WISHING YOU
A Merry Christmas
and thanking you for past
patronage.
Spealal Prices on all
Holiday Goods.
CASEY’S PLACE
Flat City
EXPECT BIS ATTENDANCE
The Iditarod Masonic club and the Otter Masonic club joined
forces for the purpose of observing Si. John's Day (December 27)
in a manner befitting the order. It has been decided to hold a
grand Masonic ball at A. B. Hall, Iditarod, on the day named,
which is next Wednesday. Neither time, labor, nor expense is to
be spared in connection with the ball. Most of the invitations are
out and as the Masons are world-famed for the high standard of
their entertainments, the complete success of the ball seems to be
assured.
A meeting of members of the Iditarod Masonic club was held
at the office of C. E. Taylor last Saturday evening, for the pur
pose of electing officers for the ensuing six months.
The following officers were elected: Henry Roden, president; j
(.'. E. Taylor, vice-president; Earl B. Hunt, secretary treasurer.
WOOD HADLING HAS COMMERCED IN EARNEST
Improvement in the trails has given a great impetus to the
business of wood hauling and nearly every team in the district is i
so employed.
Mutchler Bros, have a contract to haul 2,500 cords. This;
wood is intended for Otter creek operators, and comes from Boul
der hill. It was hoped to get all this wood on to the claims before
the advent of stormy weather, but the late start may prevent this.
The lditarod Traction Co. also have several contracts. They!
have established themselves at the mouth of Boulder, where they i
are yarding a large amount of wood. They will start shortly to]
haul 1,500 cords on to the Friend, James & Lawson lay on Flat
creek.
The amount of wood to be hauled to Flat this year is not likely
to exceed that of last season, but Otter will call for much more.
Freighting between Dikeman and lditarod, which was quite heavy
last year, will be practically non-existent this winter.
NOME MINERS SACK GOLD-BEARING SANDS
Several enterprising prospectors and miners about Nome are
going to sack up a number of tons of the gold bearing sand now
exposed on the beach, to be treated by the custom mill during the
winter, says the Nome Industrial Worker of Nov. 21, and they ex
pect to make a winter’s grubstake out of their work
Tests of the sand now exposed along the water front, after
several feet of the surface sand has been exposed by the storm,
proves that the average material runs from $12 to $25 to the ton.
Two men can sack about ten tons of the beach sand a day, provided
they can rustle the sacks, and the teamsters will haul the sacks to
the mill for $1 a ton, after the sledding gets good
The mill charges $5 per ton to run the sand through, making
a total of $6 per ton for being treated. The figures turned in by
one of the hustlers sound good, and if the low water continues
and the beach does not freeze too hard, from $20 to $40 a day can
be made by men who will sack the sand for treatment at the mill.
In some places along the beach the storm exposed the bedrock
and Eskimos are hunting for pieces of gold. The best find
reported was a chunk of amalgam containing about $65 in gold.
CROWLEY & PORTER
The House of Quality
CARRIES THE LARGEST AND FINEST STOCK
OF GROCERIES IN IDITAROD
All Hours Alike in This House
CARIBOU CAFE
COME ONCE AND YOU WILL COME AGAIN
FIRST AVENUE. SOUTAR A SUTHERLAND. Prop*.
HAL!XAGRIFFIS’ Genera! Merchants,
DISKAKET MIRERS' SUPPLIES A SPECIALTY
Cascade Steam Laundry
IS MAKING A SPECIALTY OF ROUGH DRY JAfORK, $2,00 PER DOZEN
PHONE 129_ IDITAROD
MAX SIMEL, Diskaket and Ophir City....
Miners’ Supplies and Gtiiaral Outfitting a Specialty
BALLINGER SPEAKS
ON BUREAUCRACY
Richard A. Ballinger, former Secretary of the Interior, before the
Public Lands Convention at Denver early in October, spoke at great
length on “The Betrayal of Bureaucratic Government in America "
He was listened to by an audience of 2,500. The Rocky Mountain
News, the only paper to he received here with more than a casual
mention of the speech, intimates that it was directed principally against
Pinchot and the forestry bureau; but that appears to be short of tlm
exaet facts. Indeed, the speech was great as a prelude to the 1912
campaign, and President Taft will find it equally as difficult as will Mr.
Pinchot to extract any commendatory allusions from it. The formet
Secretary spoke like one who considers himself absolved from all obli
gation to withhold the truth. He said, in part:
‘‘The American government was cre
ated with the aim and purpose of giv
ing the largest measure of liberty to
the individual compatible with the
best interest of the whole people, by
encouraging individual effort and ge
nius and protecting the accumulations
resulting therefrom. Our fathers right
ly believed that government existed
for tiie happiness of man and for his
protection, and like the institution of
tho family, it was of divine origin, and
should be placed above every material
consideration. Being a people of ini
tiative, force and inordinate energy,
inducements to freedom of personal ac
tivity, such as our government and our
natural resources afforded, caused us
to grow and flourish to the amazement
of the world, and our influence has
largely remodeled the government in
stitutions of all the old nations in the
interest of human liberty.
“All of this has been accomplished
on the sound theory that the govern
ment and its officers serve the people—
that the government and its officers
are but the hand of tlie people oper
ating in tiie orderly methods of our
representative republican system.
“What we won by the revolution
was liberty regulated by law—constitu
tional liberty, recognizing and safe
guarding every inalienable right which
a free people may and ought to enjoy.
Neither this nor any form of govern
ment devised by man could he free
from tiie assaults of the unsatisfied and
the unsuccessful elements of society;
those who, by their very nature, war
against tiie existing order of tilings
under the belief that it is an obstacle
to their progress.
“The peculiar feature of tiie Ameri
can government and tiie one which
gives it its highest merit is tiie lack of
paternalism in its construction and
theory, and this is what makes it the
i antithesis of Socialism. There is a set
I of people in this, as there is in every
country, who want the country to do
' everything for them, because they are
either too indolent or too incompetent
to do for themselves—this is tiie es
sence of Socialism; therefore, every
tendency toward tiie alteration of our
constitutional system which encourages
or looks with favor upon paternalism
is insofar destructive of the essenfal
principles of republican institutions;!
and therefore the bureaucratic theory
of government, by which functions
I which should be exercised by the people
j themselves are exercised by powerful
| bureau organizations, is equally de
| structive of our representative system.
“In the formation of the government
the constitution recognized executive
departments as essential, and congress
; from time to time extended their num
ber until there arc nine great execu
tive departments under the federal
government. It was found necessary
for the properdispatch of business that
the functions of each department should
be distributed among bureaus, which
! congress designated as occasion re
| quired, defining their powers and
i authority.
“These bureaus were wholly subordi
nate to the heads of their several de
partments and their chiefs were gener
ally appointed by the President. I»
the early history of the government,
and until recent years bureau chiefs
were not advertised; their acts were
credited to the several departments to
which they belonged rather than to
the bureau. Subordination as well as
efficiency demanded that they act only
through the head of the department to
which they were assigned. They were
the servants of the departments, as the
departments were of the executive.
“Executive discipline in the early
days of the government tolerated no
semblance of insubordination; this was
for tile simple reason that the responsi
bility to tbe executive for the conduct
of the department was lodged in the
head of the department.
“So long as the federal bureau re
tained its subordinate character it per
formed a necessary and wholesome
function. By the laxity of this discip
line, by the encouragement from con
gress to ambitious bureau chiefs and
through the itching for notoriety the
bureaucratic idea of government se
cured a foothold.
“The bureaucratic idea is founded on
the assumption that the bureau head,
or chief, is better fitted to handle the
affairs of the people than they are
themselves. A government becomes
l bureaucratic when the power of its
officers is exercised in ruling rather
than in serving the public. The advo
cates of this system say: 'The people
do not know what, is best for them; we
will therefore have specialists to direct
them or to do for them what the spe
cialists think is the right thing.'
“If this is a sound view of executive
administration in departments, there is
no reason why the chief of a bureau
should be an American citizen. He
might be an Austrian, or of any other
nationality, so long as he possesses the
special capacity.
“The representative idea is wholly
lost. The sympathetic relation of the
official to the uubiic, as its agent and
servant, is entirely obliterated and the
very elements which encourage and
promote arbitrary power and despotic
tendencies are here given full sway.
“Congress gave the means whereby
this idea could be can ied into effect by
investing certain bureaus with the
power of making rules and regulations
having the effect of law, which is tan
tamount to the substitution of the bu
reau chief for the lawmaker, and is
wholly unrepubiican in principle. Hie
tendency in all bureaucratic adminis
tration is paternal; that i3, for the
officer to decide what is best to be done
rather than to inquire what an appli
cant's rights are, and if he lias placed
himself within the law.
“It is strange that such practices or
theories should have any popular sup
port in this day when the cry of refer
ring all things to the people is heard
from the mouth of every demagogue.
Of course, any one cm see that the
support, for the system comes mainly
from the facility with which the but
reau can appeal to the people through
organs of publicity, creating a false
public sentiment on an ex parte pre
sentation of facts and argument. The
public is always ready to impute su
perior ability to executive officers, in
whose selection they have no part,
rather than to their own representa
tives. While this is paradoxical, the
reason for it lies in the fact that they
are better acquainted with their repre
sentatives llia.i they are with the ex
ecutive officer. . . Perhaps, on the
theory that ‘distance lends enchant
ment,’ etc., tiie bureau head, exploited
at government expense, possesses no
bler attributes and greater ability than
our neighbor who represents us in con
gress, but of whom we get a closer and.
1 more accurate view,''
The speaker said that another thing
which lias contributed to the growth
of bureaucracy is the marvelous ex
pansion of governmental act ivities —-in
matters of finance, trade, commerce, of
public properties, and of relations with
other peoples. The complexity of the
public demands is generally beyond
the capacity of the ordinary represent
ative; hence he is content to take the
word of one claiming to be a specialist
and give the specialist power to do
those things which his own limitations
forbid his undertaking. But how about
the specialist? He has no direct obli
gation to the people; no party affilia
tions. He seeks power through pub
licity that will give extended authority
to the bureau. His relation to the
people is unsympathetic and unrespon
sive, especially where his duties call
upon him to administer public func
tions which, by the very nature of
things, he assumes to but cannot un
deretand except from the theoretical
or academic standpoint.
I he extent to which bureaucratic am
bition may be carried was illustrated
by recounting the scheme at one time
seriously considered, to dismember the
Interior Department by taking from it
all those bureaus that had anything to
do with the public domain, and, to
gether with the forestry bureau, con
centrate them in another department,
where their combined strength could
bo utilized to promote the propaganda
designed to operate the public domain
as a national estate by certain bureau
chiefs. The Interior Department was
to be left with the patent office, the
pension office and the eleemosynary in
stitutions. “Even the national parks,”
said Mr. Ballinger, “were to be taken
from it and patrolled by men in green
uniforms; the grazing lands were to be
leased to the influential and moro pow
erful stockmen; the forests held or
disposed of iu conjunction with the
timber barons: the mineral lands
mined on lease or royalty to those who
would contribute their support to this
politico-bureaucratic combination^ and
All of our goods are absolutely fresh and of A-No, I quality. Everything strictly
guaranteed. We are not figuring in going out of business, and will be heie at
Iritarod to make good any damaged goods which you may receive in error from us.
Dike man Iditarod
the water powers and tights of way
distributed on a permit basis so as to
hold the permittee a vassal to the
service. Finally, agricultural lands*
at least in reserves, were to be held
on equally subservient and perilous
tenure.
“On this scheme thousands upon
thousands of government funds were
spent in the preliminary education of
the public in conservation fallacies and
alleged abuses on the public domain
and in general portraying the immi
nent necessity of preventing tlie com
ing generation from going unfed, un
clot bed and unsheltered. The East
was led to believe that these schemes
would be a source of wealth to them,
and the interests of posterity were
played up as a wholesome sentiment,
togotber with an exaggeration of the
frauds committed, the waste, the short
age of natural supply and the greed of
the interests—all came in for their
share of exploitation in order to pave
the way for a public sentiment which
would back up the new order of things,
justifying federal intervention and the
overthow of existing laws and policies.*'
The former Secretary of the Interior
spoke at great length, and as an op
posite view of the present national
conservation policy his effort is a mas- j
terpiece.
HOSPITAL CARNIVAL WAS
GREAT FINANCIAL SUCCESS
It was a very satisfactory report
which the Carnival committee had
I to lav before the Ladies’ Auxiliary
l J y "i
at a meeting held last 'i uesday.
It was learned that the total re
Iceip’s amounted to $1,682.5 )- Ot
, this amount $1,000 was placed to
the credit of Mr. Heimhtirger, and
the hospital building is uowcleir
ol debt Part ot the retnaindtr
has been applied to the purchase < f
wood, and the balance placed tu
the credit of a fund created for the
purpose of caring for iudigents who
may icquiie hospital treatment In
this connection it may be men
tinned that no person has been
[turned away from the hospital for
iaCK of lauds.
The woolen shawl was won by
Mrs Newman and the winner ot
the nugget chain turned out to be
Jeremiah Duetor, who is employed
on the Wildcat association
Mrs. Davis wishes to thank all
who helped in any way to make
the carnival such a great success,
but where all did so well it is im
possible to single out anybody for
special praise. The public are
also thanked for their geuetous sup
port.
Miss Susan Kotsch wishes to
thank those who voted for her, and
accorded her the honor of being the
most popular ladv in the camp
We do not- figure on selling to go out.
of business; we figure on selling to re
main in business. Let us figure en
your outfit and show you good prices on
good goods. Northern Commercial Co.
Pure Michigan apple cider for fam
ily use at Cap’s Place.
FIRE ALARM TURNED IN SUNDAY
Last Sunday evening, at 6 o'clock,
the fire department received an urgent
call to the Charlton warehouse, which
is situated on First street, in the
vicinity of Nob hill. When Chief Mc
Govern arrived upon the scene flames
were issuing from the stove chimney
in a manner which indicated a nice ,
bonfire in the making. Mr. Charlton
was absent, and it was impossible to
effect an entrance to the store, but fire
ladders gave access to the rojf, and 50
pounds of salt did the rest.
Xmas cigars in small and large boxes
and Calabash pipes at Cap's Place.
Dr. Heinrich Wortmann,
Office at City Drug Store. Tel. 30
First Are., Bet. Willow and Richmond '
Office Hours—ii to i, 3 to 4. 7 to 8
CHAS. D. CARTER,
Dentist \
Offices, Pioneer Drug Stores,
Flut Creek
DR. F. W. HERMS,
Dentist
Dr. Wortmann’s Office,
First Avenue and Willow Street
DR. H. BEHLA,
Dentist
Gold St., Flat City, Opp. Grand Hotel !
Phone 4 [
ALFRED E. MALT BY,
Attorney at Law
Notary Public
Office Simpson Bldg, First and Willow ;
J. 5. HARDING,
Attorney at Law
Room 1, Iditarod Hotel
Iditarod. Alaska
CHAS. E. TAYLOR,
Attorney at Law,
Notary Public, Conveyancing,
Abstracts of 'Titles
flat City
Wickersham & Roden,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
Iditarod, Alaska
E. COKE HILL,
Attorney at Law
M. & M. Bank Bldg, Iditarod, Alaska.
GEORGE WOODRUFF ALBRECHT,
Attorney at Law
Mlehlian. '81 Alaiki, '10 Kentucky, '31
The Fioneer Attorney of this Camp
C. H. WALTERS CONVALESCENT
C. H. Walters, popularly known as
“Mizzou,” who was recently discharged
from hospital after an incarceration of
two weeks, is now convalescent, and
expects to regain his old form before
long. _
See Anderson Hros. Sc Nerland for
storm windows, pictures and picture
framing, novelties in wood for parag
raphic work.
Films Developed
And All Kinds of Photographic
Work Done.
MISS TJERNSTRQM, MCDONALD HOTEL
How Would You Like
To Be in My Clothes?
STHE PIONEER
_ Tailor
First and Willow Phone 68
At Our Old-Time Location
ON THE WINTER TRAIL
SUBMIT
ROADHOUSE
Meals at All Honrs.
Liquors and Cigats
To!: “Summit Roadhouse.”
Nicely Furnished Rooms
WITH BATH
Gilmore House
THIRD AVE. AND WILLOW ST.
Special Winter Rates
ROADHOUSE
on Seward Trail,
28 Miles From
Idiitarod.
First-Glass Accommodations
Anderson & Pierce, Props, f. M. Pierce, Maugar.
WHOLESALE
E.W. GRIFFIN1
RETAIL
General Merchandise
Hay and Oats Fresh Groceries
Finest Line of Cigars at the Lowest
Prices Ever Shipped to Alaska
GOOD GOODS
FLAT CITY OTTER GITY
PRICES RIGHT