fwar&iaiMfttettitttj
OF SEWARD, ALASKA — Established August 19, 1904
Published daily except Sunday by
THE GATEWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY
Entered in the postoffice at Seward, Alaska as
second-class mail matter.
H. V. HOBEN and E. F. JESSEN, Proprietors
E. F. Jessen, Editor and Manager
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•u{ajaq paqsjtqnd smou inaoj aqi
osib pun jadnd sun asiAuaqio ion jo ;t oi pajjpaao saipiBdsip sasu n* jo
ron^Iiq^daj joj asn eui o} pannua .^aAisnpxa sj ssajj pa^Bpossy aqj,
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MUST EARN ITS KEEP
According to information at hand, The Alaska Rail
road's mission henceforth is to increase earnings and re
duce deficits until it approaches a self-sustaining basis.
It does not have in consideration any step which would
curtail earnings, such as reduced freight rates or prefer
ential departures calculated to stimulate any particular
industry or departure. A departure from this principle
would be taken by the Department of the Interior to be
paramount to making direct doles from the Treasury of
the United States to the beneficiaries whether it was di
rected to granting colonist rates to settlers on the land
for mixed carload lots, such as were granted by pioneer
railroad enterprises in the United States, or a preferen
tial rate on, say coal to seaboard. Goods and passengers
must be hauled at a profit.
So that any initiative from the Railroad Bureau may
not be looked for, nor any policy expanding beyond the
actual economic operation of the enterprise as a profit
earning business.
At the time of the visit of Secretary Work to Alaska,
along with other members of the Cabinet, the hint was
dropped that Alaskans would henceforth be looked to
to work out their own salvation independent of any direct
initiative on the part of the Territory's rulers. The fact
that the government had built the railroad was consid
ered sufficient.
Generally the initiative in the matter of empire build
ing emanates from a nucleus embodying the greatest in
terest, financially and otherwise, for the safety of invest
ment hinges upon revenues present and prospective. Capi
tal account is calculated upon this basis, and appropriated
accordingly. It would seem that this hypothesis has not
and will not enter into the plans of the Interior Depart
ment and its railroad management with respect to Alas
ka, where the capital account of $60,000,000 is expected
to earn interest if not principle on the present physical
assets of the region influenced by the enterprise. Like
the Arkansas hotel proprietor who charged a man $40 for
a bed explained—“it takes that amount to run this place
one month, and you are the only one who has stopped
here this month." It takes so much to run the railroad,
and this apparently must come from the revenues avail
able at the present time and by such development as the
Alaskans may bring about.
A reasonable time should always be allowed to permit
of initiative of policy before criticism is offered. That
reasonable time has transpired and those responsible for
conditions—the bureaus, including The Alaska Railroad
Bureau has not made good the promises made by agents
of the various bureaus when The Alaska Railroad was
being builded.
There were promises of governmental stimilus from
one end of the line to the other. Hawkers of govern
mental townsites employed all the arts of the veriest
pea and shell game artist to persuade Alaskans to invest
in these townsites. The answer to how well the prom
ises were kept is vouchsafed in such ghost cities as Ne
nana and Matanuska, and other points that under the
influence of empire building agencies should have emerg
ed what was promised for them.
But like many other enterprises where the govern
ment felt it could perform the task better than the pri
vate individual, the entire scheme failed for the lack of
employment of just such agencies as private enterprise
employs when given a free hand and not subjected to a
member of the Cheka standing at the elbow to apply pe
dantic theories in liue of common business sense.
The sum total of initiative in securing population and
development of the Railroad belt has been expressed in
an effort to attract tourists. As tourists are pleasure
seekers running away from business, possibly there was
the happy thought of making this wing of the American
monarchy a serving class.
# The stress of irony does not repose so much upon the
policy of making of The Alaska Railroad an earnings en
tity as upon the fact that in the decade in which the bu
reaus have held court in this section of Alaska, not one
promise of the Federal government has made good.
Page Doc Cook and Ponsy.
DEPARTMENT UPHOLDS DECI
SION GIVEN BY THE GENERAL
LAND OFFICE
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2. (#>)—Claims j
of Ralph H. Cameron of Arizona, the |
United States Platinum company and ;
others to certain placer mining loca
tions situated in the Grand Canyon
National Park in Arizona, alleged to
contain platinum, gold and other valu-1
able mineral deposits, have been de- j
dared null and void in a decision just
made public by the Department of the ;
Interior.
The claims, 28 in number, overlie
some of the principal scenic features
of the park, including the suspension
bridge across the gorge, parts of the
Bright Angel trai* anjd the Phantom |
Range established for the occommo- j
dation of the public.
The decision affirms a ruling of the
Commissioner of the General Land
Office, from which an appeal has been
taken. The department declared un
contradicted testimony in the case
“convincingly shows that these claims
have been laid over lands and upon
geological formation entirely barren
of valuable mineral deposits, exhib
iting no conditions favorable to min
eral deposition.”
Denying the petition to reopen the
the case, the department ruled that
“the continued assertion of a baseless
possessory ri^ht to these lands by!
the appellants and their co-defendants j
sonstitute a continuous trespass and i
public nuisance; the public interest,'
therefore, demands that they be de- j
dared null and void.”
COMMITTEES AND PRIZE
WINNERS JOINT ftFFflIR
The social committee in charge of
the joint meeting of the Masons and
Eastern Star organizations on Mon
day night consisted of Mrs. Martin
Banbury, Mrs. Harold Painter and P.
C. McMullen.
Entertainment—Mesdames McMul
len, Blue and'Swetmann.
Awards were made at bridge to
Mrs. Elwyn Swetmann for high and
to Mrs. Chas. Sheldon for low.
At hearts Mr. M. Miller captured
high honors and Mrs. D. E. Valade
second.
In the game of rook Mr. John
Rosness was awarded high point and
“Sis” Rasmussen, low.
; TORONTO, Canada, Feb. 2. (JP)—
. Geld production in Northern Ontar
. io for the first 11 months of 1926
» showed an increase of $1,300,006
. over the same period of 1925, the re
spective values being $28,500,139 and
■ $27,209,970, according to Assistanl
- Trade Commissioner J. Bartlett Rich
! ards, Toronto. The increase in ton
i nage was somewhat larger, 1926, ton
L nage -being about 309,000 tons ahead
■ of 1925.
I HAS GREAT YEAR
L
k KANSA SCITY, Kas., Feb. 2. (JP)—
, Wheat receipts at Kansas City in
^ 1926 were 87,438,000 bushels, valued
at $132,468,570. Receipts of wheat,
k corn, milo maize, oats, rye, and bar
ley totaled 112,528,800 bushels and
were valued at $149,660,025.
Seattle chocolate and vanilla ice
cream. Schallerer’-e Alaska Shoo.
LIBERTY
THEATER
TONIGHT ONLY-8 O’CLOCK SHARP-TONIGHT ONLY
Something New
DOROTHY GISH .
and LEON ERROL
In the great Eight-reel Comedy
‘Clothes Make The Pirate’
Here’s a special feature comedy that has jumped to
the top of screen fame
THE YEAR’S BIGGEST COMEDY SENSATION
A Story Full of Satire, Farce, Thrilling Sea Fights
and Romance
In the all-star cast are
NITA NALDO — TULLY MARSHALL
and many other notables
Don’t pass up this laughter feature
^AND A PATHE NEWS
NOTICE TO PARENTS—Because of the great number of com
plaints every week from our patrons, we are compelled to take dras
tic actidji.to put a stop to the unreasonable yelling and noisiness of
the children. We have talked to the children and some of the pa
rents in vain and so have to resort to other methods to cure a condi
tion that has become unbearable. As a first step, we reserve the
right to eject any child or youth who, in our opinion, makes any un
reasonable noise, and to forbid them entrance thereafter as long as we
deem necessary to secure their future behavior. We will use the
greatest care to make no mistakes, but it is impossible to always
pick the exact guilty one, and so if you don’t want to run the chance
of having your child excluded in the balance of the noisy group you
will please keep them by your side....
j THE MANAGEMENT.
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JOHN C. WHITE
& CO.
High Grade Line of
CIGABS, TOBACCOS, &
CANDIES
FINEST BILLIARD HALL IN ALASKA
i
Seward Trading Co.
Inc.
COURTEOUS SERVICE
Telephone Main 135 for Quality Goods
We Feature
S. and W. Canned Goods Gold Nugget Butter
Carnation Milk White Nugget Eggs
Hills’ Coffee Fresh Fruits
Swift’s Premium Ham Fresh Green Goods on
and Bacon Every boat
.... . i a ;'
A COMPLETE line of Men’s Work Clothes,
-^■Underwear, Boots, Gloves, Blankets, etc.,
Fishermen’s Supplies, Gear and Hardware.
HAY GRAIN FEED
Salt Salmon Bellies—Salt Herring
MAIL ORDERS SHIPPED PROMPTLY
Agents for Dupont Powder, Caps and Fuse
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