Special Xmas Week Sale
'' All silver mesh bags and vanity cases to be (
closed out at one-half price
All Casseroles at One-Third Off
A large assortment of candies in beautiful Xmas boxes
from which to select.
Many durable and entertaining toys for the young folks
OWL DRUG CO.
RUSSELL HERMANN, Manager.
MERCHANT’S CAFE
FRESH BREAD AND PASTRY DAILY
Phone 63 O'®8- Fischer, Propr.
HOW GERMANS VIEW
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE.
BERLIN: “Persons who are born
in Germany and become American
citizens cannot be excused for violat
ing the laws of America,’ says the
Tageblatt, commenting upon Presi
dent Wilson's message.
Germany would punish persons
from afrhbad who came here and vio
lated G>i man laws. But the passion
of Ger$~i: ^Americans to which the
President refers, would not have been
heated to such a point if the United
Spates under Mr. Wilson’s presidency,
hail endeavored to maintain honest
neutrality.
"That was not done. A great por
tion of the press not only proclaims
sympathy for the allies, which is par
donable, but wages wordy warfare
against Germans in the most offen
sive and indecent manner. President
. Wilson hitherto has'had nothing to
say against it, but has warned the
people from expressing sympathies
against the Allies.
“Above all, American industry has
passionately taken sides in this war
with passionate dollar hunger. This
also President Wilson has looked up
on quietly.”
The Tageblatt says that it has no
desire to discuss the moral aspects
of the case, but remarks that in view
of what has happened it is no wonder
Germans in America are excited.
The Lokal Anzeiger says Presi
dent Wilson’s words of reproach to
those who passionately took sides in
the war may safely be interpreted as
a reference to German Americans.
“Our friends across the water,” it
continues, “are men enough to settle
matters with the nation’s chief with
that fearlessness which in the new
world is accounted one of the high
est rights of mankind. They will not
allow themselves to be outdone in
this virtue,by any native-born Amer
ican.” i
\ *
ALABK4 GROWTH SHOWN
BY TRADE INCREASE
SEATTLE, Dec. 29.—-Alaska’s
trade will exceed $100,000,00 this
year, an increase of more than 40
per cent, as compared with last year.
As only $2,000,000 of this amount
can be attributed to the government
appropriation for railroad construc
tion, the increase is regarded as com
ing from development. The projects
now under way and contemplated
for 1916 will be 20 per cent greater
than that of this year.
Merchants and commercial men of
both Portland and San Francisco ac
cording to newspaper clippings just
received by J. L. McPherson, secre
tary of the Alaska Bureau of the Se
attle Chamber of Commerce are cast
ing envious eyes at the Northern
tree upon which hangs the golden
commercial plum, and Alaskans, with
out any ill feeling towards Seattle,
are encouraging them to become
competitors for the trade. The North
erners figure they have nothing to
lose by competition and something
might be gained.
Among those who have recently de
livered speeches before commercial
organizations in Portland and San
Francisco .urging these cities to look
to the North for business are Bishop
P. T. Rowe of the Episcopal diocese
of Alaska, and James Wickersham,
delegate in Congress from Alaska,
with warm friends of Seattle.
' Wickersham was informed that the
project to establish a line of steam
ers between Portland and Alaska two
years ago failed because the vessels
were unable to get any return freight.
He then encouraged Portland to try
again nest year, when cargoes of
coal from the Matanuska fields will
be offered.
“These are just straws which show
which way the wind iB blowing," de
clared McPherson. “The bureau has
made a lot of friends in Alaska and
we have straightened out a number
of misunderstandings. San Francis
co and Portland are constantly after
the Northern trade. They never let
an opportunity slip, but having the
advantage of the short haul, Seattle
has a shade the best of it.
"The quickness with which San
Francisco can grasp a situation was
demonstrated this summer when an
timony began to rise in price. As soo»
as the season opened ore buyers
from San Francisco went into Fa<r
banks and other parts of the Terri
tory looking for business. It simply
indicates that the Northern trade is
something upon which Seattle should
keep an ever watchful eye, and the
efforts to unite the Territory and Se
attle in close bonds of friendship nev
er should be relaxed.
“CAPTAIN RACKETT” AT
LIBERTY THEATRE
The students of the Valdez High
school will present "Captain Rack
ett" a high class three-act comedy at
the Liberty theatre tonight and to
morrow night and if the sale of tick
ets be accepted as an indication of
the number who will be present to
night it behooves those desiring seats
to go early.
The students taking part in the
play have been faithful in their at
tendance at rehearsals and are re
ported to be perfect in their parts.
The entertainments are being given
by the students in order to raise
funds for the better equipment of
the school laboratory and to secure
new books which are required for the
school library and it is to be hoped
the young people will receive a lib
eral patronage both nights.
GERMANS RESENT
RECALL OF ATTACHES
, WASHINGTON: A full settlement
of the Lusitania case, including rep
aration by Germany for the loss of
American lives, has been postponed
by the dismissal of the German mil
itary and naval attaches at Washing
ton. The demands upon Austria
Hungary in regard to the torpedoing
of the Ancona has also had consider
able influence upon public opinion in
Germany and will influence the gov
ernment somewhat on the entire sub
marine question. The German states
men have decided that because of the
action against the attaches and the
sharpness of the American notes to
Vienna, that any action^ Germany
would take with reference' to the Lu
sitania would not meet with the ap
proval of the German people, and
particularly would be voted down in
the Reichstag, as the sentiment in
that body has crystallized against
the United States. From the tone of
the newspaper comments on the ques
tion as taken from the leading pa
pers throughout the empire it is eas
ily seen that the Germans are resent
ful particularly over the Von Papen
and Boy-Ed case, and the comment
on the conviction of the four officials
of the Hamburg American Line is
also acrimonious.
Taking the population of the world
at 1,732,000,000, the average use of
copper per capita per year is 1.3 lb.
Europe is using an average of 3.1 lb.
per capita per year, North America
6.2 lb., United States 7.7 lb., while
Africa, Australia and Asia combined
UBe only about 0.008 lb. per capita
per year.
Fix Prices of Game.
BERLIN: In order to prevent ex
orbitant prices being asked for game
the German government has fixed the
wholesale and retail prices for the
guidance of dealers. The retail
prices for venison range from 140 to
180 pfennings a pound. The price of
wild swine is fixed at 110 pfennings
a pound, while the rate for hares is
fixed at 430 pfennings each.
Henry Deyo, of the Ramsay-Ruth
erford mine, is in town from' the
property.
Complete automatic telephone sys
tems have been recommended for
four cities in New Zealand by a gov
ernment electrician.
CAN NEKS APPEAL. FROM
JUDGE JENNINGS’ DECISION
A decision was rendered yesterday
in the District Court by Judge Rob
ert W. Jennings which declared the
taxes imposed on all canneries in
Alaska by acts passed by the Legisla
tures of 1913 and 1915, were valid
and collectable and judgments were
entered against the Alaska Salmon
Company amounting to $5,933.63.
Transcripts are being prepared by
the Clerks office and the case will be
appealed to the Circuit Court of Ap
peals for final decision at once|
All cannery companies in Alaska,
with the possible exception of two,
have agreed, through their attorneys
to abide by the decisions of the high
er court. John H. Cobb, as attorney
for the Territory was called to Seat
tle several days ago to confer with
the attorneys and at that time it was
agreed that one case should be sub
mitted to the court, on certain stip
ulated facts, for a decision, and that
all should abide by this decision when
rendered. It was also agreed to ap
peal the case at once to the higher
dourt for final word.
The judgment as rendered oy
Judge Jennings holds, “That compli
ance with all of the conditions and
payments of the license fees imposed
by the Acts of Congress as set forth
in the agreed statement does not re
lease the defendant from the payment
of license taxes imposed by the acts
of the Alaska Legislature approved
May 1, 1913, and the further act ap
proved April 29, 1915.
“It is therefore ordered and ad
judged that the Territory of Alaska
do have and recover from the defen
dant, the Alaska Salmon Company,
for taxes for the year 1915 the sum
of $1290.03.” The judgment also
stipulates that taxes to the amount of
$4643.60 be collected for the years
1913 and 1914. All costs are assess
ed against the defendant.
The question at issue in the case
as set forth in the stipulated agree
ment which was submitted to the
court are: “Whether or not the de
fendant complied with all conditions
and having paid license fees imposed
by the acts of Congress is obliged to
apply for a license and pay the li
cense fees and taxes imposed by acts
of the Territorial Legislature of Alas
ka, known as House Bills No. 96, ap
proved May 1, 1913; and House Bill
No. 109, approved April 29, 1915.
"Whether or not the owners of pri
vate salmon hatcheries who are also
engaged in the business of canning
salmon in Alaska are by virtue of the
certificate issued to them by the Sec
retary of Commerce and Labor for
salmon fry liberated from their said
hatcheries, entitled by virtue of said
certificate to have the same applied
pro tanto in payment of all license
fees and charges not only imposed ny
the said acts of Congress but also by
the saw acts of the Legislature of
Alaska.”
The decision as rendered by Judge
Jennings upholds the Territory in
every count, John H. Cobb represent
ing the Territory and Z. R. Cheney
acted for the Alaska salmon Com
pany.—Juneau Empire.
EASTMAN EMPLOYES
GET A MILLION BONUS.
Rochester: The directors of the
Eastman Kodak company have de
clared a wage dividend of nearly
$1,000,000, payable to all employes
who have worked for them a year or
more. Payment will be made on the
basis of three and one half per cent
of a years salary multiplied by the
number of years, not exceeding five,
the employe has been with the com
pany. The maximum dividend there
fore amounts to seventeen and one
half per cent or approximately nine
week’s salary. The distribution will
be made on July 1, 1916.
The Eastman Kodak company em
ploys nearly 11,000 persons. Of these
almost 8,000 will be entitled to par
ticipate in the wage dividend of three
and one half per cent or more. Only
those who will have been in the em
ploy of the company at least a year
on Jan.l, 1916, are included in this
year’s dividend.
The company’s first wage dividend
was announced on March 4, 1912,
and amounted to approximately $50
0,000. It was paid in July 1912.
Every year since then the Kodak
company has paid a dividend of about
$500,000 to employes in the comp
any’s service a year or more.
As the employes this year will re
ceive the largest wage jdividend on
record, so will the stockholder rec
eive the largest common dividends
ever paid by the company, namely,
60 per cent for the year.
An American scientist of note has
patented a dirigible balloon without
interior bracing, the pressure of the
gas keeping the envelope rigid.
A device has been patent which,
clamped to a can of condensed milk,
punctured the top and attaches a
spout so that the can is converted
into a pitcher.
A German has invented a process
for obtaining electricity from coal
without using engine, boiler or dyna
more by an application of the ther
mo-pile principle. ___
SOLDIERS AND CANES.
English Military Men Must Not Go Out
Walking Empty Handed.
It is one of the regulations of the
British army that every soldier when
walking out must carry in bis band a
stick in order to preserve a soldierly
appearance and prevent anything like
slouching in his gait.
This rule applies to all ranks, and
should any one seek to evade it he
would find his progress barred by the
sentry at the barrack gate or entrance
to camp.
Privates generally carry light canes
or “swagger sticks." noncommissioned
officers fairly stout sticks, and officers
invariably go in for the more expensive
kind. It is a question that has often
been asked. Who first suggested the
Idea? But nobody seems to know.
From the earliest times drill ser
geants and drum majors have carried
sticks, and the fashion may have come
from that fact Soldiers as a rule buy
their own sticks, but In one or two reg
iments a recruit is presented with one
when he gets his uniform. If this gets
lost, however, he has to buy the next
and subsequent ones.
There is a story told of a soldier one
day who couldn’t find his cane and.
knowing he would be challenged if be
didn't have something in his band,
quietly picked up a poker and passed
through the gate all right with it in
his fist—Dundee Advertiser.
HE DWELT IN PEACE.
Revolutions In Haiti Didn’t Bother the
Old Darky Settler.
During^me of the revolutions in Hai
ti a party of Americans made a riding
tour of the mountains. One morning
a member of the party suddenly drew
rein and pointed to a lone ridge where
an old tattered stars and stripes flut
tered on a bamboo pole.
“We must pay our respects.” some
one said.
After some search they found a path
that zigzagged up to the wild place.
They followed it and at last discovered
an aged negro sitting before his wat
tled hut smoking his pipe, while he
kept an eye on the flng.
“Wbat’s the flag for?" some one ask
ed. >
“Perteetion.” said the old man quiet
ly. “I heah dey done begin anudder
resolution, so I put It up. Yes. sub.
I come bear twenty-two yeatas ago. an'
has dat flag wid me. I’m George, cook
on a steamer outer Savannah.
"Like de place? Yas. sah. Plant
yam an’ coffee an*' cassava. Resolu
tions don’t trouble dis nigger. Ebery
time dey resolute yander up goes de
flag, an’ dat’s all dere’s to it’’—Wash
ington Star.
Antiquity of the Organ.
„ The organ is the most magnificent
and comprehensive of all musical In
struments. While the pipes of Pan.
aside from that mythical personage,
indicate a very ancient use of pipes as
a means of producing musical sounds,
the “water organ of the ancients’’ fur
nishes to the student of organ history
the first tangible clew regarding the
remote evolution of the instrument
In the second century the magripha.
an organ of ten pipes with a crude
keyboard, is said to have existed, but
accounts of this instrument are in
volved in much obscurity. It is aver
red that an organ, the gift of Con
stantine. was in the possession of King
Pepin of France in 767. but Aldhelm. a
monk, makes mention of an organ with
“gilt pipes’’ as far back as the year 700.
Bulls In Parliament.
Lord Londonderry once threw the
house of lords into roars of laughter
during the debate on the second read
ing of thd’Irish land bill by gravely de
claring that “this is the reason why
you have failed to settle the Irish land
question in the future ’ as you have
done in the past”
In the course of the same speech he
concluded a period with: “This is the
keystone of the bill. Are you going to
kill itr’
Better still was a sentence which be
uttered in 1807 when speaking once
more on the Irish land question—
“That, your lordship will see,’’ refer
ring to a quotation he had Just made.
“Indorses up to the hilt what I have
said.”—London Tatler.
Burns as a Tax Collector.
In the olden days candles were taxed
articles, and It was the duty of Robert
Burns as an excise otUcer to see that
the tax was not evaded. He generally
looked the other way. however, as
when passing through the kitchen one
night at William Larimer’s of Kenni
shall, where the gudewife was busy
making candles, be merely remarked.
“Faith, madam, ye’re thrang the
nicht," and passed into the parlor.—St.
James’ Gazette.
No Cause For Him to Complain.
"See here!" remarked the guest to the
new waiter. --‘There doesn't seem to
be any soup on this menu card.”
“Oh, no, sir!” replied the waiter nerv
ously. “I didn’t spill it at this table.
It was the one on the other side of the
room."
Of Good Reputs.
“But what is his reputation? That
is the principal tbtng.”
“Well, papa, he is reputed to spend
fifty thousand a year. That’s good
enough for me.”—Judge.
Sometimes.
“My face is my fortune.”
“Yes. but an investment of that kind
sometimes has very bad features about
It”—Baltimore American.
; Never educate a child to be a gentle
man or a lady alone, but to be a man,
j a woman.—Herbert Spencer.
CITY EXPRESS
MEETS ALL BOATS AND NEVER MISSES A TRAIN
Auto for Hir e Day or Night.
Buy and Sell Anything.
Phone 82 J. A. SPENARD, Prop.
Independent Laundry Co.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
Telephone 66
Foot Keystone Ave
Rough Dry lCc lb
When in Chitina Stop at the
CHITINA HOTEL
Finert Hotel n tie Interior—WeD Heated, Clean Roomi.
Bar in Connection. Rates Reasonable
UPPER TONSINA ROAD HOUSE
Best of Meals—Prices Reasonable
GENERAL STORE. - TRADING POST.
Telephone connects with Chitina.
General Freighting. KNUTE nafsted. M«r.
VALDEZ REAL ESTATE AGENCY
Real Estate, Insurance, General Brokerage
Absentees Business Properly Handled
Treat BuOding, Alaska Ave. Telephone No. 60
Mead’s Sheet Metal Works
PLLMBING, STEAM AND HOT WATER HEATING,
Sheet Metal Work, Mine Air Pipe, Pipe and Fittings, Valves. Ktc.
Motor Boat Supplies, Paints and Oils.
Located on Valdez Dock, Opposite Prospector Office. Piione 24
Pacific Alaska Navigation Co.
PUGET SOUND
California
Admiral
Line
PUGET SOUND
Alaska
ALASKA
Steamers sail from Seattle at 9 P. M. on
5th, 15th, 25th—EVERY MONTH
Steamer Sailing 11th calls IILanina and Kodiak—All SaUIng call at Knlk
and Anchorage.
CALIFORNIA
Seattle to San Francisco every Wednesday and Sunday, connecting with
Steamers Yale and Harvard lor Southern CaUfornla.
Right reserved to change schedule without notice
RICHARD J. RINGWOOU, Mgr., Seattle) VALDEZ DOCK CO., Local Agt.
ALASKA
STEAMSHIP CO.
8. 8. ALAMEDA AND 8. S. NORTHWESTERN SAIL FROM SE
ATTLE THE 10TH, 20TH AND 30TH,
EVERY MONTH
FROM VALDEZ SOUTH—8TH, 18TH, 28TH, FOR CORDOVA,
JUNEAU, WRANOEL, KETCHIKAN AND SEATTLE.
Regular freight service for Ketchikan, Wrangell. Juneau, Sheep
Creek, Treadwell, Douglas, Skagway, Cordova. Ellamar, Valdes and La
touche. Explosives, S. S. Seward, on the 5th; Latouche. on the 16th; S. S.
Cordova, 25th of each month—right reserved to change this schedule
without notice.
K. B. TRACY. Gea’l Ageat VALDEZ DOCK CO„ Lecal Ageat.
When You Leave
For the Outside
take the
“MILWAUKEE”
One road—one management—one service all the way
through to Chicago. It’s the Short Line to the East
over
THE NEW STEEL TRAIL
For information and literature write or ask
J. C MARTIN, Agent, Valdez, Alaska.
CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE & ST, PAUL RY.
A. E. HARRIS, Freight and Passenger Agt,
Juneau, Alaska.