAL $50,000.00, FULLY PAID IN CASH
General Banking Business Transacted Upon Liberal, But Conservative Lines
GOLD DUST PURCHASED UPON ASSAY VALUE
And we guarantee our assays against any of the government assay offices.
Clippings from your gold furnished you for the purpose
of obtaining check assays if desired.
We solicit your business, and assure you of our courteous, prompt and
careful attention combined with fair treatment, whether
vour account may be large ot small.
First Class in Fact First Ave., Iditarod
BEATTIE HOUSE
j Furnished Rooms, Bath Rooms, Spring Cots Good Stables Adjacent
Short Orders and Meals
Model RESTAURANT
Willow Street
DAN DANIELS, DROP.
STMMPEDERS? Take a Kodak with you
Eastman Kodaks ” $20 to fc
Lomen Bros.
if they find the gold of a Klondike and supplement it with
the diamonds of a Kimberley, it can not vindicate the
course of reasoning—(or lack of reasoning)—that drove
them to it: that much will remain Jasperian, and doty.
During the week a nugget of gold as big as one of
Manley’s Hot Springs potatoes was brought to town from a
comparatively new creek in a little-prospected region not
far away. With the songs of Jasper’s scratching hens ring
ing in their ears, people declare this gold to be too coarse
to indicate continuous, reliable pay, and hurry to a more
distant scene. They acknowledge the gold right at home is
ideal as far as it goes, but declare it is only the result of a
“blow-out” and can not extend beyond what has already
been found. The climate don’t suit them: it is better
where them other fellows are scratching, and they may get
a moose over there!
it is me iause puiiosopuy drumming m meir neau -
the same that possessed Jasper and urged him to preach.
But let us be thankful that it survives Jasper, even as it
antedated him; for it is the force that will cause to be laid
bare the secrets of all Alaska and make of it a Northern
Empire indeed. It will cause many to scratch where there
are no bugs; yet others will turn up bunches of choicest
and fattest and daintiest specimens over there in the other
corner of the barnyard, and, while we won’t all get fat, we
will each get in turn a chance to cluck and cackle and par
ticipate in the excitement that will eventually make this
the merriest, as it is already the biggest, goldbug reserve
in the world.
There’s many a fail ’twixt expecting and getting the
mail.
The cost of transporting the Iditarod’s gold product
for this season will approximate $15,000. The charge for
bringing in the currency received in exchange for the gold
will also be large; but the currency will be taken Outside
free. _
THE TROUBLE IN ALASKA
From the St. Louis Globe-Den oerat, Republican
Delegate Wiekersham of Alaska, whose public record attests
that he is not. in on the ground floor of any Alaskan syndicate,
says nevertheless that what Alaska needs is a red from politics.
There is too much conflict and too much agitation, he seems to
think, which are resulting in the arraying of class against class
and individual against individual in ways to prevent effective team i
work. “Everybody is hating everybody else," he said to a Globe
Democrat reporter while in St. Louis the other day. That is the
view of a man who was lately cn the ground and is familiar with
all the local conditions, but really it is one which can be had at
long range. One need not go to Alaska to get it.
But even those unable to get such a comprehensive view at a
distance could hardly fail in getting it by looking at such a vast
new country with virgin soil and forests, undeveloped mineral
resources and great waterways to serve all the purposes of trans
portation. Development is the first great need of Alaska, and
development must be so generally encouraged by government that i
the men of action in that new country, who are willing to develop
it under proper encouragement and support, will not be divided
into hostile cliques, each opposing the plans and enterprises of all
the others, or combining with some group against another group
to be regarded as a common enemy. We infer from Delegate
Wickersham’s comment that this condition is threatened in Alaska
now, and that the counteracting influences are so evenly balanced
there that work of making the country begin a realization of its
tremendous possibilities is being greatly delayed.
This is an evil which every new country of large resources has
to fear. In this country it was happily avoided, or at least so far
avoided that it was never able to seriously check enterprise. The
opposite evil is the one of a close organization of men and interests
engaged in development work in what might fairly be called a
Plunderbund, for the distribution of public spoil. This is what
has been charged as to Alaska, and Delegate Wiekersham has not
been last or least in resisting what he has called a tendency toward
govei n nent favoritism of an association of capitalists with finan
cial resources sufficient to control most of everything now in sight.
Evidently he is now beginning to realize that reprisals made by
one set of investors who are seeking indispensable government co
operation, against those who are seeking to defeat their enter
prises while pushing others of their own and equally dependent on
public aid, will check all development. That vast country must be
exploited through a community of interest as wide as the land it
self. Alaska can not be developed without capital- We have made
mistakes in some ways of overdoing our public liberality. These
should certainly be avoided in Alaska- To repeat them there
would be folly. But a folly hardly less fatuous would be that of
striking at every proposal of development as one which threatens
to overshadow a mighty land not even a little corner of which has
as yet been opened.
Many Appreciate New
Postal Arrangement
Last week the Pioneer published a letter from A. R. Randles, chief
clerk of the railway postal service at Tanana, notifying those going
Outside that arrangements had been made whereby they could have
their mail forwarded to their temporary addresses in the Stales dining
the winter.
That the innovation is a welcome one is very evident. Within
three days ot the publication of the letter, Postmaster Thurston received
the names of over ioo persons who wished to avail themselves of the
new facilities. Most of them have given Seattle as their temporary ad
dress; Portland and San Francisco also claim a goodly number, although
nearly every section of the United States is represented.
Under the new regulation first-class mail addressed to those who
have handed in their names will be intercepted at Valdez or Cordova
and returned to the States by the next boat, thus saving several weeks'
delay in the receipt of the letters, which would occur if they were
brought through to interior points and then returned to the States over
the ice.
WE DON’T CARE whether it rains
or not; we will land your freight here
if the river dries up. Byers & Co.
Mrs. Jaffe, wife of the Flat City met-1
! chant, came to Iditarod Wednesday to
'attend the A. B. dance.
Tax Ordinance
Is Laid Over
The city ordinance providing for the levy and collection of taxes’
which has been before the council for some time, has been laid over
lending the return of City Attorney Roden from Fairbanks.
As the ordinance stands the assessment is to be made on all real
itid personal property with reference to its value on the 15th day of
September of each year. The assessor shall perform his duties between
September 15 and October 15, inclusive. The board of equalization
shall meet annually on the first Monday in November, and shall com
plete the equalization of the assessment roll not later than the 15th of
November each year. The municipal clerk shall deliver the books to
the town treasurer, for the collection of taxes, on or before the 15th of
November. Personal taxes shall be deemed delinquent on the first day
of January, and may be sold within 10 days thereafter. Unpaid taxes
on real property are to become delinquent on the first day of each Feb
ruary.
By these provisions it will readily be seen that the time is growing
short in which to complete the work necessary for carrying out the in
tent of the ordinance. With no plat of the city yet available and all
the work of listing and assessing property to begone through from start
to finish, it will be rather astonishing if the provisions of the ordinance
in its present shape can be carried out, even should it become a law
within the next two or three weeks.
Henceforth four instead of five mem
bers will constitute a quorum of the
city council. It had been put up to
Acting City Attorney Maltby to ad
vise the council whether it has the
legal right to change the rule making
live a quorum, and after an exhaustive
research the attorney decided that it
has. He said that, two-thirds of a
quorum, or a majority of the council,
are competent to act. Thereupon a
resolution was adopted making four a
quorum.
The old rules making five a quorum
was supposed to be taken from Rob
erts' Rules of Order, but a copy of
that work could not he scared up in
in the city and tlie council had been
afraid it might do something irregular
if it tampered with accepted precedent.
Judge Maltby having accepted the res
ponsibility, however, the mooted step
was taken and it is believed much
trouble and inconvenience may be
avoided thereby.
Jewish Community to
Celebrate Next Week
Members of the Jewish community
in the Iditarod are notified that a meet
ing will be held on the evening of
September 22. for tlie purpose of cele
brating the Jewish New Year.
On Monday, October 2, services will
be held in the A. 15. Hall, Iditarod
City, to commemorate the Day of
Atonement.
Old h'tcev, Tyler. Monogram, Ather
ton and Cedarbrook, also tine old Port
Sherrv and Clarets at Empire Com
mercial Co._
Warmth, comfort, cleanliness.
Spring beds including bath $5 per
week. Elite Bathhouse, Caribou st.
OF ALL KINDS
CLEANED AND REPAIRED
Second-Jp®-" Furs Bought
WILLOW ST.
H. SCHLAPIK
Films Developed
And All Kinds of Photographic
Work Done.
MISS TJERNSTROM. MCDONALD BLDG
Dr. Heinrich Wort man n,
Office at, City Drug Store. Tel. 30
First Are., Bet. Willow and Richmond
< nice Hours—11 to i, 3 to 4. 7 to ft
DR. E. T. BRADBURY,
Dentist
Richmond Street. Bet. First and Second
Telephone 30-B
CM AS. D. CARTER,
Dentist
Offices, Pioneer Dr'isr Stores,
Flat Creek
DR. F. W. HER MS,
Dentist
Dr. Wortmann’s Office.
First. Avenue and Willow Street
DR. H. BE ML A,
Dentist
Gold St., Flat City, Opp. Grand Hotel
Phone 4
ALFRED E. MALTSY,
Attorney at Law
Notary Public
J. S. HARDING,
Attorney at Law
Boom 1, Iditarod Hotel
Iditarod. Alaska
CHAS. E. TAYLOR,
Attorney at Law,
Notary Public, Conveyancing,
Abstracts of Titles
flat City
Wsoksrsham & Roden,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Iditarod. Alaska
E. COKE HILL,
Attorney at Law
M. & M. Bank Bid", Iditarod. Alaska.
Don’t Get Lonesome
Drop Into the
^Manuel Gularte, F. B. FontasC^
) Proprietors ^
There Are Still a Few of Us Left
I AH Hours Alike in This House
U
1 CpjQjjCE ANO YOU WILL COME AGAIN
FIRST AVENUE. SOUTAR & SUTHERLAND. Props.
ONCE AGAIN "£r£T
Miner’s Home Saloon
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MILLER & JERMAN, PROPS,