| THE IDITAROD PIONEER
Published Every Saturday Mornlnfl at Idltarod, Alaska
Vol. 8 CHARLES A. DERRY, Editor No. 29
ARBUCKLE & DERRY. Publishers_
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REGISTRATION BEGINS
Registration under the compulsory military service law is now
in progress in Alaska. Because of the impossibility of furnishing
the proper blanks and instructions to the officials charged with
this task, the date set for the commencement of registration, July
2, was long passed before the material reached Idilarod. More
remote sections may not be reached before the closing date, Sep
tember 2. In the United States proper the registration was com
pleted in a single day, but this was impossible in Alaska.
The law contemplates that each man of the prescribed age shall
secure a certificate of registration. It is the duty of the individual
to see that he secures one, and thus avoid the penalty for non
registration. The government has provided the machinery, and
contemplates no further steps until after the date set for the clos
ing of the books. It should be considered a patriotic duty of each
citizen to further this work as much as possible.
In the proclamation of the President, which is a history-making
instrument, the nation’s chief executive says, speaking of the law:
'‘The nation needs all men; but it needs each man, not in the field
that will most pleasure him, but in the endeavor that will best
serve the common good. Thus, though a sharpshooter pleases to
operate a trip-hammer for the forging of great guns, and an expert
machinist desires to march with the Hag, the nation is being served
only when the sharpshooter marches and the machinist remains
at his levers. The whole nation must be a team in which each
man shall play the part for which he is best fitted. To this end
congress has provided that the nation sliull be organized for war
by selection, and that each man shall be classified for service in
the place to which it shall best serve the general good to call him.
The significance of this cannot be overstated. It is a new thing
in our history and a landmark in our progress. It is a new manner
of accepting and vitalizing our duty to gi ve ourselves with thought
ful devotion to the common purpose of us all. It is in no sense 3
conscription of the unwilling; it is, rather, selection from a nation
which has volunteered in mass. It is no more a choosing of those
who shall march with the colors than it is a selection of those who
shall serve an equally necessary' and devoted purpose in the indus
tries that lie behind the battle line.”
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THE ROAD QUESTION
It ie gratifying to know that a start is to be made in the mat
ter of road-building in this district. The announcement that
ten thousand dollars is to be spent by the divisional road commis
sion in the Iditarod district this year, in addition to what may be
spent by the Alaska road commission, will lend encouragement to
those whose operations have been retarded through lack of trans
portation facilities. While the funds available will not complete
even the most pressing work, it is believed that, with an energetic
and able man like J. E. Riley at the helm, such progress will be
made as will warrant the belief that the much-needed road be
tween Iditarod, Flat and Discovery, Otter, will be completed with
next year’s appropriation.
It is fair to presume that the residents of this section of the
Fourth division will not rest content with the meager recognition
already given, but will contend for a just distribution of the funds
provided by the territorial and federal governments in the future.
While the merchants and miners of this district have been lament
ing the indifference of the authorities to road needs here, the citi
zens of the Fairbanks district have been regaled with pleasing
promises of boulevards for the comfort and convenience of tour
ists in their automobiles. A Seattle dispatch of June 20 quoted
Colonel W. P. Richardson, president of the Alaska road commis
sion. as follows:
“When the Valdez-Fairbanks road is completed it will un
doubtedly be one of the grandest scenic roads for automobiles that
there is in the world.” He added that he would complete the
building of this road this year and that he would also undertake
some new road-building in the vicinity of Anchorage, along the
railway line.
A recent news item sent out from Fairbanks is as follows:
“In a wire received today Superintendent R. J. Sommers of
the Alaska road commission is informed that the board has been
allotted the sum of $82,000 for road W'ork in the Fourth division,
which is the entire amount asked for by Mr. Sommers, with the
exception of a $10,000 item for the Brooks-Terminal road, which
is to be taken care of by the territorial fund. An allowance of
$30,000 lias been made for the Ruby-Long road. Mr. Sommers
states that $10,000 of the amount allotted will be spent in building
a boulevard between Fairbanks and the government farm."
ten thousand dollars lor a Douievaru irom rwroanas 10 me
government farm,” one of the items for which the $82,000 is
allotted to the Fourth division, while the princely sum of $3,000
has been apportioned from ths fund to the whole Iditarod district!
In the meantime miners of this section are paying freight rates
comparable with those of pioneer days in Alaska, and the develop
ment of the country is being retarded in order to provide scenic
highways for tourists and boulevards to gratify the selfish ambi
tions of that favored spot in Interior Alaska, Fairbanks.
It is time the people of this section took a leaf out of Fair
banks’ book. There is a way of procuring this government assist
ance to the opening up of the country, but it is not by sitting
quietly down and abjectly taking whatever paltry sum is doled out.
The Innoko country, Moore creek, Candle creek, the Tolstoi and
the Kuskokwim, all of which are producers, evidently are not on
the road commissions’ maps, and they will not be until the miners
and operators of those sections arouse themselves and make their
wants known in no uncertain tones. Were those districts adjacent
to the town of Fairbanks it is safe to say that government road
projects would De under way in each of them. Witness the Tolo
vtna.
TWISTING THE LION’S TAIL
“Twisting the lion’s tail” has ever been the pastime of the
political demagogue and charlatan in the United States. The
fact that applause could be enticed out of an audience in which
hatred of England had been engendered by misquotations from
history, and that votes could be gained from those “who hate
England more than they love the United States” has been the in
centive of many a blatant orator to use his puny efforts to em
bitter the two great English-speaking nations against each other.
I.afollette was guilty of this worn-out political trick in the great
debate in the senate prior to the declaration of war' upon Germany,
and this is how the brilliant and patriotic senior senator from Mis
sissippi, John Sharp Williams, answered him:
“Twisting the British lion's tail is a performance very seldom
indulged in by those whose forefathers fought for American free
dom and independence. It is generally indulged in by somebody
else.
"Whence do we get our laws? Whence do we get- our litera
ture? W'hence do we get our ethical philosophy? Whence do we
get our general ideas of religion? From the people who sired
our fathers before they came here.
"I am tired of men telling me, Welshman, Scotchman, English
man in blood, as I am, that the hereditary enemy of the United
States is England or Wales or Scotland—that it is Great Britain.
Magna Charta, the Declaration of Rights, the Bill of Rights in
cluded in the constitution in its first ten amendments—the very
principles embodied in the constitution derived from colonial ex
perience under English rule all come from England, a country
whose high priest is John Milton, whose sweet singer was Burns,
whose great intellect was Shakespeare, whose great warriors for
liberty were Hampden and Sidney and Simon de Montford.
“I would rather have heard the senator from Wisconsin eulo
gize. the best offshoots of that branch and those offshoots right here
in Canada and Australia and in South Africa. They are the
branches of the old stock that had the courage to leave the neigh
borhood and environment and seek out a new habitat and adapt
themselves to it, and who won the fight. Men who, like our an
cestors, plowed the field with the rifle on their shoulder while they
held the plow with the other hand. They were English and Scotch
and Welsh and Irish.
“It was an Englishman of the Englishmen, as far as his blood
is concerned—'George Washington of Mount Vernon- who pre
ferred to have the people speak of him as George Washington of
Mount Vernon—his plantation name—rather than by some other
name, who led the American forces that fought against the dic
tates of a German-blooded king backed up by Hessian hirelings.
George Washington warned against entangling alliances and
warned against another thing—an infuriate and insensate hatred
of some particular people, because a man with that in his blood
is incapable of being a real good American citizen in a country
where the melting pot will finally operate.
“I do not like the arraignment which the senator from Wis
consin made of the English people or the English government, even
more democratic than our own. 1 do not like it because it was not
correct historically, because it was not true in sentiment, and be
cause it was an insult to the gentlemen from whose loins I sprang
when they themselves fought against people of like blood who
wanted to oppress them. What did they fight for? They fought
for this. Thomas Jefferson and old Samuel Adams were pretty
nearly the only ones of them who then took a larger vision. George j
Washington and Lincoln and Greene and the balance of them
fought for ‘the inherited rights of Englishmen belonging,’ as they
contended ‘to Englishmen in America as well as to Englishmen in
England.' Those inherited rights of Englishmen were expressed in
the constitution of the United States. Thomas Jefferson and Sam
uel Adams had a bit broader vision and view; they went a bit
further; and Thomas Jefferson’s vision went to the Declaration of
Independence, which includes not only the rights of Englishmen
but ‘the rights of man,’ which were later embodied in the Declara
tion of the French republic.”
->
THE RED CROSS
i
Tiie Iditarod district, in common with every other section,
soon will be asked to “do its bit.” in behalf of Red Cross work.
Because of being so remote from the Outside world, and by reason
of the time consumed in communicating with other Alaska com
munities, not to mention the scene of war enterprises and activi
ties Out-ide, the people of this section of Alaska have taken com
paratively little interest in relieving the suffering and distress
brought about by the war. This has not been so much because
people have been indifferent as because no one person or organ
ization has taken the lead in presenting the matter in a manner
that would draw attention. It is true that many individuals have
sent contributions to different relief funds, and a half-hearted at
tempt to raise funds for the American Red Cross early in the war
resulted in the sending of a small sum to that organization. Like {
wise a small fund was collected for German relief. At the present j
time there is in course of collection a fund for the relief of Belgian
children. But taken all in ail, and comparing our gifts for war re
lief with those of other communities, the impression might be
gained that the people of the favored Iditarod district were not so
liberal as their fellows of other sections.
Now that the United States is actually at war, and our soldiers
ere even now on the European battlefields, this question of war re- j
lief, supplementing the effort? of the government itself, will be :
brought home to each one of us, and in the noble work of the Red j
Cross thousands will be given an opportunity to contribute their
mite toward providing for the comfort and relief of the boys at j
the front.
The work of the Red Cross is now so well known that detailed j
accounts of its activities would be superfluous. President Wilson, '
as head of the American organization, has issued an appeal in its 1
behalf, and in consequence branches of the society are being organ
ized in every community throughout the land. Alaska is not lag
ging in the rear, and already splendid progress toward organization j
and the gathering of funds has been made in almost every city in !
he territory, among them Fairbanks and Ruby. Iditarod should j
not be content to occupy a subordinate position as a part of any j
other organization, but, should immediately set, about the ta.-k of
organization.
The Pioneer hopes to see steps taken in this direction at tht j
earliest possible moment, and its columns are at the sendee of
those interested.
--—
An official document just received defines treason as follows:
“It is treason to levy war against the United States, adhere to
their enemies, or give them aid or comfort. The penalty is death.
‘Giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States’ lias
been defined in the courts (30 Federal Cases, No. 1S272| as: ‘In
general, any act clearly indicating a want of loyalty to the gov
ernment and sympathy with it.s enemies, and which by fair con
struction is directly in furtherance of their hostile designs.’ So
obvious is the military necessity of giving every possible help to
the present enemies of Germany that those who try to thwart this
are almost open to the very grave criminal charge of giving aid
and comfort to the enemies of the United States.”
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9
Coione! Roosevelt and President Wilson got at least one hearty
laugh out of Colonel Roosevelt’s request for permission to take an
advance expedition into the French trenches. After stating the
serious arguments in support of his plan the Colonel told the Presi
dent that in any event he should be allowed to go because there
were so many people in the United States who believed that if
Roosevelt went into the European war he would never come
back. Roosevelt is said to have grinned broadly as he said this,
and the President to have laugh»d heartily.
-♦-—
A Massachusetts claimant of exemption from the draft de
clared he had a wife and two horses to support, The wife, he
explained, could support herself, but the horses were absolutely de
pendent upon him. Here is a hint to local owners of sidewalk
breaking stock,
"OUR BEST ALLIES"
(New York World)
Quoting the London Times upon the alleged lukewarmness of
certain regions in the United States toward the war, the inspired
Cologne Gazette says the “direct influence upon war affairs” of
“our best allies,” the German-Americans, “is an asset for Germany”
such as does not exist in other entente countries.
These “best allies” do make a portentous showing when
counted by men like the late Professor Munsterberg, who put their
numbers at 25,000,000. Upon inquiry, they fall off like the “ten
little Indian boys.”
Write off many millions for exaggeration. The overwhelming
majority of the original German stock are simply Americans. Of
German sympathizers before the Lusitania was sunk the over
whelming majority again are, as the Gazette admits, “good Ameri
cans.” They are in the army and the navy and the guard. They
subscribed their millions to the Liberty loan. They are heart and
soul with the country, in war or peace.
A few—a very few, by percentages—remain. They are reck
oned not in millions but in thousands. The police are rounding
them up quite satisfactorily at Anarchist meetings and elsewhere.
When caught, most of these “best allies” exhibit none of the “furor
Teutonicus,” but register meekly, if of the legal age, and promise
to be good. The jails are plenty big enough for the rest, and as
they are likely to be deported after the war the Cologne Gazette
can welcome them home. We hope it will find this saving rem
nant of Teutonic Kultur in the United States, headed by the Gold
mans and the Berkmans, altogether to its liking.
-♦
England can safely agree to give Ireland any kind of govern
ment the Irish will agree on.—Florida Times-Union.
-♦
Lloyd George advises all the Irish factions to get together be
hind closed doors and decide home rule. The man who comes out
will write the constitution and be king.—Chicago Tribune.
LETTER OF IDITAROD MAN
ON WESTERN WAR FRONT
TELLS OF WORLD CONFLICT
The Iditarod district has contributed
many men to the ranks of the allied armies
fighting in Europe. Some of them have
been heard from at intervals, and then their
letters have ceased, leaving the inevitable
inference that they are among the missing
“somewhere in France,” or at other points
where the great war for liberty and human
ity it^heing carried on. No finer example
of patriotism has been given than that of
these devoted men who have traveled from
the ends of the earth to offer their lives on
the altar of their country, and no more con
spicuous example of this devotion and loy
alty to country has been displayed than that
of D. Q. MacGregor, a man approaching the
age of three score, now' “doing his bit” on
the French front, and evidently doing it
bravely and well. At the outset of the war
Mr. MacGregor, who was working in this
district, at once left Iditarod for Great Brit
ain, and despite his years, was enrolled in
French’s gallant army. He has recently re
covered from a serious wound, and is back
on the firing line.
Mr. MacGregor is well known throughout
the North, and the following exceedingly in
teresting letter, recently received by Bob
Dunn, will be appreciated by his hundreds
of friends. His modest descriptions of the
tremendous scenes of which he is a part
constitute not the least impressive of the
war pictures that have been given publicity.
The letter is dated “Somewhere in France,”
April 21, 1917, and after speaking feelingly
of the receipt of some token of remem
brance from his friend, and of some projects
which he and Harry Buhro have in mind
for prospecting in Russian territory “after
the war,” he says:
A Test of Imagination
"Just at this moment there is one or tne
greatest noises you could imagine going on.
I say imagine, for unless you can imagine
the noise of all the thunderstorms you ever
heard concentrated into one blast, that is
what this is; and it goes on for days some
times. This will likely last until tomorrow
morning; then a barrage will be put on the
German wire entanglements for about an
hour to allow our men to get close up to
his front line; then it will be lifted and
dropped in behind him io prevent his rein
forcements from coming up to his assist
ance. This is the way both the French and
British have caught such big bags of pris
oners. This mode of attack is the idea of
the French commander-in-chief. A ou have
no idea of the mud vve have here, but if
you can imagine the whole country being
like the road from Fairbanks to Discovery.
Dome, up Pedro creek, was the first falls,
it will do. Of course the roads, some of
which were laid down by the Romans, have
good bottoms, but they are narrow, and if
they have a string of motor lorries in the
middle and Red Cross ditto on one side, and
strings of pack mules on the other, a foot
passenger has to be nimble to escape being
run over, as they are full all the time that
is, at night, for of course the transport does
not move within the fire zone during the
daytime. If it did their airplanes and cap
tive bill-ions would spot it and give their
guns the position, and then there would be
something doing.
Thousands of Mules
‘‘So during the day supplies and muni
tions are brought up to within five to ten
miles of the firing fine and dumped for dis
tribution. The 18-pounder shells or lighter
ones, up to 100, are packed in on mules to
the guns in the rear of the firing line. The
heavier guns are served with their supplies
from light lines of railway. There are
thousands of mules in use, as well as horses,
but there is no mistake -an expedition of
this colossi! size would have been impossi
ble if it were not for the mechanical trans
port section.
Battle in the Air
“And then there is the flying corps. There
was a battle in the air here today. One
German airplane came down in flames. The
two men in it were smashed to a pulp and
burnt by the gasoline after they felh Two
of our machines were damaged but man
aged to plane down. Three cut of the four
men in them were wounded. These airmen
are what I call the bravest of the brave.
“My battalion was in the scrum of Easter
week. I have been battalion runner this
week that is, carrying messages from
headquarters to outposts, etc. It seems
rather paradoxical, the word ‘runner,’ and
me the oldest man in the battalion; but
there you are. Just here I must say I have
never felt better in my life, except for a
twinge of rheumatism occasionally, as for
instance ou the night of Easter Sunday,
when we were out in a snowstorm all night
in that advance.
Rails Follow the Advance
“My job that night was helping to deliver
ties for the iight railroad. We brought, them
up first in motor lorries from twenty miles
back to the then head of the road, and then
loaded them on hand trucks and took them
to the leading rail, which was carried right
up to the rear of the guns, over two miles
past the German front line we had just
taken. The leading truck, after being un
loaded, would be thrown off the rails and
carried to the rear of the loaded ones, and
often used to carry wounded back to the
station.
“I tell you. Bob, there is ‘some’ organiza
tion here. Everything moves like clock
work, except when ‘Heinie’ gets in one of
his heavies. That, of course, we take as a
mere detail, as we know you cannot make
omelettes without breaking eggs. And you
bet there is more than eggs being broken
here. The Germans have destroyed homes
and churches in order to build their cement
machine gun implacements, which are hard
things to go against. When they begin to
play there is nothing for one to do but ‘eat
the trench mat,’ a term we use to describe
‘ducking’ from machine gun fire.
“Here Ere sawmills, blacksmith shops,
shoemakers and tailors and carpenters, all
building and repairing the wastage of war.
Of course I only see a small portion of the
front, for you know the British are holding
more than 100 mlies..
Ill-Feeling All for the Kaiser
“This is one of the things the Germans
have learned. Their sneering references to
‘scraps of paper’ and ‘French’s contemptible
little army’ may have sounded good to them
when they were riding the high horse
through Belgium and France, without tak
ing any notice of treaties, and while none
of the allies were ready or even thought of
such a thing. They have learned to respect
our army, having tried what the nucleus
was like when it was less than 100,000. Now
that it is over 5,000,000 they fear it, and -
well, to show what we think of theirs, while
they fight bravely enough, they are the
under dog now, and the medicine we give
New items Received
by Us This Season.
SHEETINGS: Cabot “A”
“Columbus,” one grade lighter than Cabot A
“Florida,” one grade heavier than cheesecloth
“Richmond” Cheesecloth Art Denim
Blue Twill Art Burlap
Zebra Ticking Sheets and Pillow Cases
White Marseilles Bedspreads, 4-4, with cut corners
Comforters, all kinds, including Fancy Silk and Satin, coveerd with Lambs VV <x
filling
Blankets, all wool, eight-pounders Couch Covers
Portieres, all shades Lace Curtains, Net
Pillows, all kinds, including silk-floss filled, for sofa cushions
Turkish Towels “Sweeper Vac” Carpet Sweepers, “Vacuum”
Collapsible Baby Carriages "Grand Rapids” Carpet Sweepers
RUGS—Saxony, Manor Tapestry, Axminster, etc., etc., in following sizes:
8 feet 3 inches by 10 feet 6 inches
9 by 12 feet 11 feet 3 inches by 12 feet
7 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 3 by ti feet
A FULL LINE OF DRUGS AND TOILET ARTICLES
And many other New Things which limited space will not perm:
showing details of
We Respectfully Solicit Your Inspection
them is pretty hard to take. When it comes
to the bayonet they do not consider long
about crying ‘Merci, Kamarade,’ and the
worst of it t3 they get it. They don’t de
serve to be treated as well as they are, but
we are not allowed to retaliate.
“Personally I have no ill-feeing toward
the individual soldier, but what, 1 cannot
understand is the hold the kaiser has on
them. They think he is a great general.
We here can see that it is his staff that car
ries on the war, and he gets al! the credit.
Well, damn him! I think his time is short,
j so I'll talk of something else.’’
God Bless the Red Cross
The writer relates the incident of his be
ing wounded, and the wonderful organiza
tion which takes care of the injured. “I was
knocked over about 9 o’clock in the morn
ing,” he pays, and was in Etaples at 6
o'clock in the evening, in the hospital, all
cleaned and dressed up in pajamas. It was
Ike getting into heaven out of hell. From
Staples I was sent to Boulogne that night,
and from there at 2 p. m. shipped across the
channel and delivered at the hospital in
Leicester at 2 o’clock the following morning.
It was only a month until I was out again,
j fit. I was kept at different convalescent
| camps and training depots, but became
| tired of the restraint, and would sooner take
my chance here at the front, as I wish to
| see it through.” Of the Red Cross he says,
j “There is nothing but the best of the bc>t
j to be said of the Red Cross Society, the
I nurses especially. God bless them.”
; Decorated for "Useful” Work
j “I had my picture taken when I was in
j Folkestone, and have sent you a copy. You
| will see the decoration. It was given for
J useful work done under fire. I went across
j ‘No man’s land’ three times to younrer fel
b-.vs’ r.nre. It was a h of a place to take
j a chance, but I got through without a
i scratch, and helped several fellows in out
! of danger, or comparatively so, for once a
I fellow is behind the parapet one is out of
danger except from a direct hit from a big
| one. The dugouts protect one from rifle
and machine gun fire, and also from shrrap
j nel and splinters. When this kind of stuff
is flying it is as the stage Italian would say,
‘Hota da stuffy a' lika da tabasque.’ ”
j MacGregor asks to be remembered to his
t friends. He mentions Frank Monkman and
| Bil y Beaven, from whom he hears from
time to time. He speaks of Jack Ryan,
t Jake Furpr (Dutch Jake), Joe Wilkes, Ed
j Ryder, Smith and Berg, the blacksmith, Len
i Groner. Dick Kuloff, Harry Harms, Mr. and
j Mrs. McDonald of Iditarod, “and especially
l Sigrid.”
“Back from the Mouth of Hell"
j The letter evidently was interrupted, for
i MacGregor says: “Just now, when I was
j preparing to say good night, I was called to
go up to the front. Will tell you when I
come back, D. V.” It is again resumed as
follows:
"Well, Bob, I’m back again after having
been to the mouth of hell. The ground was
too soft at the other end of the journey for
horses, so a party was sent in to carry
rations to the front line, about five miles.
There were thirty of us. Myself and two
others carried the rum. Our load was two
two-gallon jars each—not a heavy load, but
one of which one takes great care, as there
is nothing one appreciates more than a good
‘snort’ on a night like .hat. We were shelled
all the way in, but we kept to the left of
the road in the mud, while the enemy w:ere
blazing away, overshooting the road to the
right. While we were delivering the g:i.i<
a big high-power shell burst close to us.
knocking down several by the violence of
the concussion, and spraying splinters all
around about us; but when the roll was
called it was found t at everyone was there
and no one was hurt. Those who had been
knocked down by the explosion looked as if
they hod been dipped in a sludge-dam. We
were not long in ‘beating it' back to our
billets.”
The letter closes with remembrances to
Tom Killea and T m MacMahon, and ex
presses a hope to ‘‘meet you all apre lea
guerre est finis.”
Professiona 1
Michigan, 1881 Alask*, 1*10
Kentucky, 1891
George Woodruff Albrecht
COUNSELOR AND LAWYER
IDITAROD, ALASKA
The Pioneer Attorney of Idltarod
CHAS. E. TAYLOR
Attorney at Law
BANK BLOCK
First Avenue Idltarod
DR. MOORE
PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON
DRUG STORE
DR. H. E. AURiNGER
Physician and Surgeon
Office: Flat City Hospital, Flat etty
Consultation Hours in Forenoon* and by
Appointment
FLAT DRUG STORE
DR. H.BEHLA
Physician
Surgeon
Will open his office in Flat City
about July 25 for the practice
of medicine and surgery
DENTISTRY IN CONNECTION
FINNEGAN & CAMERON
FLAT CITY
Agency for Edison Diamond Disc Phonographs and Records
TOBACCO CIGARS STATIONERY
CONFECTIONERY AND BILLIARDS
C. R. Cameron *>«• F. Finnegan
THOS. McMAHON
DEALER IN
FLAT, ALASKA