_^__ . I
THE IDITAROD PIONEER
Published Every Saturday Morning at Idltarod, Alaska
Yol. 8 CHARLES A. DERRY, Editor No. 21
ARBUCKLE & DERRY, Publishers
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THE GOVERNORSHIP
With the meager advices at hand, it is difficult to
arrive at a reasonable conclusion respecting the fight
in Democratic ranks over the governorship of Alaska.
It is qu te apparent, however, that already it has
been the cause of serious dissension in the party.
For some unexplained reason the fight seems to have
narrowed down to a contest between tj^e incumbent,
J. F. A. Strong, and Thomas Riggs, jr., of the Alas
kan engineering commission. What has caused the
elimination of Jennings, of Bunnell, of Whittlesey
and of Griffin is not clear.
Governor Strong has held the position for four
years, and even his most active partisans, if he have
any, cannot put forth any plausible excuse for his re
appointment, they must admit that as an executive
officer of a territory of such immense possibilities as
Alaska he has proved a rank failure. This is easily
accounted for in the confirmed habit of the governor
in attempting to “carry water on both shoulders.”
During his incumbency there has been but one ques
tion upon which Strong has expressed a pronounced
opinion, and that was in advocacy of the extension
of territorial powers, or for 'a full form of territorial
government,” which neither he nor other partisans
of ti ,t shadowy proposition have as yet been able
to satisfactorily define. He himself has furnished
one cf the strongest arguments why further power
should not be granted to territorial officers. On
questions relating to capita! and labor he has taken
no constructive stand. When the mining laws have
been up for revision he has made no helpful sugges
non. tie has caretuily evaaea questions wmcn
were up for consideration by the people. Strong, as
an executive, has been a negligible quantity. The
charge that he has favored Republicans in the dis
tribution of official appointments may be left for the
consideration of party councils; alebit the catering
to men of both parties is not at all consistent with
his protestations of party orthodoxy. It is but an
other instance of his ‘‘trimming” tactics.
On no single question which has come before him
in his official capacity has he shown his incompe
tence more than in the matter of the contested dele
gateship. As chairman of the canvassing board,
charged with the duty of passing upon disputed elec
tion returns, he asked the advice of the attorney gen
eral. That official rendered an able opinion declar
ing the board should not count the ballots of pre
cincts where the election law in reference to the use
of the Australian ballot had been ignored. Putting
aside this opinion of his legal adviser, Strong, with
the assistance of the territorial secretary, another
member of the board, constituted himself a judicial
tribunal and decided that the law did not mean what
it said. The election was awarded to Wickersham
on the face of the returns and the disputed point was
evaded by putting it up to the courts. The fact that
Judge Jennings took the responsibility which Strong
evaded and reversed the decision of the board by
awarding the election to Sulzer, in no way absolved
otrong or his pusillanimity.
A concerted effort is being made to secure the
appointment of Thomas Riggs, Jr., to the governor
ship. This may be taken to mean that through the
smooth manipulations of the “official crowd” the
various other candidates have been shelved, possibly
by having accepted other appointments. Any one
of the men mentioned in connection with the office
would have been acceptable to the people at large.
Riggs is an able man, and was a serious contender
for the position at the time that Strong was selected,
four years ago. At the present time he is in charge
of the constructio nwork of the Alaska railroad from :
the Interior terminus. It is unfortunate that no other |
man could have been agreed upon by the Democrats i
to contest for Strong’s position. Riggs is doing a
useful work for the territory and the government,
and to supersede him by a new man will be disadvan
tageous to the project. But whatever the conse
quences, it will be felt by the rank and file of the
Democratic party that the party organizat.on and
the territory must be allowed to free themselves
from the Strong incubus.
-•
FANCIFUL PiCTURE WITH LESSON FOR US
To stimulate recruiting in Canada, the Toronto
Mail and Empire pictured the fate of that country if
Germany should win in the present war. The Brit
ish isles and France would not be taken by Germany,
the Canadian paper says, but the British colonies, in
cluding Canada, would be seized eagerly. Canada
could not defend herself, and the United States
would be too busy preparing for her own defense to
give any aid. So Canada would pass under German
control like Alsace-Lorraine. Canada would have a
German prince at Ottawa, and German generals at
the head of the administration of every province.
For some years probably the mayors of towns would
be imposed by edict. Conscription would be one of
the benefits to accrue. There would be only one
language taught, and that would not be English or
French. The streets would swarm with German of
ficers, whom it would be everyone’s duty to salute
on all occasions, and to rise in theaters and restau
rants when they entered. The people of Canada,
not being of a docile nature, might expect many a
Zabern incident. If there should be any serious at
tempt at resistance to the German occupation the
Belgian business would be gone through with again.
Ir there are any LanaGians to whom this state or
affairs would be tolerable,” concludes the Mail and
Empire, “they will naturally do nothing to avert it,
and certainly will not take the only patriotic and
prudent step of fighting the danger in France and
Flanders.”
The above description may be looked upon as
fanciful; and no doubt it is. Yet there is little ques
tion that had the German drive on Paris in the sum
mer of 1914 been successful it would have been a
possibility. Germany, successful over the French
and British, would have extended her operations to
the New World. It does not take much of a stretch
of imagination to see in German rule of Canada,
with its border of four thousand miles facing United
States territory, a serious menace to our peace and
welfare. Whether we would or not, the United
States would from necessity become a military ma
chine, just as Germany is. The United States desires
peace, not only with its immediate neighbors, but
the world. For that reason it is arming to defend
and perpetuate peace.
--♦
Again has Roosevelt shown his true Americanism. A man
who can express himself as ‘'delighted” that another shall assume
the honors to which he aspired surely places patriotism above
personal ambition. It is one of the ironies of fate that Pershing,
who is to head the expedition to France, was “made” by Roose
velt when President, being promoted over the heads of many of his
seniors.
- -
If there should be an attempt to curtail production, especially
of natural resources, in order to evade the enormous war tax on
large incomes, the guilty capitalists should be treated as other
enemies of the government would be. There are other ways or
being a traitor than actually fighting against the nation.
---«
German newspapers treat the entrance of the United States
into the war lightly. But all the rest of the world considers that
if the Teutons had a chance to win before, they have not the re
motest shadow of a chance now.
-♦
We are used to thinking of army and navy officers as poor
men. As wealth is counted in these days, they probably may be
considered so. Yet Admiral Dewev left an estate of $255,000.
-<*>'
If German influence in South America is such that it can
prevent the shipment of needed staples to the allies, it will be ;
found that Uncle Sam also has a few trump cards in reserve.
-«
A SELF-MADE GENERAL
(Chicago Herald)
Frederick Fun.-ron’s remarkable career presented one of the
strongest arguments made in recent years for a revision of the
West Point system. Adventure, romance, exploits almost too
thrilling to be true, came to General Funston as naturaUy as
routine eventlessness becomes the destiny of others.
He used to the full those opportunities which were his, and in
so doing, like General Wood, he showed the nation that the rules
of a military hierarchy must be broken at times if the nation is to
avail itself of the exceptional gifts of the rare leader, funston
leaped over the barriers because he was a popular hero. Ifis
reckless audacity and resourcefulness so endeared him to the
millions that his progress eould not be blocked.
The lesson of Funston’s usefulness ought not to be forgotten.
Especially should it be remembered at this time, when the nation
is considering the reconstruction of its armies. The lamented gen
eral proved once more that the road should ever be open to talent.
Advancement in the army should be upon a merit as well as upon
a seniority basis, and while the resources of West Point should
not be disregarded, graduation from the academy should be only
one of several principal routes to commissions in the army. _____
Ball Band Rubber Boots and Pacs
Ball Band Rubber Boots and Pacs
Ball Band Rubber Shoes, eight-inch Top,
with and without heel, a// sizes,
while they last...
-=$3.25 Pair
N. C. Co. Sole Agents for Alaska
N. C. Co. Sole Agents for Alaska
MOON HAS NO INFLUENCE
ON WEATHER CONDITIONS
The moon is a “dead” satellite; that is,
it is not in a gaseous state, but is a solid
sphere, without axial rotation. The light
that it radiates does not come from itself,
but from the sun. The light is, therefore,
reflected, and the quantity that reaches the
earth is found to be less than one hun
dred thousandth part of the amount we
receive from the sun—a quantity that is
inappreciable when compared with our sup
ply from the latter source. It is argued
that the moon’s influence on our weather
is exerted by gravitational pull in the
form of aerial tides. That there is such a
pull must be admitted, but its effect i.s so
slight that investigators have not been able
to connect it with weather conditions, much
o to use it as a factor in forecasting. If
e tidal effect were such a factor we should
expect it to be felt every six hours, the
same as the tidal effect on the ocean. It
should also have a progressive westerly
movement, making the circuit of the earth
in a little more than twenty-four hours. As
a matter of fact, our weather types move
in the opposite direction from west to east,
in accordance with the direction of the
eartn s rotation on us axis.
It seems, however, that the belief that is
most prevalent in connection with lunar in
fluence on our weather is that 3 change in
weather may be looked for at the time of
I he change in the moon’s phase. Upon
analysis it would seem that this idea is
more unreasonable than the tidal theory.
It should be recalled again that the moon’s
surface is illumined by the sun; that it
travels around our earth every 27 1-3 days;
and that the fractional part of the moon’s
surface that is visible to us at any time
depends upon the moon’s position in its
orbit with respect to our point of vision
and the sun. So, then, the phase of the
moon is due simply to the angle at which
we see it with respect to its source of light.
The idea that a change in this angle of
view should cause a change in weather con
ditions is next to absurdity itself. But,
granting that it does cause changes, that “a
change in the moon” (new moon, first quar
ter, full moon, last quarter) produces rain,
should not this cause operate throughout
the earth’s surface? Surely the lunar in
fluence is not partial to Southeastern Alaska,
or to Oregon, or to Florida! As the moon’s
nhase changes every seven days, we should
expect rain on the date of the change, or
immediately following, throughout the earth
where topographical features admit of rain
fall That such conditions do not occur
is evident to anyone who has made the
slightest study of weather and climate.
Taking at random almost any month of any
year, there will be some section of the
United States that has had a deficiency of
rainy days of a protracted dry spell of three
or four weeks, while some other section will
have had the opposite condition—a contin
uous period of wet weather. Yet both of
these regions were subjected to the same
changes in moon phases. Taking some other
month, the conditions will be found to be
reversed, with again the same moon phases
“operating” in both regions.
In a nutsehll, there is nothing in the
moon’s influence on terrestrial weather con
ditions to justify any dependence being
•ilcced on it in predicting weather condi
tions. None of the forecasting experts of
this or foreign countries considers the moon
at all in making weather predictions, and,
while it is true that the forecasts leave
room for improvement in the matter of ac
curacy, the improvement will no doubt
come from a better knowledge of causes
extraneous to the moon. M. B. Summers
in Juneau Empire.
A _
EIGHT VIRGINIA PRESIDENTS
Woodrow Wilson is the twenty-eighth
President of the United States, reckoning
Cleveland’s two terms as separate ones be
cause he was the only President serving
twice who was not re-elected. Virginia
leads in the nativity of Presidents. Eight
of her sons—Washington, Jefferson, Madi
“rn, Monroe, William Henry Harrison. Tay
lor am 1 W ilson- have held the highest of
fice in the gift of the nation. Ohio has
given six native sons to the presidency.
They were Grant, Hayes, Garfield. Benja
min Harrison, McKinley and Taft. Of all
the vocations in life the law has furnished
the most Presidents. Nineteen chief exec
utives of the United States were lawyers at
the time they were elected. Three are classi
fied as statesmen, two as soldiers, two as
farmers, and one as a public official. Seven
teen Presidents have been college men, one
was graduated from West Point, and nine
had no collegiate education. Englsh patter
nal ancestry has predominated among all
the Presidents. Fifteen were of English
extraction. Six were Scotch-Irish, three
were Scotch, two were Dutch and one was
Welsh. The youngest President at the
time of inauguration was Roosevelt, who
was 46. The oldest was William Henry
Harrison, who was 68. Of all the Presi
dents, John Adams lived to the oldest age.
He was 90 when he died.
--
STOOD ON HIS DIGNITY
United States Senator Hoar in his auto
biography relates an aneedots of Anson
Burlingame, the famous lawyer of Detroit,
who was afterward minister to China. He
says: “Shortly after Burlingame came into
active life he made a journey to Europe. The
American minister obtained for him a
ticket of admission to the house of com
mons. He was shown to a very comfortable
seat in the gallery. In a few minutes an
official came to him and said he must leave
that seat, that the gallery where he was
was reserved for peers. They are very par
ticular about such things there. Burlingame
got up to go out. when an old peer who
happened to be sitting by him and heard
what was said interposed. ‘Let him stay,’
he said; ‘he is a peer in his own country.’
'I am a sovereign in my own country, sir,’
replied Burlingame, ‘and shall lose caste if
I associate with peers.’ And he went out.”
-Ex.
—-♦
HIS PET AVERSIONS
Another mutt who makes as sick is the
lad who tries to give you the impression
that he has to use a card index system to
keep track of his dates with girls.—Luke
McLuke.
-♦
To his Hungarian subjects the new em
peror is “Charles the First.” Those of them
who know our English history will be anx
iously watching for signs of a tendency on
their monarch’s part to lose his head in
critical times.—Bystander.
---—--♦
For steam baths, go to the Snyder House,
Flat,
FISHERIES OF ALASKA
IN DANGER OF DEPLETION
In spite of all that has been said and
printed to the contrary, the impression
seems to be gaining ground that the mar- j
velous fisheries of Alasku are in danger of j
depletion. James Robertson, general man- i
ager of the Tenakee Fisheries Company, is |
a strong advocate of protection of fish in j
Southeastern Alaska, and to the Juneau
Dispatch he said recently:
“From observations made during a close ;
association with the cannery business for j
the last twelve years in Alaska, I believe i
it to be unquestionably true that the salmon
packers will soon face a fish shortage that J
will not only prove serious but absolutely
ruinous to many of them and demoralizing
as a whole.
"I believe it also to be unquestionably
true that many of the cannerymen are now ,
not only careless and indifferent in their at- I
titude toward the obeying of laws, but de
liberately break them in their made scramble |
to fill tlie cans.
“In any season that the supply of fish is |
at all scarce, and every season during the |
I periods preliminary and subsequent to the !
I heavy run, most packers encourage their
seiners to fish on Sundays and to go up
nto the streams. The idea is to ‘get the
fish,’ regardless of law or the fitness of the j
!i-!i ior iooa.
“Such practices are utterly unsound from [
a business standpoint, and penalize the hon
est cannery man to the point of ruin. (Jn- j
less the quality of the fish is extremely bad, j
no difference is made in price between the j
lear, bright product of a trap that has |
been operated out in the main channels, j
and the thin, black-skinned, bony wrecks j
that have been chased out of the grass on j
the banks of some stream where they were!
; spawning. A man may put up a pack of j
j ,ic latter during a poor season, while his
! competitor who refuses to break the law
comes home with a short pack.
“if such conditions are allowed to con
tinue, the canned salmon business is no
business for a self-respecting man to en
gage in.
“It is a notorious fact that organization
I for mutual benefit has never been a howl
! ing success among salmon packer.,, although
I at present some good woik is being done
along this line.
j “The writei''believes that the evils under I
which we now labor should not be made
j to await correction from the slow and un
I certain action of any organization, and I
j know of Several canueryuien who feel
strongly regarding the practice of sending
seine crews up the streams after fish; so
strongly, in fact, that they intend to inde
j oendently secure evidence against such
crews and to press prosecution to the limit j
next season. This may work a hardship j
upon some packer whose crews have dis- •
obeyed the laws in spite of his instructions;
j but teat is his trouble,
i “The writer believes that the percentage
: ot return from the egg deposit of a salmon j
,s entirely too small. It will continue to j
be very small until some way is found to j
eliminate the trout and sea gulls. But j
there are other easy, practical ways to help.
Most streams in Southeastern Alaska are j
so choked and dammed with brush and j
windfalls that thousands of fish are unable
to reach suitable spawning grounds.
“If each packer or cannery superintendent
j would undertake to clear out the mouths of
j the creeks in the vicinity of his cannery
and to do what he could to render the
ascent of the salmon more easy, and to
roughly construct some pools and basins
suitable for spawning the number of ma
: lured fry could he increased by millions.
“But many superintendents and owners j
i maintain that it would not be just for
them to bear the expense of improving sev- ,
oral si reams for the benefit of anyone who
■ared to come along and fish in this vicinity, j
If the government would give me an ex- I
elusive concession,’ etc., they urge.
“Exclusive government concessions are a ]
very remote possibility, although such a
method is probably the only sound way
to deal with an industry in which the raw
material is so limited. So it seems that
the only way for anything to be accom
plished along this line is. for each canner
to ‘do his bit’ and stand the gaff a little if
it is necessary.
“Another source of serious anxiety to the
cannerymen is the trap situation. Xhe tie- .
cisions of Judge Jennings last summer made '
it plain that any enterprising pirate could ;
take a couple of piledrivers North early in
the spring and utterly ruin several com
panies whose business, amounting to mil
lions, is dependent on traps; companies i
which have paid thousands ot dollars into j
the public treasuries for the privilege of !
operating. The territory of Alaska exacts
a fee of $100 annually for operatng a fish |
trap. In return the canner receives abso- ;
lately nothing—neither title nor protection.
Such a situation is intolerable.
“Some people advocate the entire aboli
tion of fish traps. This movement has con
siderable support. Such a movement and
its support cannot possibly arise from an
unprejudiced and unselfish source, as it is
obvious to anyone who cares to inquire into
the matter that trap fish are in every way
superior to seine fish, due both to their
being caught mostly in main channels where
the fish are fresher from the ocean and
also to the process through which the fish
must go from the water to the butcher
room. No one seriously advocates the abo
lition of seines.
“From the present inert and deadlocked
situation only the briskest of action from
'lie combined Alaska canners can bring re
lief, and it will require considerable time to
arouse the action and considerably more
to get results after it is aroused. Mean
time those who really believe that the
business should be operated on business prin
ciples can help a lot by clearing out the
-pawning streams and forcing the seiners
to keep outside of the legal limits. I re
peat that numerous confiscations of fishing
gear and convictions of fishermen will prob
ably occur in Southeaaeru Alaska this sum
mer.”
NEW FAIRBANKS COMPANY
UNABLE TO BUILD BOAT
Announcement has been made hv the of
ficers of the Fairbanks Transportation Com
pany, an organization formed to enter the
local shipping field, that it will not build
the “City of Fairbanks,” the proposed new
liver steamer, for this season. Word has
been received from Robert I.nvery, the man
ager of the company, who is in Seattle,
that the company is unable to make ocean
connections. Another reason for changing
the plans is that the price of shipbuilding
material is at such an enormous figure that
it would not be good business to go ahead
at this time, according to the directors of
the concern.
Professional
Michigan, 188 1 Alaska, 19 id
Kentucky, 1891
George Woodruff Albrecht
COUNSELOR AND LAWYER
IDITAROD, ALASKA
The Pioneer Attorney or Iditarod
E. M. ST ANT on
Attorney at Law
Office: Corner Willow and Second St*.
Iditarod Pioneer Building
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Office: Flat City Hospital. Elat City
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on short notice, at Iditarod Pioneer offlci*.
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WE ARE HERE TO STAY
Big Stocks of Fresh Goods
Everything for the Miner and
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