| IDITAROD PIONEER | |
Published Every Sunday Morning at Iditarod, Alaska.
FRANK E. BECKER, EDITOR
* *!■ I Ceo. M. Arbuckle, Publisher No. 20
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WHERE SAM GOT OFF WRONG
Everyone who does much reading knows Sam Blythe,
the man who wields the political prod pole for the Satur
day Evening Post. Sam handles a sharp stencil, and he
has more political dope under his bonnet than any other
journalist in Washington. What's more, he isn’t afraid to
turn it loose on the public now and then.
He knows those senators and cabinet incumbrances so
well, is so conversant with their virtues and their foibles,
that he could probably tell you right olf the bat whether
Tom Carter eats ham and eggs for breakfast, or drinks his
rum in a grape fruit.
You have probably seen his stuff under the caption,
“Who’s Who— and Why,” where he sets out in his terse
and entertaining manner, “Serious and Frivolous Facts
About the Great and the Near Great.”
Now it is probable that bam is generally right in hi8
deductions concerning the Great and tiie Near Great, else
he would not be writing about them so long. But we know
of one mistake be made, and it landed on our solar plexus
with so much force that it hurt,—wherefore we are going
to write about it.
In one of the numbers of the Post, Sam was writing
about Robert Bruce Macon, of Arkansas, whom he called the
watchdog of the expense accounts,—the man who always
raises his voice in protest against the squandering ol
government money for the building of palaces for our am
bassadors abroad, “nor shall any commissioner sent over
there, take any joy rides on the Appian Way, or get any
haircuts, shaves, shampoos, or shines at the expense of the
proletariat.”
In his pelucid picking of the personality of the said
Robert Bruce, Sam probably wotted whereof he wrote, but
further along, he got his chips mixed and said something
that will make every Alaskan sit up and take notice. To
quote further:
“When the House was debating the Rivers and Harbors bill,
which not only helps the harbors but, usually, harbors a lot of help
lor the gentlemen who need it in their districts in the shape ot pork,
Hampie Moore, the rising young orator from Philadelphia—that is,
he always is rising—was heartless enough to make some crack
about the absence of the watchdogs of the Treasury when the ap
propriations for streams and harbors in the South were con.si ered.
Now Hampie named no names, but he looked hard at Robert Bruce
Macon.
“Presently Robert Biuce got in, through the time honored
medium ol moving to strike out the last word, which provided him
with a minute or two for explosion. He said, taking Hampie's
allusion to himself, that he wanted it understood he is for river and
harbor appropiiations, and public buildings and all such, for they
improve the country, and that he abhors the word sectionalism, and
knows no North, no South, no Hast and no West. But—- and here
the percussion was most iaj id—when it comes to W1HE-JUNKETS AND
MILITARY ROADS IN ALASKA he is against them to the last drop ot blood
in kis militant, although somewhat spare body And, by the same
token, there were a few things included in the bill for the Arkansas
river.”
?sow it must be remembered that the Saturday Evening
Post has a circulation of a million a week. That means
that it has over five million readers,—a fine bunch of voters
and tax-payers before whom to spread that libel on Alaska
military roads. ‘‘Wine-junkets and military roads in
Alaska,”—would’nt that shiver your shear-board ? The idea
of putting the most vital need of Alaska in the same class
with a wine-soaked filibuster on the national treasury, a con
gressional committee spree. Wouldn’t it make you want to
slam the stupid, unsuspecting Sam with a stuffed stocking |
of unsterilized stable scourings ?
Sam may know all about Robert Bruce, but it is a hun
dred to one shot that he don’t know whether the owl car
runs from Chandlar to Rampart on Sundays or not. Sam
may know that every congressman in the United States
works over-time every year to get a fat slice of the River;
aud Harbor appropriation to make a deep waterway out of'
his home creek that wouldn’t water a band of sheep, but;
he don’t know that the miserly pittance allowed by congress
for the building of post roads in Alaska has been used
where every dollar would do the most good, and has been
a great and lasting benefit to the territory.
This writer who so flippantly tosses off the subject of
Alaska military roads with wine-junkets and things, of;
course does not know that some of the officers of the war j
department and a few friends of Alaska have been fighting j
for years, tooth and nail, to get a little money for military;
roads, not so much because the war department needed
military roads, but that the people of Alaska needed post;
roads and there was absolutely no other way to get them.
We would like to see Sam eating those words, each one
done to a brown turn, and we would like to see it right in
the columns of the Post, to the end that those five million
people might learn that Sam Blythe don’t know anything
about Alaska or her roads.
It is not unnatural that the people Outside should
wink and laugh in their sleeves when Alaska military roads
are mentioned. What use can the war department have for;
A TICKET
With every purchase in our Ladies’ Goods Depart
ment amounting to $1.00, we will give a ticket which
will entitle the holder to a chance on any one of our
Ladies’ Tailored Suits, regardless of price. We will
commence issuing tickets on Nov. 10, and end Dec.
24, Drawing will take place on Christmas eve, at 10
o’clock.
i. GOLD5TE5N, - FRONT STREET
City Drug Store
Telephone 36
Drugs, Perfumes j| Cigars, Cigarettes
Rubber Goods, Stationery Tobaccos, Pipes, Cutlery
Photographic Supplies, Printing and Developing
Thermos Bottles
CIRCULATING LIBRARY
RICHARD’S
WILLOW STREET
zJe JL» SMLE
LEADING JEWELER OF THE NORTH
HEADQUARTERS FOR
Cut Glass and Silverware,
Wedding Presents and Birthday Presents a Specialty j
Watches and Diamonds at Strictly Outside Prices i
C. J. Hurley, President J. P. Gieasan, Vice President A. Brjning, Cashier
|
Corner First Are, and Richmond St., Iditarod
CAPITAL $50,003.00, FULLY PAID U GASH
——- j
General Banking Business Transected Upon Liberal, Gut Conservative Lines ;
—
GOLD DUST PURCHASED UPOfJ ASSAY VALUE
And ive guarantee our assays against any of the government1 assay offices, j
Clippings from your gold furnished you for the purpose
of obtaining check assays if desired.
We solicit *our business, and assure you of our courteous, prompt and
careful attention combined with fair treatment, whether
your account may be large or small.
RADIATOR IN' EVERY ROOM
WILLOW ST, AND SECOND AYE,
First-Class RE8TAURAWT in Connection
I. NYHOLM, PROP.
First Avenue.
Modern Throughout. Bath Rooms in Connection
Furnished Rooms and Spring Cots,
FIRST CLASS STABLE AND DOG HOUSE IN CONNECTION
roads way up here? Just an excuse for an army officer’s j
holiday. Then Robert Bruce and some more of tho3e back
wood's congressmen who know nothing about this country
and care less, land on it with rhetorical hickories and put ■
it down and out. Then they turn around and sink their:
hooks a little deeper into the River and Harbor bill.
If we could only wise them up to the fact that a road 1
built from Fairbanks to Valdez at a cost of only half a mil
lion dollars, furnishes practically the only physical com
munication with the Outside world during the winter time,
for more than half of the entire population of Alaska. If
we could only make them understand that the little money
for roads filched from time to time from a niggardly con
gress had returned itself a thousand fold on the investment,
not only in the gold put into circulation, but in the comfort
and industrial progress of the people.
It makes us sore as a yellow pup to think that because
congress refused to give us our poor, little $350,000 this
year, there can be scarcely anything done on the Seward
trail. For that reason, the people who are opening up this
splendid new country, are cut off from the Outside and get
their mail ONCE A MONTH, or in other words, 3,500
people get their mail here just as often as 250 people get
theiis in the Koyukuk.
General Mans told us that the war department cheer
fully digs up a million dollar deficit for the signal corps
each year, in spite of all their commercial business,—why
in the name of Nero’s unholy ghost can’t they dig up a little
more for roads for the sake of the mail and for travelers i
SOME THANKSGIVING DAY SUGGESTIONS
Next Thursday will bo Thanksgiving day, one of the most en
joyable occasions of the year. Already many of us are anticipat
ing the good things that usually “come along” with that day, and
how for a brief period we will forsake the humble bean, balogna
sausage and Rip Van Winkle cheese; therefore a few timely sug
gestions on table etiquette by a famous writer will be appreciated:
There are a great many people who behave well other
wise, but at table do things that if not absolutely outre and
ensemble, are at least pianissimo and sine die.
It is with a view to elevating the popular taste and eth
eriahzing, so to speak, the manners and customs of our
readers that we give below a few hints upon table etiquette.
If by writing an article of this kind we can induce one
man who now wipes his hands on the tablecloth to come up
and take higher ground and wipe them on his pants, we
shall feel amply repaid.
If you cannot accept an invitation to dinner do not
write your regrets on the back of a pool check with a blue
pencil. That is now regarded as ricochet.
A simple note to your host informing him that your
washerwoman refuses to relent is sufficient.
On seating yourself at the table draw off your gloves
and put them in your lap under your napkin. Do not put
them in the gravy, as it would ruin the gloves and cast a
gloom over tho gravy. If you have just cleaned your
gloves with benzine, you might leave them out in the front
yard.
If you happen to drop gravy on your knife blade, back
near the handle, do not run the blade down your throat to
remove the gravy, as it might injure your epiglottis, and
it is not considered embonpoint, anyway.
When you are at dinner do not take up a raw oyster on
your fork and playfully ask your host if it is dead. Re
marks about death at dinner are in very poor taste.
Pears should be held by the stems an 1 peeled gently
but firmly, not as though you were skinning a dead horse.
It is not bon ton.
Oranges are held on a fork while being pulled, and
the facetious style cf squirting the juice into the eye of
your hostess is now an revoir.
Stones in cherries or other fruit should not be placed
upon the tablecloth, but slid quietly and unostentatiously
into the pocket of your neighbor or noiselessly tossed
under the table.
If you strike a worm in your fruit do not call attention
to it by mashing it with a nut cracker. This is not only
uncouth, but it is regarded in the best society as blase and
exceedingly vice versa.
Macaroni should be cut into short pieces and eaten
with an even graceful motion, not absorbed by the yard.
In drinking wine, when you get to the bottom of your
glass do not throwyeur head back and draw in your breath
like the exhaust of a bathtub in order to get the last drop,
as it engenders a feeling of the most depressing melan
choly among the guests.
After eating a considerable amount do not rise and un
buckle your vest strap in order to gel more room, as it is
exceedingly au fait and dishabille.
If by mistake you drink out of your finger bowl, laugh
heartily and make some facetious remark which will change
the course of conversation and renew the friendly feeling
among the members of the party.
Ladies should take but one glass of wine at dinner.
Otherwise there might be difficulty in steering the male
portion of the procession home.
Do not make remarks about the aynount your com
panion has eaten. If a lady who is your company at table,
whether she be 5rour wife or the wife of some one else,
should eat quite heartily, do not offer to pay your host for
his loss or say to her “Great Scott! I hope you will not
kill yourself because you have the opportunity,” but be
polite and gentlemanly, even though the food supply be
cut off for a week.
If one of the gentlemen should drop a raw oyster into
his bosom and he should have trouble in fishing it out, do
not make facetious remarks about it, but assist him to find
it, laughing merrily all the time-—Bill Nye.
President Taft ended his summer va
cation at Beverly, Mass., and left for
Washington Oct. 17 to take up his du
ties for the winter. In the furtherance
of his determination to arrive at the
truth of the stories of alleged great i
grafts in the building of the Panama
canal, the President sailed from Char- ]
leston, S. C., Nov. 10 for the canal zone !
to personally investigate the charges
made to him.
The French dirigible balloon, “Cle
ment Bayard,” carrying six passengers,
crossed the English channel Oct. IT
from Compeigne to London in six
hours’ time—beating the time of the
fastest railroad trains by an hour.
Red Cross i
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Lowney Candy- Saturday Candy- j
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Christinas Cards and P®st Cards!
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