PROPOSED $25
LICENSE TAX
Considered From Several Points of
View in Its Bearing on the
Nome Country.
Correspondence Nome Nugget.
It is authoritatively statist that there !
are 25,000 mining claims in the Cape
Nome recording ilistriet, ilistriet ofi
Alaska.
A bill has Ih'cii introduced in congress
to levy an assessment of $25 on each j
mining claim, in lieu of the annual labor j
now required by law, as an annual
license tax.
If this bill becomes law, anil every
claim is canieil by the owners, there
will be eonti i bn ted by the miners of
this district $025,000 per year, or $5,125,
000 in five years, for trails about the
precinct.
If this system is adopted and these
payments made, there will be tied up
one, if not two years' funds liefore they
can be recirculated in the process of
trail making, the sum of $1,250,000.
There will be taken out of circulation
next fall at least the first payment of
$025,000.
If there are 25,000 mining claims in
the precinct, probably one-fourth of them
are carried double, that is, by contesting
owners; this increase will be added to
the above figures.
Now if, instead of the $25, there is
exacted $100 in work on each claim each
year, then the miners of the district will
have to contribute a tax of $2,500,000 a
year in order to carry their mining prop
erty, or commit perjury in the propor
tion of the failure to perform the labor.
Of this amount of required labor there
is probably not one hundredth part act
ually and honestly done; of that which
is done there is probably not one hun
dredth part of any value in the actual
developing of the claims or the country.
If there are 25,000 claims upon which
proofs of labor are filed for record, these
documents will average at least $2 each,
making an annual drag of $50,000 which
goes into the treasury of the 1’nited
States to be returned here no more for
ever; this may lie called a license tax.
What is the pur]mse of this tax'.’
If it is strictly punitive, it is probably
not high enough, for most of us ought to
have known I letter than to have come
here; if it is to develop the country it
fails to develop; if it is for a bum fide
road fund, it is grossly too much; if it is
a habit, now is a good time to swear off.
Five dollars for every twenty acres of
mining ground carried in claims for
mining pur|«»ses would produce a fond
in excess of that which could Is* legiti
mately used in proper and necessary
trails ami wagon roads.
My notion of the affair is, that cnn
gress should repeal the annual lals*r
clause of the mining laws, so far as they
relate to Alaska, and leave the matter to
the miners of each recording ilistriet to
regulate the nnmls*r *>f claims one j e -
son can appropriate, the manner of re
routing. tin- annual lal**r, If any, amt
even thing else is-rtaining to the arquir
ing, holding ami di-|s-sttion of tnining
claims, until the legislature of the terri
tory of Itehrtng-Alaska shall have juris
diction of the subject matter.
HUnhry >1141 V>Mr >•».
im-tot bum VtirlaMik* kf ?rt»l»v.
“Down in Dixie”
Down at Gibbon
The drama “Down in Dixie,” after
several postponements, was player! by
the Fort Gibbon Comedy Company to
a large and appreciative audience Tues
day evening, .Ian. 30.
Mail Carrier Palm witnessed the per
formance and says it was first-class, and
practically everybody in Tanana en
joyed it.
The company is composed of men at
the Fort (iibhon post and is directed by
Lieut. 11. W. Itathianv. The Tenth in
fantry will relieve the Third next
summer, and the people at the mouth of
the Tanana w ill sustain a real loss in
the departure of these clever entertain
ers. It would be exceedingly pleasing if
they could Ite inducer! to play in IJatn
part before leaving Alaska.
New Mexico,
July 1, 1905, the population of Xew
Mexico was estimated at 500,000. Of
that number 158,000 came from other
states and territories or are descendants
of such, 125,000 are of Spanish or Mexi
can descent, l,f>00 negroes, 100 Chinese,
500 Japanese and 15,000 Indians. There
are 15,000 farms, with an acreage of
0,200,000 valued at $110,000,000 and im
provements valued at $52,500,(XX), farm
implements $1,500,(XX) and live stock
$54,000,000. Farm and ranch products
for the year approached $5,000,000. Five
hundred thousand pounds of butter and
a million dozen eggs were produced dur
ing the year. There are in the territory
1,050,000 head of cattle and 5,875,000
head of sheep The country is rich in
minerals. The value of its railroads is
in excess of $!K),000,000. So it would
seem that Xew Mexico is not illy
equipped for statehood, even without
the help of Arizona, which may !>e ad
mitted to the union along with its sister
territory as one great state.
DEATHS
COOK, FRANK A.—At Juneau, Dee.
Id, of heart failure. He was a well
known mining man.
HAND, UKDMOND—At Fairbanks,
Jan. 5, from operation for abscess on
the liver. He was a well-known miner,
discoverer of Redmond ereek on the
Salehaket.
(’OSTON, FF.TF.lv J.—At Nome, Ikr.
U7. He was the voting son of Mr. ami
Mrs. P. J. Cotton and was a universal
favorite. _
Jerry Ford is off toilay for a trip to
the I lootliminu. Nothing has been
heard from that ereek for some time,
but it is Itep'd that tla* void weather in
January enabled pr«»*|ieetor!i to eontrol
the water so that something could Is*
aeeotnphshed.
It is said ni«st of tlo* rabbits in some
l« subtle* st tee tin died to the eontintted
••old wewlhcc in Jamtarv.
GENERAL
MERCHANDISE.
OUTFITTING _
MINERS STORE
(In the Postofflee Building)
Cigars by the Box a Specialty
Finnish Colony
For Cook Inlet
Valdez News.
To establish a Finnish colony at Auro
ra on the western side of Kenai penin
sula, around the head of Kachemak bay,
three men have come from the east and
will remain at Aurora all winter ar
ranging for the reception of the first
immigrants.
Agents preceding these men have
located 15,000 acres of coal land, which
is believed to contain coal of a superior
quality, and the veins are known to be
of a vast extent. Not coal mining alone,
however, but agriculture is to l>e the
employment of the Finnish settlers
whom the colonization leaders exjiect to
bring.
The three men represent the Alaska
Colonization and Development Com
pany, a eorjsiration organized by Fin
landers in New York. The president of
j the company is Axel Hornborg, general
I agent of a Finnish line of steamers ply
ing between the old country and Amer
ica. Nearly all Finnish immigrants into
the Cnited States come to this country
under his direction. Many of them
come here without definite purpose other
than to obtain employment as miners or
to acquire land to farm.
Finnish emigration to America has
lieen very large for some years, anil it is
the intention of Mr. Ifornhorg and his
associates to try to settle as many of
them as |s>ssible in some new territory
similar in climate and resources to their
own. Southern Alaska is such a region,
although it has a milder climate than
Finland and excels it greatly in possi
bilities of wealth. At least this is the
opinion of Prof. Ueorgeson, of the Alaska
ex|*-riuiental stations of the diq>artment
of agriculture.
Mr llornlairg has had this project in
hand for several years and in Far.* had
agents in tlie field !<s>king into the agri
cultural (ssssibilities of the Cistfe Inlet
country, lie says he will send up a
large number of |»-<>p|e next year.
CHAS. A. TRAEGER,
HATS, CLOTHING AND FURNISHINGS
(A nr vni 1 one of thosc People whov
nllL 1UU seldom write home? \
They will know yon are all right if you 1
send them the YUKON VALLEY NEWS. I
Mail yours or let us send one weekly. /
The Year’s Dances.
Waltz ami two-step promise to con
tinue popular, for though new dances by
the dozen should be originated, the
waltz and two-step will hold sway for
years to come. Whatever the pro
gramme may la? and wherever the dance
is given, the waltz and two-step predom
inate, and even in the cotillion or ger
man these are two regular dances, are
the fundamental principles, and every
thing else revolves around them, Each
instructor in dancing introduces figures
of the cotillion in her classes as a relax
ation. No dance is complete without
one or more figures of the cotillion, and
a noticeable improvement in favors is
their suitability to the figure danced.
Flowers of marvelous Parisian work
manship, hats and parasols are wonder
fully popular, and canes, college fobs
and pins can be used with appropriate
ness in many of the popular figures.
A noteworthy step in the advance
ment of dancing is its introduction into
classes of physical culture and gymnas
tics. It not only assists in aiding the
pupil toward becoming graceful, but for
good, wholesome exercise dancing is
excellent, and with this thought ballet
dancing is gaining in popularity. It is
especially gond for developing the mus
cles and aids in starting the circulation
of the blood.
A European mistress of dancing, who
in her youth had danced before the
courts of Kurojio, deplored the modern
ballet dancing, which, according to her
view, was not dancing at all, but grace
ful manipulation of dru|>ery.—Provi
dence Journal.
Allowances for Clerks
In Alaska Postoffices
Tn* |«>nti>rtii'f il«-|>nrliii<*tit Ihr first of
Ifnvmlwr minmiMid thr (<>ll<>wiiiK al
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ttflfora:
Fairbanks ttin*
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koala i mu
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him in Vlusktt |>wt
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F..rt T nkon
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IIHiHI