THE IDITAROD PIONEER
Published Every Saturday Morning at Iditarod, Alaska
Yol. 8 CHARLES A. DERRY, Editor No. 17
ARBUCKLE & DERRY, Publishers
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THE STRANGER WITHIN OUR GATES
Appeals to the American people to forbear from any act of
suspicion or aggression against aliens in the event of war have
been issued by the Council of National Defense. This council, a
recently-organized citizen body empowered by congress and backed
b\ the President to “put America's house in order," industrially,
economically and individually, declares that “the presence here at
this time of perhaps 8,000,000 aliens is deeply and soberly to be
weighed.”
Through W. S. Gifford, director of the council, the following
statement was made “to forestall bitter dissensions of race arising
from acts of passion":
The Council of National Defense touches the life of the
nation at practically every point. In the word of the
act creating it. it is charged not merely with “the collect!
t rat ion and utilization of tiie resources of the nation. It
is its equal duty m times of stress to mobilize good will
within our borders, to forestall bitter dissension- 01 nice
or of individuals arising from acts of passion, and in every
way to conserve the national unity.
Emphasizing anew our national doctrines of tolerance
and personal liberty, of holding all person- within the land
to be loyal unless by their own acts they shall prove the
contrary, we call upon all citizens, it untoward events
should come upon us, to present to these aliens, many of
whom will tomorrow be Americans, an attitude of neither
suspicion nor aggressiveness.
We urge upon all Americans in meet these millions of
foreign-born with unchanged manner ali i with qnprcrul
jeed mind. Any other course is unwoit! y of our traditions
and against public policy and tl. ' line il v o: governmental
affairs.
The above advice of the Council of National Defense is sound
Bnd logical. American citizens should be the last to tyrannize
over others because of race or nationality. As a rule they follow
religiously the lessons taught by our democratic institutions -
dealing: with a man as they find him. If there should be discord
bet wet n American citizens and our foreign-horn residents the
chances greatly favor the belief that it will not be brought about
nor encouraged by American citizens.
But the advice of the council does not go far enough. A few
words of council and advice should have been bestowed upon aliens
who are temporarily or permanently sojourning in -ur midst. They
-heuld be kindly and forcefully told that they are enjoying the
benefits of American government ami institutions, and that the
United .States owes allegiance to no sovereign but the people them
selves; that as long as they obey the laws they will receive the
same treatment as though they were citizens; that if our govern
ment and institutions are repugnant to them they should conceal
the fact until less troublous times, when we can listen to criticism
and condemnation with more patience and tolerance; that if they
disapprove the policies and actions of our officials and administra
*ioii, the best place to express such sentiments is in the privacy of
their own homes, and not in the hearing of men whose loyalty to
their country may prompt them to forget wise admonitions of
tolerance and patience; that while this is a country of free speech,
even in war times, free speech does not mean the license of an un
bridled tongue. Above all, they should be gently hut firmly made
to understand that this is our country, and may be theirs also
should they prove themselves worthy.
With a thorough understanding along these lines, there should
he little necessity for the adoption of the stern measures resorted
to in European countries in dealing with foreigners. This is a free
country, and it should be the purpose of all, foreigners as well as
citizens, to keep it free.
THE BRITISH IN MESOPOTAMIA
An item in the war news this week says that "the British have
swept the valley of the Tigris for a distance of eighty miles north
of Bagdad.” An apparently unimportant statement, to be sure,
and yet one that is fraught with the greatest significance to the
great struggle which is now engaging the attention of the world.
For it illustrates more than tales of mighty battles on the western
front the dogged persistence and indomitable determination to do
or die which has been responsible for Britain’s wonderful hold on
the vast populations of her Eastern possessions, and gives weight
to the expressed determination of Britain and her colonies to fight
to the bitter end for the extermination of that spirit of Prussian
militarism which is the menace of the world today.
One year ago General Townshend and his 10.000 British and
Indian troops were starved into surrender at Kut-el-Amara, almost
within sight of Bagdad. The blow was a severe one to British j
prestige in the East—not so much because of the surrender of such
a large force as because of the fact that a British force could be
defeated at all. In the eyes of the Teutonic allies it was the death
blow to British dominance in India and the opening up to Ger
many of her long-cherished scheme of an open road from Berlin
to Bagdad and control of the land route to India.
But the bulldog tenacity of British statesmanship and British
military spirit was not daunted by one failure, and when General
Maude captured the famed city of Bagdad, which Townshend had
failed to reach, he not only restored British prestige in the East,
but he put an end to German dreams of Indian conquest.
The significance of the British success in Mesopotamia may be
gauged by the fact that the New York Sun says that “Bagdad has
tenfold the importance to the world today that has Verdun. Ger
many has lost both.” Another New York paper, the Globe, says
that it is not impossible that the future historian will say that “the
turning-point of the war came, not in France, or on the Kar
pathian front, or at Salonika, but far away in semi-desert Meso
potamia.”
-♦—
Contrary to statements recently made, that as many as 800
newspapers and periodicals in the United States had to suspend
publication during 1910 because of inability to meet the high cost
of production, the year’s record, as compiled by the 1917 American
Newspaper Annual and Directory, does not show it. According
to this authority there are 347 more publications in the United
State.-, than there were at the beginning of 1916. The total num
ber of dailies in the United States and Canada was 2,606. The
Southern states made the biggest gain in the number of dailies,
supplying twenty-one to the gross increase of the United States.
New Kngland gave six, the Western states one, and the Pacific
slope state.s two. These gains were offset by suspensions of two
daily papers in New York state, nine in the middle Atlantic state.s
and five in the Middle West.
Charles A. Sulzer, delegate in congress from Alaska, gave out
a statement to the people of the territory on the eve of his de
parture to take up hi.- congressional work, which was in part as
follows: “1 am leaving to labor for Alaska along the lines set
forth in the platform upon which I was elected, ‘Alaska for Alas
kans,’ in its broadest application, and for other things for which
we fought and which are as live today as ever. It is my purpose
to serve the people of the territory to the best of my ability, and
my earnest hope is that people will keep me fully advised from
all sections as to their needs. I am the representative of all the
people, and not the standard hearer of any political party, and I
hope to have the cooperation of all. I regret that circumstances
force me to leave before ending my term in the senate.”
There has been considerable speculation as to how the President
came into possession of the details of the plot by which Germany
attempted to embroil the United States in war with Mexico and
Japan, while -till maintaining friendly relations with this country.
A dispatch from Houston, Texas, gives what purport to be the
facts in the case as follows: Four men, one non-commissioned
officer and three privates, of the hirst Indiana infantry, and not
secret service men. arrested the messenger of Ambassador Von
Bernstortf en route to Mexico City to deliver the Zimmerman note
to Heinrich Von Eekhardt, German minister to Mexico. This has
just beer, learned from two men who helped to make the arrest,
and their story is folly substantiated.”
Confirmation of the belief that should Germany have been suc
cessful over the allies the United States would have been the next
nation to be attacked by the war-mad Prussian junkers is lound m
a recent utterance of a German newspaper, the Koelnischo \ oiks
Zcitui'.g. "We have alway. maintained.” says the newspaper,
-that a victory over England would be impossible unless we til-o
determined to face America. This moment now has arrived. If
an. American declaration of war arrives the German people will
accept it with the same determination and confidence with which
they haw accepted all previous declarations.
. 4,
The new Russian government has officially proclaimed the ab
solute couality of the Jews of the country with all of Russia's
other inhabitants. This is taki n to mean that the persecution of
the Jews in Russia is at an end. According to the proclamation
issued, as stated in a cable message received at the Russian em
bassy in Washington. Jews may now hold property and live any
where they please. They may also serve in the army and navy
of the country and share in Russia's educational and political ad
vantages. The proclamation is hailed us one of the great events
in Jewish history.
Lord Northcliffe's London Evening News raises the cry of
“Impeach the old gang,” following the publication of the commis
sion's report on the Dardanelles fiasco. Asquith is the head and
front” of the “old gang”; but all the politicians who belonged to
the old cabinet and are not included m the new one are comprised
in the demand for ‘impeachment and retribution.” Kitchener's
.-hare of responsibility is dismissed on the ground that he found
himself in a maelstrom of professional politicians and became
merged in their adventures, and often was controlled by their
acts.”
—-<> --—
Much regret will be felt by the many friends of Dan Suther
land that he should have made such a sorry spectacle of himself
in the legislative halls at Juneau Many who voted for Dan be
cause he was a “good fellow” had misgivings as to his Qualifica
tions as a legislator. And these misgivings have been more than
ccnfirmed. A public official who calls into question the integrity
of the courts should have more solid grounds than have yet been
apparent trom anything that Senator Sutherland has said.
That sturdy democrat, Lloyd George, braves the displeasure
of his royal master, King George, by cabling his congratulations
to the new Russian government on the overthrow of Czar Nich
olas, which he terms “the greatest service yet rendered to the
allied cause.” And if King George should so much as bat an eye
it is likely that the little Welshman will send him to join his im
perial cousin.
American readers will no doubt give little credence to that
report from Berlin as to existing bitterness between the British j
and French on the western battle front. But if tnat bitterness i» j
as productive of results in the future as it has been in the past ;
few weeks, Germany will no doubt wish there were more harmony
among her enemies.
-*
Alaska bids fair to become an important factor in the economy j
of the war. Her gold product—no small item—is supplemented i
by some of the country’s largest copper producers; and her fish- ;
cries probably will constitute'one of the most, important assets of j
the country. Secretary Redfield, at least, realizes the importance j
of the latter. i
The Anaconda Standard offers even money that. The Colonel
and his four son; can lick the kaiser and his six sons, rough-and
tumble rules to govern. There are those hereabouts who will go
the Montana newspaper one better, and offer odds, and let the
Hohenzollern outfit choose the rules.
-♦
AH honor to Captain Rice of the Mongolia and his gallant gun
crew of naval tars! Their deed in sinking the first submarine of
the war for America will be recalled in alter years as one of the
great events of the German-American war.
--♦-- !
Spain is also showing a disposition to take a few chips in the j
game. Since 1898 Alfonso may have concluded that it is better j
to be with us than ag’in us. __ I
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GERMANY’S ONLY WAY OUT
IS TO DEPOSE THE KAISER
“The Only Way Out” is the title of a Ba
varian pamphlet which has reached Rome
via Zurich, according to a dispatch from
the Italian capital. It is published in Mu
nich under the auspices of the “Association
of Male Cjtizens of Southern Germany.” The
thesis developed by the pseudonymous au
thor, “Heinrich Sieger,” is that Germany’s
only practical course to avert final ruin lies
in the dethronement of the house of Hoh
enzollern. Reviewing the actual military
situation, the author likens the series of
German victories to those of King Pyrrhus.
“They are,” he says, “purely ephemeral,
and nobody can be more keenly alive to this
fact than General Hindenburg, whose colos
sal forward movement on the eastern front
has merely succeeded in shifting the scene
cl trench warfare a few hundred miles, and
whose war-worn forces, for a long time inert
and impotent in front of Riga and Duna
,:rg, still have before them vast untrodden
stretches of the Russian empire.
“Germany cries, 'We will fight till the
last man, and when no more men are left
we will enroll the women and old men.’
it the people, themselves are convinced
hat no maneuver of this sort can avert
ultimate defeat, which at this moment is
mathematically certain.”
The pamphleteer regards Germany’s pres
ent situation as identical with that of the
French empire a century ago. When the
crucial moment comes will William II.. he
asks, stand prepared to sacrifice himself for
the German people as (lid Napoleon?
“Even as France avoided terrible peace
conditions by deposinig Napoleon,” he says,
“so Germany, faced by the vision of the
final catastrophe, will one day be driven to
decide on deposing the king of Prussia in
favor of the Bavarian ruler. The house of
Wittelsbach has fulfilled a!! its duties to the
empire. Its escutcheon is unstained, and in
tins war it has won its laurels again and
again. Not only would the German empire
under the Wittelsbach dynasty offer the
necessary security for European peace, but
also the possibility of realizing a still greater
Germany.”
The writer foresees that Britain, Prance
and Russia will never consent to negotiate
peace with the oresent kaiser or the German
crown prince, whereas, “with tlie* disappear
ance i f tin* Hoheuzolh ins it will become
possible for Germany to promote and cement
cordial relations with England, as has hap
pened in Britain's relations with prance.
The Zurich Volksrecht says the document
he e summarized voices a state of opinion
very widely diffused in Bavaria, and. in
deed. almost everywhere in southern Ger
many, as well as in influential middle class
circles and among the lower orders.
Allies Propose to Eliminate Kaiser
A New York dispatih says that peace
terms which the allies did not give to Presi
dent Wilson provide for the literal elimina
tion of the kaiser as the absolute ruler of
Germany, according to I)r. Morton Prince
of Boston, who said in an address under
the auspices of the American fund for
p'rench wounded at the Old Colony Club
building tPiat “the German kaiser, the felon
and bully of Europe, must go.”
Dr. Prince, who is an uncle of Norman
Prince, killed while serving as an aviator
for Prance, said that this country had much
at stake, became the theory of government
back of those fighting the kaiser was the
same as that on which this government was
founded. That the allies knew that German
militarism must be crushed, or the battle
would have to be fought all over again, he
gave as the motive of their determination
not to make peace until the kaiser and what
he stood for were in the dust. Pie predicted
exile for the kaiser, or establishment in
Germany of a democratic government that
would destroy Wilhelm's autocratic power.
"The alpes hope to rid the world cf the
house of Ilohenzollern," he said, “and if
they do they will get the thanks of the
world. The determination to do this is
one of the details of their peace terms which
they told President Wilson could not now
be known.
“What chance is there about a confer
ence table for the kaiser to eliminate him
, elf ? Here is the reason why negotiations
cannot now end the war.
“It is all too easy to question the legal
right of (he allies to dictate what kind of
government there is to be within Germany.
Vet there was no legal right for the North
to free the slaves in the South. That was
done because slavery is a moral wrong, and
so the Prussian militarism must go, even
within Germany, because it is a moral
wrong. And it is against this moral wrong
that the allies—I mean the people in those
nations—are willing to make any sacrifice
to win. It is a task for the people of the
world, and the people should be grateful
to the allies in their fight for permanent
peace. And we in America should sec that
we do not hamper their purpose.”
-——
DEATH OF “CAPTAIN JACK”
(Literary Digest)
| The great scouts who led Custer and the
| Seventh cavalry into the sage-lauds or ‘took
! the dust” of the wily Apache chief Geron
| imo are all dead now, for “Captain Jack”
i Crawford has followed his friend Buffalo
j Bill on the long trail. A sketch of his life
is printed in the Brooklyn Eagle:
“Captain Crawford had little or no early
"hoofing. When the civil war broke out
he was only a lad, and twice ran away
to go to the front, but had difficulty in join
ing the army on account of his youth. He
finally succeeded in enlisting in the Forty
eighth Pennsylvania volunteers and was
severely wounded in action. It was while
lying wounded in a military hospital in
West Philadelphia that Captain Crawford
was taught to read by a Sister of Charity.
“Captain Crawford went West at the close
of the war and was long engaged as a gov
ernment scout, later becoming chief of
scouts under General Custer at the time of
the massacre, but it is said that at that
time he was on his way to Custer’s head
auarters with dispatches, having made one
of the longest and most dangerous rides in
the history of Indian warfare in carrying
the messages. Later he played an active
part in the pursuit of Sitting Bull.”
When the red-flannel shirts and predatory
Indians of the West gave place to linen
collars and taxi-drivers, Captain Jack turned
his attention to verse and the lecture plat
form. speaking and writing of the men he
had known and the events he had shared.
The New York Evening Sun remarks of this
portion of his career:
“Picturesque of appearance, Captain Craw
ford was best known for his stories and
poems, perhaps the most famous of the
latter being ‘Rattling Joe’s Prayer.’ He
was a familiar figure on lecture platforms,
and was a staunch prohibitionist. He1
boasted that through a promise he made.
his mother he had never tasted whisky, al- !
though a frontiersman. Recently he had j
attacked the pacifists at every opportunity, |
and one of his protests against peace at any j
price was ‘My Mother Raised Her Boy to
Be a Soldier,’ written in answer to a popu
lar song.”
Before he ‘‘answered to taps,” as he would
have phrased it, he had been sick for weeks I
with a complication of diseases, and was j
kept alive only by his extraordinary consti- j
lution. In the whrds of the Evening Sun: i
“As he lay in bed, ill from a complication i
of disease?, he got the news that Colonel
Cody, with whom he had ridden in many [
a wild charge against the Sioux, had gone I
over the great divide. It depressed him.
*‘‘So Bill Cody has gone!’ said Captain j
lack. ‘1 guess they will he sounding taps I
over me pretty soon. Well, when we meet |
Tall Bull and that tough old codger, Sitting l
Bull, on the other side, and stick up our j
hands, palms forward, and say, “How, j
Kola!” there will be a lot to talk about.’ ” I
<
RARE POLITICAL DOCUMENT
GIVEN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
SEATTLE, March 31. The original man j
uscript copy of the political call which re
sulted in the birth of the present Repub
lican party, in Jackson, Mich., July (i, 1854,
has just been given to the University of
Washington museum by Mrs. Maude K. Me
Vickner of Victoria, B. C.
The historic document is written on fools
cap, faintly tinted with the yellow of age,
and beginning to crumble along the edges
from the handling it has endured for sixty
two years. The writing, still clearly legi
ble. is done in 8 careful, painstaking hand.
Inasmuch as this instrument is the only
political document of its kind known to be
in the West. Curator Frank S. Hall of the
state university museum thinks it has con
siderable value.
A typewritten copy of the call and pho
tographs of some of the principal men tak
■g part in the first Republican conven
tion accompanied the manuscript gift.
The principal photograph is that of
! Charles V. Poland, who was secretary of
1 the convention which formulated and cir
j culufed the call for the meeting of dele
j cates to create a new party.
The document now in possession of the
j university is written in Poland's hand. He
| was at the time of the convention a speciai
! writer on the Toledo Blade.
Air.i :ig the several other photographs is
no of Austin Blair, in whose office in Jack- !
n the early conference-: were held among
'he men who were dissatisfied with the ex
isting political parties.
The donor of the colic lion was formerly
a reporter in the Middle West, and worked
■r mi.ny of the big papers. She has col
! levied die data on the founding of the Re
'•Miciai party and turned it over to the
university.
A newspaper clipping published in 1879
in the Detroit Post and Tribune, on the
twenty-fifth anniversary of the party's birth.
- among the articles in the collection.
EFFICIENCY AND CONCEIT
(Juneau Empire!
| Germany’s offer to give Japan all the
| United States west of the Rocky mountains
i in return for her aid in fighting the United
j ‘•'■utcs. besides being very generous, causes I
one to wonder to whom she has given Can- ,
ada and Madagascar, Siberia and Scotland, j
It also causes one to wonder what German
statesmen have meant when they have sail!
Germany has tjo designs on the map of the
| world.
But it also conveys another le.sson, and
one that counts for much that has tran
j spirtd since that “six weeks for France, six
! months for Russia and a year for England”
| 'Urpose was announced. It tells us that
i with the development of that German cffi
j ciency was developed a conceit and setf
! renteredncfs that has caused the densest
! sort of ignorance of conditions beyond her ;
borders. II«r statesmen were firmly con
vinced that there were enough German
born people in this country to take care
of the United States in an emergency until
Bernstorff sent Dernberg to Berlin, who
only half convinced them that there was a
national spirit in America. They expected
the German-American voters to defeat Wil
son for re-election and make America an
ally, little dreaming there could be two
presidential candidates in the United States
who were both for “America first.”
But not only has Germany been blind
to actual conditions in the United States,
but she has been likewise elsewhere. She
was convinced that. Britain’s colonies would
not support the mother country. She con
fidently expected the active assistance of
the Boers. She was certain that Ireland
would rebel. She little dreamed that colo
nists by the hundreds of thousands and;!
colonists’ money by the hundreds of millions
would pour into the fight. She was dum
founded when the Boers, instead of revolt
ing, sallied forth and captured German
Southwest Africa. She probably does not
■ealize yet that hundreds of thousands of
frish officers and privates are pounding her
front in France. Germans have thought so
much of themselves and admired themselves
■o greatly that tbev have not had time to
knowledge of others. They have taken
it for granted that all patriotism, all wis
dom. all efficiency and all kult-ur are in Ger
many. The rest of the world was made to
furnish trade for German industry and an
audience for German performance.
---<»
Job Printing at The Pioneer office.
REVERIES OF A BACHELOR
At times beside the cheery blaze,
When Care and I are leagues apart,
A gentle phantom steals and lays
A tender hand upon my heart.
Then, nestling closer, beckons where
A smaller phantom laughs and crows.
I wake and wonder; life is fair,
And glad, and free, and yet—who knows?
•—Ufe.
♦
DEATH OF W. D. WOOD
W. D. Wood, former mayor of Seattle arid
one of the early pioneers of that city, died
in Seattle on March 23. He was at the
head of tiie Humboldt expedition to the
Klondike in 1897, and was well known by
hundreds of Alaskans.
«
GRAYSON CONFIRMED
Dr. Cirayson, President Wilson's medical
aid. who whs promoted to he medical di
rector of the navy, with the rank of rear
admiral, was continued by the senate on
March 15, according to a Washington dii
natch.
Profe ss si on a 1
Michigan, 188 1 Alaska, 101&
Kentucky, 1891
George Woodruff Albrecht
COUNSELOR AND LAWYER
IDITAROD, ALASKA
The Pioneer Attorney of Iriftarod
E. M. STANTON
Attorney at Law
Office: Corner Willow and Second Sts.
Iditarod Pioneer Building
CHAS. E. TAYLOR
Attorney at Law
BANK BLOCK
First Avenue Iditarod
DR. MOORE
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
DR. HU E. AURINGER
Physician and Siirgeoti
Office: Flat City Hospital, Flat City
| Consultation Hours in Forenoons and by
Appointment
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