The announcement in The Gateway last night In 0. E.
F’lve, that freight and passenger rates would be raised
sometime within the next few months, caused much criti
cism from both merchants and travellers and the ques
tion was immediately raised: Are not the two companies
operating to Alaska “gouging” the public because the
public is at their mercy?
This question was propounded to Mr. Fl\e, geneiai
freight and passenger agent of the Pacific Steamship ( o.,
also to Mr. A. H. McDonald, local agent of the Alaska
Steamship Co.
Mr. Five, in answer to the question, said “No.”
Mr. McDonald answered the same question also in
the negative.
“Why?” was the answer then demanded.
“All steamship companies operating to Alaska," said
Mr. Five, “are under the supervision of two Federal or
ganizations. the Interstate Commerce Commission and
the Shipping Board. That makes the proposition a two
to-one affair. Shipments originating, tor instance, in
Portland, come under the Interstate Commerce commis-j
sion. Now, by a recent act passed by Congress, the Fed
eral Shipping Board has supervision over shipments orig
inating in Seattle for Alaska. These two boards will see
that no injustice is done anyone.
“The steamship companies operating to Alaska throw!
their hands on the table and expose them. In other words,!
as every merchant will bear me out, everything has risen
in price. Our hands expose our operating expenses and
incidentally our revenues. \Ye are running behind. The,
two Federal boards can ascertain this—when we ask for
a raise in our rates, and I am sure that we will be given i
the permission to do so. The Federal boards will not per-;
mit any gouging. The United States is now at war and
everything must work in harmony with this new situa-j
tion. The Federal board knows whether we are telling
the truth and the Federal board knows that in line with
other things, we must be permitted to raise our rates. |
“How do thev know this? Right now there are sev-’
GO EAST oia
17i ion Put if c' System
Through Sleeping-cars Scott!cm C itiCQJ^O via Portland,
the famous Columbia River, Salt Lake and Denver.
Automat e protection. Trains comfortable
and first-class in every detail.
Information upon application to
H. L. HUDSON, A. G. F. & P. A.
716 Second Avenue
SEATTLE, WASH.
THAR ain’t but
two perfect
comforts that I
knows of—a good
wife an’ good to
bacco. An’ even the best
wives git a little tryin’ at
limes. A*
-
eral I. C. C. experts in our offices on Puget Sound, going
over our books. These experts know the cost of opera
tions. They know the present price of commodities re
quired in the operation* of the steamship business. Fig
ures cannot lie and they can ascertain for themselves
whether a raise in rates is necessary. No business can
be operated at a loss and continue. That is our answer
as to why we must raise our rates. The people of Alaska
can feel assured that no steamship company is taking any
advantage. No steamship company can take any advan
tage of Uncle Sam, for he is wise to everything. Now, the
steamship companies are supervised as never before, by
the United States government.
Mr. McDonald, asked regarding the probable raise
in freight rates, stated that when in Seattle on his recent
trip, he was lead to believe that sometime next spring,
there would be an advance.
“Just how much I cannot say,” said Mr. McDonald.
“In fact, nothing was said regarding an advance in the
tariff but the impression was prevailing that there would
be one. I am not speaking with any authority at all. Mr.
Five, as the freight and passenger agent of one company,
possesses more facts than I.”
NO ROMANCE IN
WAR—IT 1$ ONE
DIRTY BUSINESS
MANCHESTER, Eng., Sept. 20th,
(Correspondence Associated Press).—
“There is no romance left in war; it
is a dirty business, and every one of
us who is in it is determined that when
we finish this war, it shall be so thor
oughly finished that nobody will ever
1 start another.”
Thus writes a British transport cap
tain in a letter to his local newspaper,
describing how he had just lost twenty
of his men, although they were nearly
a dozen miles behind the front, thru
a shell from a German long-range
naval gun fifteen miles away. The
shell was a chance shot. Here is the
captain’s story:
“We have descended on a war of
stink-pots, of spectacled chemists leer
ing horribly in obscure laboratories
while they concoct the tortures of the
damned, of medieval poisons, of flying
death from the clouds. It Is less like
war than some elemental devilishness
which man is as powerless to control
as he was the volcanoes which over
whelmed Pompeii or St. Pierre. It is
not alone in the forefront of the bat
tle where men stand face-to-face, but
in quiet places far back, where death
flings himself with outrageous vio
lence and suddenness. The dead men
have never seen their foe; there has
been no contest; no combat.
“I witnessed an incident today the
i like of which I have seen before, the
i like of which is happening every day
along these hundreds of miles of bat
tle line. It is as well you should hear
of it who have a quiet roof over your
heads, who wait placidly undtf your
umbrellas ac the street corner for your
tram car.
“I was at a cross roads, and a vast
amount of traffic was moving by it,
guns and wagons and panting motor
lorries and officers on horseback and
ambulances. Far in front hung mo
tionless in the air the long row of bal
loons that marked the circle ot the
front.
“It endured perhaps but two sec
onds before it precipitated that fright
ful tragedy towards which it was
moving, but every second was an age.
Every man who heard it held his
breath. Now the whistle changed to
a sudden plunging roar. A quarter of
a ton was failing headlong through
space and yet invisible. A rocking
crash, and up from the road leaped a
volcano of black earth and smoke and
stones. The whole air filled itself with
shrieking bits of metal, whirling
swathes of dust, and choking fumes.
■ Horses were plunging, men cursing.
Above all rang the screams of mortal
| agony.
“I gazed with horror towards the
spot and saw a wagon lying with its
wheels up in the ditch, its horses ly
ing motionless nearby. In the grass
by the roadside lay some inert fig
ures of men whose absolute motion
less told its own tale.
“One thought of the homes sudden
ly emptied far away, of mothers and
wives and children that would wait
in vain. And it has all been done by
the unseen hand that had just pulled
a string fifteen miles away.”
_A___
PREDICTS six
HOUR DAY FOR
THE ENGLISH
LONDON, Oct. 1, (Special Corres
i pondence Associated Press).—A sen
! sation has been created here by the
prediction of Lord Leverhulme of the
j coming of a six-hour day for all after
■ the war.
Lord Leverhulme was president of
this year’s Welch National Esteddfod,j
at which Lloyd George was one of the
speakers. Discussing the enormous
financial burden now carried by Bri-I
I tain, Lord Leverhulme developed some
* startling ideas as to the near future:
He said in part:
“By the time we have, with our
brave and illustrious Allies, won the
unconditional surrender of our ene
mies, our load of war debt may eas
ily have gone to a total of $50,000,
000,000, involving us in an annual
charge to be met by taxation for in
terest and sinking fund of $3,000,-;
000,000. We shall be under the abso
lute necessity of maintaining for
many years a combined naval and
military expenditure of from $500,
000,000 to $1,000,000,000 a year.
“We shall have to raise another
$500,000,000 or more for government
H. V. Hoben a- f- Ha vis
ALASKA TRANSFER
H. V. HOBKN, Manager
Coal, Wood and Ice
General Transferring. Phones, Main 1< and 41
HOTEL OVERLANI
K. L. WHITTEMORE, Proprietor
Headquarters for Mining Men
SEWARD, - - * ALASKA
CAFE ROOMS
Pool and Billiards
II PALACE
Sherman Haynes
Proprietor
Best Liquors and Cigars
j ■
lunch Counter in Connection
C. M. PETHBONECO.
Packers’ Direct Selling Agent
SALT SALMON. HERRING. COD
CANNED SALMON
If Service Counts Our Interests are Mutual
OFFICES: L. C. SMITH BUILDING SEATTLE, U. S. A.
Lynx, Marten, White Weasel,
Bear, Mink, Wolverine, Otter
IN DEMAND
Bed, White and Blue, Cross
and Silver FOXES in especially
STRONG DEMAND
Ship to “Shubert”
Write for ‘GkHr &huhf rt fclilpyrr’*
containing valuable Market in
formation you must have.
A. B. SHU BERT, Inc. d.p»? W^chicaco%AsV£
civil expenditure, and at least another
| $500,000,000 or $1,000,000,000 for old
age and military pensions.”
Other expenses, Lord Leverhulme
said would bring the burden of tax
ation probably to $68,500,000,000 a
year. Continuing, he said: “Can we
bear this load and carry the empire
with its trade and commerce back into
the calm safety of prosperity and
sound finance? We can only do so
provided all classes and both sexes,
following the example set by our King
and Queen, continue to make after the
war the same sacrifices of ease and
comfort, to continue to work as hard
and with the same spirit of brother
hood as has been displayed by all
classes without exception during the
war.
“The effect of overlong hours of
continuous work does not apply, ex
cept to a very limited extent, in the
case of machinery and mechanical
utilities. Therefore, a solution of this
one of our difficulties, can be best and
most readily found by working our
machinery for more hours and our
men and women for fewer hours. We
must have a six-hour working day for
men and women, and by means of six
hour shifts for men and women we
must work our machinery twelve,
eighteen and twenty-four hours a
day."
-__A
MANY “HOT DOGS”
ARE CONSUMED BY
PRISON INMATES
SACRAMENTO, Oct. 8, (Delayed)
—Miles of frankfurters will be con
sumed by wards of California in the
various institutions of the State, ac
cording to State Purchasing Agent
McMillan, who is receiving requisitions
from the prisons, hospitals and state
homes for the supply of meat that
will be needed during the next nine
months. More than 100,000 pounds of
so-called “hot dogs” are wanted by
the institutions.
__ -
Waste paper, suitable tor starting
fires, at The Gateway; 10 cents per
sack. . _
PRAYER FROM
AIR DROPPED
DURING WAR
Wreath Dropped Front German Ma
chine for Comrade Who la
Brought Down In
Fight
BEHIND THE BRITISH LINES IN
FRANCE, Sept. 20, (Special Corres
pondence Associated Press).—A Ger
man airplane was brought down in the
British lines this week after a battle
lasting nearly an hour. The next
morning a German machine came hov
ering over the same spot and ma
noeuvred for a position. It was
promptly attacked, but returned to
the German lines after dropping over
board something which was seen to
fall near an evacuated village.
Two British soldiers, who were sent
to find out what had been dropped,
returned with a beautiful wreath
nearly three feet in diameter. To the
wreath was attached a note asking the
British airmen to place it on the grave
of the dead pilot.
“The officer you have buried was my
brother,” said the note, “I spent six
happy years working in a London
bank. I know you honor the dead.
Please do this little service for me.”
The wreath was deposited as request
ed on the grave of the dead German
airman.
_A
NAMED MILLING MANAGER
OF FOOD ADMINISTRATION
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Oct. 8, (De
layed).—F. G. Holbrook, a local grain
man and formerly postmaster hero,
has been appointed manager of the
milling division of the food adminis
tration grain corporation. Holbrook
will see to the enforcement of rules
regulating the milHng business.
--U
Waterfiil & Frailer whiskey at
The Branch. ^ ^_..
•