Simultaneously with the arrival
of letters of approval, several let
ters voicing disapproval were re
ceived by The Gateway from Bethel
with reference to the recent pub
lished communications.
The Gateway is taken ter task for
publishing Mr. Hofseth’s letter.
Signed communications are gen
erally published; unsigned ones are
thrown in the waste basket. The
signed letters published, or state
ments. are “brain child's” of others,
not the editor’s.
The Gateway is glad of the op
portunity to publish the three fol
lowing communications verbatim.
As far as votes are concerned. The
Gateway has no interest in politics
nor has the editor any political
ambitions. The communications:
Bethel, Alaska,
April 6, 1932.
Seward Gateway:
I with many others was called to
the attention to an article written
by O. A. Hofseth which appeared
in your paper March 12, regarding
the ill conduct of Commissioner
Link and Deputy U. S. Marshal
Wiseman.
On account of O. A. Hofseth’s
letter being so personal, you hesi
tated to publish it before finding
out for yourself.
This prominent citizen from Kus
kokwim which you referred to,
must be the man who occasionally
appeared in the columns of your
paper in the latter part of 1927,
and who was not so prominent with
you then. Thise same man has not
gained any more prominence with
us now, with exception of some one
looking for jobs, or can be used
This same man is the only one
coming from this part of Kuskok
wim and passing through your
great little city about the time, or
little before O. A. Hofseth’s letter
was printed.
Farthermore, O. A. Holfseth did
not write this letter, since I have
seen sentences of this letter used
for other purposes previous to the
writing of this letter, and which
was written by an entirely differ
ent party. Furthermore. O. A. Hof
seth is like myself, not very handy
with a pen: the only difference is,
I can get along without help.
Now, if O. A. Hofseth had written
this letter, why did he mention
about those poor illiterate natives,
which were sentenced by Commis
sioner Link five years ago for hav
ing illegal foxes in their possession?
He also states that they were not
warned by the game warden, which
is absolutely false since the game
warden is the man who made out
Jl . . _ ~
the complaint. Furthermore, said
O. A. Hofseth was not in this part
of the country at that time, which
should prove to you that he is very
unreliable and a man of that kind
is always willing to sign anything.
And furthermore, if it was not for
him there would not be many ar
rests and convictions on this lower
Kuskokwim.
In fact, this part of the country
was much more peaceful before
j they arrival of the Hofseths, es
i pecially her, who has caused more
| disturbance on the Kuskokwim
i River than Mr. Link would if he
j lived to be a hundred years old.
I I also see by his own, or suppose
i to be. writing that he had applied
I to Mr. Wiseman for action, but was
I grossly insulted on his wife’s in
i sanity. Now if you had lived in the
i community of the Hofseths, seen
and known their actions, you would
1 never have printed O. A. Hofseth's
propaganda. And you must not be
afraid O- A. Hofseth will change
the election one way or the dther,
since in this part of the country
j they are not much wanted except
; maybe in church, although, the jail
| would fit them better.
Yours very truly.
H. M. HANSEN.
* * *
Bethel, Alaska,
April 4, 1932.
Seward Weekly Gateway:
In your Weekly of March 12, 1932,
under Communication, an article
drew my attention, which seems to
me, the truth was handled rather
carelessly. Furthermore, a newspa
per your size and circulation should
reach out a little farther for facts
and data, than just taking one
prominent resident’s word for it,
that happens to pass through your
city.
The undersigned has been a resi
dent of Bethel and near vicinity for
approximately 15 years; to my re
collection, there have in this town
been two factions fighting each
other for years back. One you may
call the law abiding faction, the
other is the one you are dealing
with through the very personal ar
ticle in your Weekly.
Your statement of losing hun
dreds of Republican votes is just
a ridiculous assertion without foun
dation. The approximate Republi
can vote cast at Bethel is 20. and
Akiak, 15—total, 35, above Akiak
and below Bethel for miles, there
are not enough votes to put in your
pipe this time of the year, neither
at the general election in the fall,
on account of election too close to
freefce-up and break-up and as such
traveling is impossible.
You may loose O. A. Hofseth’s
vote, but I am pretty sure you would
not loose the prominent resident’s
vote, that happened through your
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Page advertisements, mostly in the
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Century, Harper’s Magazine, Scribners,
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of the American Medical Ass’n, and
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wives. Magazines of class and quality
circulation receive the preference.
The message will reach a total of
2,80*2,000 subscribers of these magazines,
whose reader circulation is estimated at
about ten million persons. The first ad
vertisements appear this month and the
campaign will run through the May is
sues. The advertisement, which is being
featured in the campaign, is reproduced
at the light of this article.
“There have lieenanumber of attempts
made to organize a united program of
advertising for Alaska,” said Mr. O. F.
Ohlson, General Manager of the Alaska
Railroad. “Unfortunately, objections
and difficulties have always prevented
the starting of a broad campaign. \N hile
Hawaii, Japan, Bermuda and other at
tractive tourist destinations were sys
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American people with magazine color
page advertising, and a united program,
Alaska has been depending upon a num
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small programs in their own way and
the results for the Territory have not
been outstanding. 1932 looked like a
particularly difficult year and 1 have
felt that if anything was ever to be done
in the way of constructive advertising
program for Alaska that it ought to be
started this year.”
air. N. C. Cant clow. General Manager
of the Alaska Steamship Company, ex
pressed the hope that the program would
make a noticeable effect upon this year s
traffic. “However, we have not started
this program for this year's results
alone,” he said. “We hope that this pro
gram will grow, that it may be continued
year after year, and that all transporta
tion companies as well as others interest
ed in the development of travel to Alaska,
will recognize the value of cooperative
effort and join with us for the future. I
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4
believe that more can be accomplished
for the Territory by cooperative effort.”
“The Northern Pacific Railway has
long been an advoca teof joint advertising
for Alaska,” said W. K. Coman, Vice
President of that company. “We have
done some things in this direction during
the past three years but this has been
confined to newspaper advertising. Prob
ably there is no more effective way of
convincing the people of our continent
that Alaskan vacations are indescrib
ably beautiful than by showing them
pictures, in color, of what they will ac
tually see, if they go. Magazine pages,
with their attractive color printing, offer
us an opportunity to reproduce some of
the Sydney Laurence paintings and who
better than Sydney Laurence can ex
press the spirit and charm of Alaska?
“It would be reckless for me to pre
dict large increases in Alaskan travel for
tnis season, even wun uns special niun
being put forth on the joint advertising
campaign. Certainly this campaign will
help substantially and should persuade
many travelers to consider Alaska, rather
than some of the other attractive places
that are being constantly publicized.
But, in the long run, systematic and
careful advertising for Alaska will cer
tainly mean increases in traffic and pros
perity for all of us.”
city.
There is no doubt there are mis- i
fits in office at Bethel, but they are |
not in the offices of the Department |
of Justice. In my 15 years of ob- !
servance on the Kuskokwim River, ]
especially at Bethel, I have never
met two more efficient officials
than Mr. C. M. Link and F. C. Wise
man. They are just the fits for
their respective offices at Bethel,
and the law-abiding people of
Bethel and near vicinities, I am
sure , are confident of their ability j
to administer their duties, without!
fear or favor.
Yours very respectfully.
O. C. NERBY.
* * * #
Bethel, Alaska,
March 28, 1932.
Editor, Seward Gateway:
Re: “Communication,” your
issue of March 12, 1932.
The communication you publish
ed is a mass of misstatements all
the way through, and your author
ity for publishing it, the so-called
“prominent citizen of the Kuskok
wim,” is very careless with the
truth. I ejected Mrs. Hofseth from i
my office for acting in a disorderly J
manner, but no force whatever was j
used, and the reason that she went j
to the hospital could not by any|
stretch of the imagination be at- !
tributed to anything it would have |
been possible for me to do to her,
which I can prove by competent j
witnesses, even if I had assaulted |
her.
This charge against me is insti- |
gated by carpet-baggers, supported :
by a certain disreputable element I
that are hostile to the present offi
cials of the Department of Justice
stationed here for the reason that
all the laws are enforced here to
the best of our ability without fear
or favor, and that we endeavor to
keep this a decent community.
No prominent or responsible bona
fide resident of this precinct has
any objections to the way the laws
are being enforced, and I have their
unqualified support for convictions
of cases against common decency
and for debauching native women
and school girls, and for violations
of the prohibition laws in those
cases. 1
The population of the Bethel Re
cording Precinct at the last census
was 3.353, of which less than 200 are
white. At the last general election
there were 46 votes cast for the
whole precinct, which shows that
your authority, the “prominent citi
zen,” is rather careless with his fig
ures. Why did you not publish his
name so that the people which read
your paper will know from whom ■
such scandalous reports originate? J
But I realize that he does not want i
to be quoted or his name appear J
for obvious reasons. '
In the case mentioned about fox j
pups, a very capable and efficent i
officer, Mr. Oddie Hallson, Alaska |
game warden, made the complaint J
in that case. The natives caught :
young foxes and tied them to stakes i
on the bank of the river and allow- }
ed them to die of starvation. An J
investigation was demanded by this i
same element that is hostile to the ■
enforcement of the laws, and the J
department, after such investiga- J
tion, made the following report: i
“The department is of the opin- J
ion that Commissioner Link han- J
died the case of those natives in an •
able and efficient manner, and ■
that the penalties imposed upon -
them were warranted by the evi
dence and in accordance with the
principles of justice and equity.”
I was appointed to the office of
TJ. S. Commissioner here on the
first day of April, 1927. Since that
time there have been 49 convictions
in this court, 80 per cent of which
were felonies reduced to misde
meanors for the reason that the j
defendants were natives and were |
not held to be responsible in the i
same degree that white people are.
I came to Alaska in 1889, and have
made this my home. I have lived
in different parts of the Territory
and can go back to any place I
have lived and be welcome there,
and I have never been considered
a menace to society at any place.
As I have stated a tthe beginning,
the whole communication publish
ed is a rank falsehood.
C. M. LINK,
U. S. Commissioner.
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