THE IDITAROD PIONEER
. - - - - ■— 1 1 " i
t'wMfUSsrt Evary 8atar6ay SHOTnfo’v® an MltwswJ, AJaafea
Vol. 8 CHARLES A. DERRY, Editer He. 32j
AF.BUCKLE & DERRY, Publishers
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SOCIALISTS AND THE WAR
The attitude of a certain element of the Socialist |
party toward the war and the position of the United j
States in the situations out of which our participation j
in the conlict grew have been puzzling in the ex-j
treme to the majority of Americans, lhere have not
been lack i eg intimations that leading Socialists have
been influenced by their fealty to foreign govern
ments, and there have been open charges of treason
against some of the leaders of the party. A morej
favorable mpression has been made upon the pub
lic mind by the repudiation of the anti-war propa
ganda by i referendum of the party, and to an out
sider it looks as though the Socialists were dividing
into two hostile camps, one composed of Americans
who beli" .e in upholding the government, the other
composed of aliens whose regard for the United
Stales government would seem to be secondary to
their pacifist convictions, or, as some intimate, to
their loyalty to foreign governments. The Nome
Industrial Worker, a consistent exponent of Social
ism, gives a clarifying view of the position of that
party, and incidentally makes a novel suggestion as
to the cause of the dissension. It says:
That the socialist party would split up. at least among its
leaders, on this war question might have been foreseen. The
radical movement of this country has long left the political par
ties and become part of tbe economic organizations. And it is
the labor union that is representative of the working classes to
day. not the Socialist party.
The Socialist party has been quite a powerful body, and quite
a respectable organization. It has officered itself with men re
mote from the labor movement and identified more with small
business, professions or the like than with the wage-working
classes. It nominated a banker as one of its presidential possibili
ties in 1916.
It has been as well quite a sectarian organization, with a coun
cil at Milwaukee which from time to time settled what was and
what was not orthodox. It expelled the radicals like Haywood,
just as the church excommunicated its heretics, and you had to
subscribe to the doctrines or get out, and most certainly accept
them or not get in.
The real live wage-working questions, the questions of solidar
ity on the job, industrial control and the like, the party never had
anything to do with.
Morris Hillquit had the nerve to intimate to the St. Louis con
vention that the sole hope of the workers now in this war crisis
was in the Socialist party, when as a matter of fact not Hillquit
nor any of them could show' one good reason why the workers j
could pin their faith at all to Socialist party or any other party |
politics. Working class hope and salvation depends now as it j
always has upon themselves and themselves alone, and upon the j
degree of working class solidarity that they can achieve.
All the fulminations of Socialist leaders in the Socialist party |
of America cannot alter the war as an accomplished fact; cannot |
change one iota of the governmental intention to press this war to j
a conclusion and to exact the uttermost of service in any event j
from the citizens. The workers placing their faith in the Socialist !
I arty as their means of protection during these war times will be j
utterly helpless. The workers who place their confidence during j
war in their labor organizations will not be helpless.
The Socialist party in its convention opposing the war could
not get away from the question why or how it could be stopped
or stayed. And so uncertain are those leaders of themselves that
some went to the other extreme and declared that the war wes
necessary!
A good deal of the war opposition in the Socialist party ranks j
is not due to any working class principle at issue at all. It was |
and is due to the fact that the Milwaukee politicians in print and j
by speech have been as frankly pro-German as the fatherland, jvt-t ;
as those who upheld the war were as frankly pro-ally as any of j
the New York papers, which are alleged to have long ago been j
subsidized for that purpose. Hillquit, Berger and the rest were j
just as strongly Germanist in their views as Russlei and Spargo ’
end the rest were British in their views, and it is certain that none
of them were any more strictly American in their views than they f
wire proletarian.
This war is a condition of things, not a. theory; as much aj
condition of things as any other part of the industrial system j
it.-elf. Under it for some time to come all must live. To meet j
the necessities of life which arise and to solve the intricate and j
tioublesome questions that will have to be met, the workers may ,
a< well make up their mind that they are not going to be aided j
by theoretic propaganda against war or for war, but by looking i
after their interests in the mass through labor organization.
FUTURE OF THE 1D1TARGD
As fall approaches, one hears the customary pes- j
simistic utterances with reference to the future of
the Iditarod as a producing district. As in previous
years, there are dire predictions as to Ore “life of the
camp,” and the expressed belief that “next year”
will see such and such eventualities, all of a depress
ing nature.
At the same time that the croakers are making
their lamentations the wide-awake and enterprising
merchants ave receiving and warehousing their cus
tomary large stocks of goods—stocks the size and
variety of which cause the eyes of the stranger to
bulge out in wonder. Freight is being brought in on
every boat, and the only limit to the amount seems
to be the capacity of the transportation companies
to handle it.
lhe lditarod has many more prosperous years
ahead of it. Travelers are unanimous in their asser
tions that this district is the most prosperous <om
niunity in Interior Alaska today, as it has been for
some years; and those acquainted with its resources
and possibilities see no reason for pessimism. The
fact that in a year or two the largest dredge at pres
ent working in the district will have come to the end
of its present task is made too much of. There is
plenty of low-grade ground to keep dredges em
ployed for many years to come.
The most hopeful feature of the present situation
is that a policy of road-buiiding which will open up
to development the surrounding country has been in
augurated. The many outlying creeks will be put in
easy communication with the head of navigation,
and an era of derelopment such as the district has
not experienced before may well be in course of
preparation. lhe business people of the district,
and citizens generally, have no cause for pessimism.
-A
)
The story' published this week in the news dispatches regarding
the brutal act of a German submarine toward the crew of the
Btlgian Prince would be considered unbelievable had it not been
preceded by stories of similar frightfulness. A nation or a gov
ernment which countenances such acts does not deserve to survive.
—-♦
. Kingdon Gould, who claims exemption from military service
on the plea of having dependents, is a grandson of Jay Gould, who
wrung millions from the American people by means of watered
railroad stock and other methods of “high finance.” When old
Jty Gould died he left some fift* million dollars to his children.
Kingdon Gould is 30 years cf age, and is vice president of the
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company, the Texas & Pacific
Railway Company, and the Utah Fuel Company, and president
and director of the Consolidated Fuel Company of St. Louis.
While much of the immense fortune of Jay Gould was dissipated
through the mismanagement of his heirs, it is not at all likely
that young Gould's “dependents” would suffer because of his ab
sence.
When Great Britain went to war the admiration of the world
v as aroused by the instantaneous response of the aristocracy to
the call to arms. It was considered ignoble among the great fami
lies to have a mate member who was not in the military service
or performing some useful part in the work of his country'. The
early casualty reports, and in fact every such report issued by the
British government, contained names known in history, in
science, literature and art, in statecraft and in finance. Such a
man as Kingdon Gould would hardly be tolerated by British public
opinion. Such men give excuse for much of the radicalism and
discontent in this republic. But the probability is that young
Gould's excuse will be scrutinized just as closely as will that of
die common laborer.
-O
THE UNKNOWABLE GERMAN
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
We have often heard in the past that it was practically im
possible for people of the Western nations to understand the work
ings of the Western mind. There was the complacent conviction,
however, (bat all people of European descent or nationality under
stood the mental processes and points of view of other Europeans
with no particular difficulty. This war has unsettled that belief.
The workings of the German mind have become an unsolved mys
tery and puzzle to the people of the United States, even tq many
who have claims to German ancestry.
Here, for example, a reichstag committee has solemnly an
nounced that “Germany will adopt the sharpest reprisals if Ger- j
man prisoners are embarked in hospital ships.” This, it is ex
plained, is because it exposes the prisoners “to the danger of being
torpedoed.”
The occasion for this announcement is that when two English
hospital ships, bearing all the Red Cross marks of identification,
were deliberately sunk by German submarines, without warning,
it developed that among the wounded on board thus put to death
were some German prisoners of war who were being sent to Eng
land for better hospital treatment than they could get at the front.
The sinking of hospital ships was in gross and deliberate viola
tion of the Geneva convention. It was mere ruthless barbarity,
having behind it no military purpose or military advantage. The
German government, in violation of every dictate of humanity and
its own solemn pledges, is warring on the wounded and threatens
the severest reprisals if any of its own wounded happen to be in
jured by its own ruthless act.
THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT ITEMS
FOR TRAVELING IN SUMMER OR WINTER
The Boat Attachment:
EVINRUDE MOTORS.—The prospector’s delight for quick
trips up shallow streams. The poling days are over. Let
the wind keep the mosquitoes away. No more nets to smoke
through, sore arms or tired bodies. Be fresh at the journey's
end.
The Dog Attachment:
GENUINE NOME DOG HARNESSES—With collars that
stand the strain evenly, stuffed with the best deer hair ob
tainable, having the same flexibility whether the ther
mometer be at zero or 60 below. No wrinkles to make the
dog’s neck sore, and made only as they can be made in
Nome. Manufactured of the choicest asbestos-tanned leather,
that will not stiffen or crack in cold weather. In three
weights—light, medium and heavy.
WITHOUT EITHER OF THE ABOVE THE
CHANCES ARE GOOD FOR WALKING,
WHICH SPELLS WORK
N. C. CO.
COL ROOSEVELT’S APPEAL
FOR RED CROSS FUND
The American Red Cross made public
recently portions of an address by Colonel
Theodore Roosevelt, delivered at Lincoln,
Neb., relating to the $100,000,000 war fund
of the Red Cross. The selected portions as
given out follow.
Second only to the army in the work of
winning this war comes our Red Cross. In-:
deed, the importance of this work is so great
that the President of the United States set
apart a week as a period for sacrifice and
unselfish generosity, a week in which the
whole American jieople were asked to join
in raising funds to enable our Red Cross
to perform its vast and indispensable duties
in this wav.
That these duties niay not only have the
.support of our hearts, but that the gifts of
our people may be made effective, may be
put to the best possible use, the President
has also commissioned several of the ablest
business men of the country as a war coun
cil of the Reil Cross to administer this serv
ice on behalf of a stricken world. This war
council has already made far-reaching plans.
They tell us that a fund of $100,000,000
must be raised at once in order to meet
even the most urgent needs. That fund we
are asked to raise for this work of sacri
fice and of consecration.
Here, indeed, is a summons 10 every
American. It is au enormous sum of
money; but what comfort can we take in
withholding that or any other sum of
money if it is needed to relieve the suffer
ing of our own sons or the sons of our
a'lies, who are fighting fur all that makes
life worth living?
Into our Red Cross should be poured with
out stint a heartfelt offering of thanksgiving
that we are permitted to join in this great
service to all mankind. Our people have
yet to learn the true meaning of sacrifice.
We have been so far away from the scene
of battle, we have been lulled into such
drowsy indifference to duty by our ease
and our prosperity, that we could not fee!
with an intensity the meaning to us of
this awful conflict. But now we must give
of our blood and our resources. We see
now that this has in fact from the begin
ning been a war for our liberty, no less
than for the liberty of our allies. They
have already suffered and endured; they
are still suffering far more than we thought
it possible for men to endure. Now our
opportunity has come. Our soldiers and
sailors will do their part without flinching;
we may rest assured of their courage and
fidelity. The Red Cross offers to us who
are not allowed to fight the opportunity for
sacrifice end for help.
We littie realize what is before use. Our
own sons and brothers will soon be going
into battle. They will be 3,000 miles lrom
home, in a land already wasted by war, a
iaml threatened by famine, a land smitten
by disease. They tell us that in many eases
today the wounds of soldiers in France must
be tied up with newspapers for want of the
necessary surgical bandages. When our own
men are wounded—as they surely will be
in great numbers—are we going to allow
them to suffer yet more because we fail to
provide those things which can at least miti
gate distress? Surely not. Rut we must do
it in advance. If we wait it may be too
hvte. Do it now. Nine-tenths of wisdom
is being wise in time.
urn- Ked cross must no! only care ior
the shattered bodies of our wounded men;
it alone can become a foster parent to them
in the trying conditions they are sure to
face when they are convalescent from
wounds or recovering from exhaustion. \\ e
shall soon have an army of a million sol
diers. When they go to France they must
have homes in which to rest and to be cared
for and to recover. The generosity of our
whole poop'e must make it possible for our
Red Cross to provide for them.
F. "u-t wars the Red Cross devoted itself
largely to caring for the wounded behind
the battle line. Fven in this war that duty
is still of vast magnitude and paramount
importance. All that we do or can do for
the soldiers of our own or our allied armies
will be all too little. But this is a war
in which not enlv armies, but whole peo
ples, are engaged. In no previous war have
the innocent non-combatants had to hear so
terrible a share of its physical sufferings.
And it is through our Red Cross that we
can show to the nations of the world how
the great heart of the American people goes
out to them in their distress.
France—proud, brave, bleeding from
ghastly wounds- -needs us sorely. Tuber
culosis is raging throughout her land. Fif
teen hundred of her towns and villages have
been razed to the ground by the calculated
barbarity of the invaders. Millions of her
people are homeless and starving, bereft of
the barest coverings for their bodies, or
stoves, of utensils with which to cook or
eat, of agricultural implements or animals—
indeed, of the simplest elements of civiliza
tion. And to us alone can these people
come for help; we alone have the abun
dance with which to supply their direst
needs.
To Russia, too, we must reach out our
helping hand. We little know what she
has suffered and is suffering. Her soldiers
went into battle ill equipped with arms or
ammunition. Of medical supplies she had
almost none. To care for her wounded on
a battle line of 1,000 miles she has but
6,000 ambulances, while France has 64.000
in a battle line of 400 miles, and even that
is not enough. Russia, long obedient to
autocracy, has not flinched in this conflict.
Her people have had to struggle not only
to free the world from autocracy, but to
make their own land a land of liberty.
Russia needs all we can do to strengthen
her courage and to make her feel that we
are indeed behind her. Our armies can do
little for her. Our Red Cross alone can
take into Russia the message of hope, of
help, of confidence which she so terribly
needs. The message must be practical. It
must carry deeds, and not merely words;
and it should be carried at once. Probably
never before were so many people in dis
tress and agony as in Russia at this very
hour. We can take no more vital step to
ward winning this war than to put renewed
heart and strength into Russia.
So let this summons to our people be
not in vain. Let the whole American
people pledge to the service of a great cause
both themselves and their possessions. Equip
the Red Cross for the beginning and for the
carrying through, of as sacred a mission as
was ever undertaken in behalf of a suffering
world.
-♦
FOR SALE—A quantity of hard lead (type
metal) ; superior to babbit for making re
pairs to machinery, on account of the
small percentage of copper alloy therein.
Call at Pioneer office, Iditarod.
WHY FRENCH DEMAND
RETURN OF LOST ALSACE
(By Stephane Lanzarme, Editor Le Matin)
Since the German Socialists try to render
the question of Alsace-Lorraine obscure
and confused, it is obviously the duty of
every Frenchman to render it clear arid in
telligible.
When France demands ALace-I^orraine
she does so not because she will have five
departments more in her geographical con
figuration, but because these territories were
taken from France by force forty-six years
ago; because the population of these terri
tones not only were not consulted at the
time as to whether they wanted new rulers,
but protested solemnly in 1871 and kept
up that protest against Prussian domina
tion for forty-six years.
The protest of Alsace-Lorraine against
German annexation and domination is a
fact which cannot be ignored.
in 1871, on Februaiy 16, when the depu
ties of Alsace-Lorraine heard that their
province would be given to Germany, they
assembled and, in a historical document
which was signed by all of them they
were thirty-six—they protested in the fol
lowing terms:
Alsace and Lorraine cannot be alienated.
They have been associated with France dur
ing mure than two centuries in the good as
in the bad fortune. And today, before the
whole world, they proclaim that they want
to remain French.
Europe can neither allow nor ratify the
annexation of Alsace and Lorraine. Europe
cannot allow a people to be seized like a
Hock of sheep. Europe cannot remain deaf
to (tie protest of a whole population. There
fore we declare in the name of our popula
tion, in the name of our children and of
our descendants, that we are considering
any treaty which gives us up to a foreign
[lower as a treaty which is null and void,
and we will eternally revindicate the rieh’
of disposing of ourselves and of remaining
French.
And three years later, in January. If>/4
when for the first time Alsace and Lorraine
had to elec* deputies, they reiterated the
same protest. They elected fifteen new
deputies; some were Protestants, some were
Catholics; one of them was the bishop of
Strasburg, and all of them unanimously
signed a declaration which was read at the
tribune of the German reichstag. The dec
laration was as follows:
In the name of all the people of Alsace
Lorraine, we protest against the abuse of
a force of which our country is a victim.
Citizens having a soul and an intelligence
are not mere goods that may be sold or
with which you may trade.
The contract which annexed us to Ger
many r null and void. A contract is only
valid when the two contractants had an
er.tite freedom to sign it. !■ lance was not
free when she signed such a contract.
Therefore our electors want us to say that
we consider ourselves not bound by such
a treaty, and they want us to affirm once
more our right of disposing of ourselves.
Some people sjieak of a referendum. Why
a referendum'? Was there any referendum
in 1871? And how could there be a refer
endum ? How could you include in this
referendum the hundreds of thousands of
Alsatians who have fled from German domi
nation? How could you exclude front this
refetendum the hundreds of thousands of
Germans who have emigrated to Alsace?
The referendum was rendered in 1871. It
was rendered in 1874. It was rendered in
1913 the year before the war by the Ger
mans themselves, when Herr Von Jagow,
in the reiehstag, made the following declara
tion :
“In Alsace and Lorraine the Germans
must behave as if they were in the enemy's
country.”
What better referendum can you get than
such a one ?
The referendum has also been rendered
by the Alsatisns, who fight as officers in
both armies. Whereas, on the French side
are twenty generals, the most popular in
France- men like Maudhuys, d’Urbal, Mich
eler, Dubail. Mangin, Hirsehauer, 145 su
perior officers and over 3,000 officers—on
the opposite side, in the German army we
find only six Alsatian officers, one general
and five others who are hybrids; that is,
ha!/ Alsatinn, half German.
In the presence of ail these facts, and
many others, France more strongly thaa
ever demands that Alsace am^ Lorraine re
turn to the breast of their mother country
Some pacifists used to speak of the re
turn of the status quo ante helium. France,
as regards herseif, agrees with them. Let
lis return to status quo ante helium ante
helium 1S70.
CARD OF THANKS
Having disposed of my stock of goods
to 0. R. Peck, I desire to cordially thank
the public for their liberal patronage since
coming to the district, and to bespeak for
Mr. Peck a continuance of that patronage
H BOAS.
Tub and steam baths at all hour*. Sny
der House, Fiat.
Professional
Michigan, 188! Masks, 1»10
Kentucky, 1891
George Woodruff Albrecht
COUNSELOR AND LAWYER
IDITAROD, ALASKA
The Pioneer Attorney or Idltarod
CHAS. E. TAYLOR
Attorney at Law
BANK BLOCK
First Avenue Iditarod
DR. MOORE
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
DR. M. E. AURSr.'GER
Physician and Surgeon
Offite: Flat City Hospital, Flat City
Consultation Hours in Forenoons and by
Appointment
FLAT DRUG STORE
DR.H.BEHLA
Physician *«»
Surgeon
Will open his office in Flat City
about Aug. 14 for the practice
of medicine and surgery
DENTISTRY IN CONNECTION
AND COFFEE HOUSE
Front St., Opp. Flat City Hotel
Our Coffee Is Unsurpassed
Our Bakery Products Always Fresh and
Wholesome
Pies, Cakes, Bread, etc.
KEENAN & MICHELS, Props.
Big Slocks of Fresh Goods
Everything for the Miner and
Prospector
EV3AX SSMEL JE
Stores at Cripple City and iVIouth of Toletol
Best of Everything
ALL THE TIME AT THE
Arcade Cafe
FLAX CITY
Open Day and Night
Front Street, Flat City Formerly the Bagoy Premises
Flat City Hotel Eeds '""to*
Mrs. J. E. Gunning, Prop.Special Rates by the Week and Month
Open at All Hours The Old Reliable Place
Disaovery Cafe
HENRY DURAND, PROP. Front Street, Flat
FINNEGAN & CAMERON
FLAT CITY
Agency for Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs and Records
TOBACCO CIGARS STATIONERY
CONFECTIONERY AND BILLIARDS
C. R. Cameron Jas. F. Finnegan
THOS. MclVIAHON
DEALER IN
General Merchandise
FLAT, ALASKA