Hatltj jJrxwpwtur
PUBLISHED BT
STEWART & SELBY, Proprietors
terms.
Daily Prospector.
By carrier, per month —.t 1.00
By mail, per annum ...*1000
' The Weekly Miner.
By carrier, per month .• .40
By mail, per annum .* 300
The Dally Prospector and Week
ly Miner, by carrier, to one ad
dress, per month .—..0 1J5
The Daily Prospector and Weekly
Miner, by mail, to one address
only, per year .-.-flS*B0
Business Office and Editorial Rooms,
TEL. 152
Advertising Rates on Application.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1016
VALUE OP' RAILROADS
In the Wall Street Journal a civil
engineer of wide experience in rail
road construction offers the sugges
tion that the radicals who have been
furthering the matter of a physical
valuation of all the railroads of the
oountry are due to a serious disap
pointment when the program is fin
ally carried into effect. He believes
that the effect of making a physical
valuation wilj be a sharp advance
in freight rates, because the showing
will be that at present rates the
roads are not permitted to earn leg
itimate interest on the actual value
of their property.
It is his belief that the physical |
value of the railroad properties of
the United States is far higher than
the present market prices of stocks
and bonds of such companies. The
basis of valuation fixed by the inter
state commerce commission is the cost
ef reproduction of the properties.
The courts have decided that in fix
ing the values appreciation in the
value of realty holdings must be tak
en into consideration. The realty
holdings of the railroads are worth
very much more now than the origi
nal cost to the comrades.
It has been suggested that the in
creased value of the real property
may be offset by charges for depre
dation. But so far as railroad prop
erties are concerned there has been
no depreciation. Railroads are in
better shape by far than when they
were first constructed. The require
ments of business and regulation of
state commissions have forced the
keeping of the roadbeds in the best
possible condition at all times.
It is a fact, frequently referred to,
that the capitalization of the rail
roads of the United States is far low
er than those of any railroads else
where in the world. James J. Hill
has repeatedly called attention to the
fact that the value of necessary ter
minals for a great railroad system is
actually more than the cost of con
struction of the lines. There is lit
tle' water in railroad capitalization in
this country now.—Post-Intelligen
cer.
GOVKRNOR STRONG’S RRPORT.
Governor Strong’s annual report tc
Congress shows a healthy condition
in Alaska. He shows that the value oi
all shipments between Alaska and the
United States and other countries foi
1915 is$70,113,916 as against $61,
076,692 for the previous year, an in
crease of over £9,000,000. For in
stance, he Bays:
‘‘Shipments of domestic merchan
dise from the United States to Alas
ka showed a decrease of $526,482
from the previous fiscal year. whiU
shipments of domestic merchandise
from Alaska to the United Sates in
creased $3,172,154; shipments ol
foreign gold and silver increased
$928,588; and the values of fish
shipments of all kinds showed an in
crease of $4,023,411. There was also
an increase in copper production ol
$1,305,593 ovef the previous year.
“The volume of business for the
present calender year will show a
large increase over me caienuar year
1914. In almost every line of industry
the shipments of merchandise from
the United States to Alaska have been
larger than ever before. This is due
principally to the Increased mining
activity in the vicinity of Juneau and
elsewhere on the southeastern coast.
In southwestern Alaska or .the third
judicial division, there are alsoi. in
creased commercial activity due to
the increased production of ores in
the Valdez and Copper River dist
ricts. There is considerable activity
in the Cook Inlet country, due to a
large influx of people to that section
and the building of the government
railroad and trade and commerce,
therefore, in that section shows a
substantial advance. The volume of
business of Seward Peninsula and
northwestern Alaska shows little
change as compared with last year,
and the total merchandise tonnage
sf interior Alaska, including Iditarod,
Fairbanks and Yukon River points
Is about the same as in 1914.”
. It is interesting to note that of the
total value of $20,792,609 for domes
tic merchandise shipped from the
United States to Alaska, one item
was coal, valued at $256,810. whilst
Alaska excelB in coal and another
Item was lumber, whilst Alaska is
Empress Circuit Presents
Eugene O’Brien and
Elaine Hammerstein in
“THE MOONSTONE”
FROM the far east jour.
ney three priests
whose mission is the recov
ery of the wonderful Moon*
stone stolen from the eye
of an Indian idol. Intrigue,
mystery and death follow
f in the wake of the diamond
and tangled in the meshes
of the story is an absorb
ing love tale.
5 ACTS.
3fl-(ttttltt O OKiii* rt
IfEUAWEHAWttBMtllt
]\ ^“THF WQOHSTOWfjj]
THE VIPRESS
TO-NIGHT TO-NIGHT
LAST TIME—For benefit of those , who did not get a.
chance to see it.
2 Shows, at 8:00 and 9:20, sharp
. —s.—.— ——Ail Children IPc.....
covered with forests. In addition was
received "foreign coal” to the value
of $141,480.
The fisheries lead in products ship
ped from Alaska with a total of $18,
375,053; gold and silver shipments
totaled $15,612,272, and copper ore
alone $5,182,004. Tin represented
the value of $71,400. The total val
ue of all exports reached the sum of
$45,836,995.
The governor dwells upon the ag
ricultural possbilities of Alaska for
suporting a permanent population
and estimates that the population
has increased 5,000 over the estimate
contained in the previous report. He
places the white inhabitants now at
44,000. He says:
"The population of a country
should be judged by its character,
and not by mere numbers. Efficiency
is the criterion of its worth, and in
this respect Alaska has been fortun
ate. Among the white populati'fcp il
literacy is at a minimum, althdugh
its people many nationalities are re
presented. Its people are self-respect
ing and law abiding and although a
frontier country, their moral and in
tellectual status is of a high order."
—Juneau Dispatch.
DKCIjARKD TRUTH USKIiKHS
One victim of Monday’s night’s de
tention of suburban trains in wildest
and darkest Westchester, says the
New York Times, reports that to his
assorted physical discomforts there
was added the torture of a new dis
quietude as to the state of the nation.
He says that as he sat there in a
cold, dark car, snuggled as deeply as
possible in his overcoat, his atten
tion was thrice distracted from the
beating of snow against the window
beside him by remarks, in each case
essentially the same, that were ex
changed by men, evidently near
neighbors, who met by chance as
they wandered restlessly through the
stalled train. In all three instances
one of the men asked the other in
a tone indicative of real anxiety:
“How are you going to explain get
ting home so late—by telling your
wife the facts?” and the three replies
were all in effect the same—“No,
what would be the use? She would
not believe it.”
Now, according to the narrator of
this tale, the men who thus convers
ed were seemingly good average spec
imens of the commuter type, who
might be expected as much as any
body else to be truthful with their
wives. Yet from their conversation
it was evident that, for good reason
or bad, their wives had come to so
distrust their veracity as to see a lie
in any excuse they gave for being
late to dinner or for staying in town
alone for an evening. A queer feat
ure of the conversations according to
him who heard them, was that not
one of the men believed himself tbe
sufferer from a special or individual
wrong or that his wife was any dif
ferent from any other woman. On
the contrary they appeared to be ex
changing general remarks on the al
ways interesting subject of feminine
characteristics and peculiarities. They
indicated no resentment whatever at
the incredulity with which their ex
planations of absence whether true
or false, were received, but treated
it as a part of every husband’s expe
rience.
Is it? The purveyor of the anec
dote is a bachelor and his opinion is
therefore of no value, but there is
some justification for his assertion
that if such is the usual or even fre
quent status of American husbands
and wives the situation is a serious
one, and ominous for the future of
the republic.
You had us badly worried. Corny,
about that pioneer stuff; but after
yesterday’s revelations by “Rufneck,”
no more for us. To think that you
have only been here a little over four
years and telling everyone in Valdez
how to regulate their affairs. Keep
her up, old sport; our little facts
matce your figures look like thirty
cents.
The steamer Alameda brought 22
tons of freight for Valdez today. At
75 cents per ton this would amount
to exactly $16.60. It ha$ beei) nine
days since a steamer landed at our
dock going north. In his next array
of figures the editor of Stardust will
show how the city has lost $3,000,000
since the first of January by not hav
ing control of the wharfage.
What puzzles us is how a man
could have left Juneau several months
before the election and still helped
Mayor Valentine save the city $50,000
by running a Guggenheim paper in
Cordova and handling the Truth like
a Commoner lu Valdes. We give it
up. Produce the figures,, Capri. ^
And now it comes out that our old
friend, down on Wick’s Donation at
one time was editor of a Guggenheim
paper for seven years. And to think
of all the worry that man has caused
us by yelling “corporation tool” and
“sycophantic slave” in his paper.
Every time Corny opens his mouth
he puts his bind foot in it, figurative
I SHOULD WORRY.
I’ve paid for the butter, the eggs and
the meat.
I’ve paid for the gas, the ice and
the heat;
I’ve even paid doctors’ and dentists'
bills, too;
I’ve settled with plumbers before
they were through,
I’ve paid aii the servants, the taxes
and rent.
And another big bill that the drug
gist just sent;
But the hardest of all, and I’m wor
ried at that,
Is the bill that I’ll get for my wife’s
winter hat.
—Louisville Courier-Journal.
it now develops that the champion
of the working man on the Star was
one of the most consistent union
fighters in Juneau, until the unions
combined and smoked him out. One
by one the rose leaves fall.
Fix up the old adding machine,
Corny; your total column isn’t work
ing.
The piles of snow which had ac
cumulated on the sidewalks of the
business streets during the past few
days has nearly all been removed, as
scores of men have been busy since
morning. There are a few property
owners who have neglected to clear
the walks in front of their places and
they will no doubt receive a warning
from Chief Scott. A new wrinkle to
render the shoveling of snow easier
was noticed this morning when Otto
Kanitz employed a saw to cut the
hard snow in squares just the right
size to fit the shovel.
GREEK ROYAL FAMILY
WILL TAKE NO CHANCES
ATHENS: “We believe that it is
better for Greece to make sure of
keeping what she has got than to
risk what she has just won in two
bloody, costly wars in the hope of
getting more.”
One of the Princes of Greece was
speaking to the Associated Press cor
respondent, explaining the attitude of
the royal family of Greece, which has
been so much criticised, both here
and abroad. “This is no time,” he
continued, “for a mere fox to be
greedy. There are too many lions
and tigers on the prowl for prey
these days.”
If the royal estate of the House of
Schleswig Holsten Glucksburg Son
dergurg (to(give It its full title) is at
Btake in Greece at this moment, as
many are ready to affirm, the fact
would never have appeared from the
demeanor or most or tnose concern
ed. If it is Just conceivable, as has
been declared, that the events of the
next few months may leave Constan
tine I. King of the Hellenes, without
a throne, the King himself seems to
be the last person in Greece to sus
pect any such possible eventuality.
He is undoubtedly well aware that
the tenacity with which he has held
to his determination that Greece shall
not enter the European struggle has
brought on one political crisis after
another in the internal affairs of the
country. He has followed with ap
parent equanimity the creation and
fall of one Cabinet after another and
cannot be ignorant that he has set
himself against the expressed will of
the people and has driven their idol,
Ellptherois Constantine Venlzelos
into a political corner from which
there is no outlet; that he is looked
upon as having become in fact if not
in name, the sole dictator of the fu
ture destinies of Greece. But it can
not be seen that anything of this dis
concerts him for a moment. He sim
ply waits what he considers the ap
propriate moment for action.
ALASKA SHOULD HAVE
REGIMENT OF INFANTRY
la the statement of a proper mili
tary policy for the United States,
prepared by the War College Division,
general staff corps, in compliance
with instructions of the Secretary of
War, Alaska is not overlooked. The
statement has been submitted to con
gress. The full report deals with
military preparedness and equipment
as advocated by President Wilson.
Regarding Alaska it says:
“The garrison of Alaska should be
large enough to support the authority
of the United 8tates and, in time of
war to maintain our sovereignty over
a small selected area of the territory.
As work on the Alaska railroad pro
gresses the military needs of Alaska
will increase. */
“Ih time of peace it is believed that
the Alaska garrison should be one
regiment of infantry (1915 officers
and men), to be increased later as
circumstances demand.”
If you were sick would you go to
a blacksmith for repairs? Why then
do you go to a lung mechanic for in
formation about machinery when you
have mechanics in your home town
that stay there the year around, and
depend on their knowledge and abil
ity to do your work satisfactorily for
their existence as mechanics. Try the
Valdes Iron Works; we are here to
with win. aesifitancfi,.
Hum Sc (Ea,
INCORPORATED • J
-U,-15
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Rice Hutchins
Shoes for
Ladies
Kitchen Utensils
The monarch range is
a fuel saver. Bums wood
or coal. Second tv none as a
baker.
Cole’s Hot Blast
Heaters
Recognized as the best and cheapr
est heater to be had.
No. 12 Priced at $16.50
No. 12D Priced at .$20.00
No. 156 Priced . .$25.00
No. 18 Priced at.$27.50
Perfection Coal Oil Heater
Priced $7.50.
HL
Aluminum,' Lar^e
Granite Ware shipments
White Enamel f f .
and Tinware. °* *res“
fruits and
The most
Complete vegetables
stock of on every
staple I Sole Agents. I ^
and fancy '-*
groceries in Alaska. Phone 12
S. BLUM & CO.
GOOD GOODS
DR. H. COCKERILLE
Graduate National University,
Washington, D. C.
DENTIST
Fourteen Years in Valdez.
PHONE 110
Office Rooms In Whaling Building
DR. GERMAN
phone 1» THE dentist
Office rooms oyer Owl Drug Store. Of
fice hours 9 a. m. to 6 p. m., 7 to 9
p. m. Sunday by appointment.
All Work Guaranteed.
E. C. DALTON, M. D. j
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
Phone 42
Alaska Avenue Valdez, Alaska
DONOHOE & DIMGND
^ATTOBNKYS-AT-LAW
Office OMMMlte Court Honor
Phone 34 VALDEZ* ALASKA
JOHN LYONS B. B RITCHIE
LYONS & RITCHIE
ATTORSBYS-AT-LAW
Office* In Whnllns Building:
Phone 101 VALDEZ. ALASKA
Red Cross Hospital
K*y>lon*r*nd Hobart St*.
OPEN TO ALL PHYSICIANS.
Private Room for Patient*.
Phone'144 MRS. C. H WILCOX. Matron
When In Seward Stop at the
COLEMAN HOUSE
GEORGE SEXTON, Prop.
STRICTLY FIRST CLASS
Fourth Ays, Seward, Alaska
Valdez Miners Union No. 188
Western Federation of Minor*
ROBERT SHARTERjfterideirt.^
CHAS. McCALLUM. Secretary.
Velde*. Al—he.
FOR SALE—Heating stove, apply
Lieut. L. A. Kunzlg. tf
Fancy btatlonery at the Valdes
Drag. Store. r, ..•
Arcade Cafe
OPEN UNTIL 9 P. M.
We Serve Corona Coffee
Strictly Fresh Eggs.
Jack Callin Prapriata*
Dougherty & Ferguson
• v
GENERAL '
Merchandise
The best groceries received
on every boat,
•— - v
Fresh vegetables, fruits, and
nuts.
A. M. piERINGER
Valdez Transfer
Company
Office on Alaska Avenue, in
George C. Treat Building
Telephone No. 60
General Trucking and Freighting
. to all Interior Points.
LIVERY and FEED STABl£
STORAGE,
Teaming of All Kinds *
Positively No Coal Delivered Un
less Paid for in Advance
m Shamrock
CAPT. TIM MARCUM
Sails for Port Wells, Portae*
Bay, Granite Mine, Saturday
at 9:00 a. m., from the Val
des Dock Company’s Dock.
For Ellamar, Landlock Bay,
and Fidalgo, every Wednes
day, 9:00 a. m., from Val
des Dock Company’s Dock.
For Rates, Apply on Boat.
Subscribe for,, he Prospector.
... ..... . fc v. ___ _