SOCIALIST PRESS.
Published Weekly In The Interest Of The Working-Class.
-NO. 8*
'FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, AUg. 8,il014.
Vol. h
The.Bridge Committee*Pitts One Over On
The 'Council.
Wednesday morning1 those eifti
zens of Fairbanks who had occa
sion to go from one side of the
river to the other by way of the
bridge were brought to a sudden
and unexpected stop'by a great
gap in the structure, and were
forced to patronize the ferry
which was found to be in opera
tion. On enquiry into this pecu
liar state of affairs it was learned
that the bridge committee had
caused a section of the bridge to
be taken out to let a steamboat
■ 1
pass through, and having gotten
it out determined to leave it out
in order to bring the city fathers
to a sense of their responsibility
in matters coneerningthe bridge,
or until the ferry could ea»n e
nougli money to cover certain
bills that had been contracted in
• caring for it.
During the high water two or
three weeks ago, the bridge com
mittee found it suddenly necess
ary to employ men to protect the
bridge against the ’drift wood
that was coming down. Accord
ingly the piledriver was manned
and swung into mid stream from
'-which position it -was '■ ttsAd ‘ to
straighten-up such drift-as lodg
ed against the bridge, and give
it a header through. The bills in
curred ini this work ran up ‘to
something • like $650, arid the
bridge /committee - having no
funds, . passed them -up to the
city council for payment. -The
council seemed-inalined to1 the o
pinion that as the city had not
superintended the job, there was
considerable doubt as to whether
or not it should . pay the bills,
though after debating the ques
tion thoroughly decided to lay
them over for a week, giving no
assurance that they-would then
be paid. In the 'mean time the
men were waiting for their mo
ney, and the bridge committee
determined to get it for- them ■ in
one way or the other, as related,
The councilmen ■ on learning,
how matters stood got'busy dur
ing the day and it is understood
assured the bsidge committee
that the city would pay the bills.
Anyway the bridge was repaired
Wednesday evening.
News We Didn’t Get.
Something that happened at VeraCruz
KEPT IN THE -DARK.
We have often called attention
to the fact that the news, particu
larly with reference to labor mat
te' 3, as sent cut to the people is
often colored and c i Ported to
suit the powers.that be, and if it
cannot be doctored up in proper
v,hape is suppressed altogether. It
■ appears that the United
Ttates government is not above
snch things. Several-things hap
ened down at Vera Cruz, Mexi
when that place veas occupied
l" i,he Americans in an attempt
make Huerta salute .our flag
anu repair the. damage he had
done to our national honor, that
we have remained in absolute ig
norance of intil letters from A
meriean bluejackets and marines;
i at Vera Cruz began- to arrive and '
find their way into the labor press
A marine who took part in the
Vera Cruz light writes to his sis
ter in-St. Louis:
“I wish you could have seen
the excitement, One shot killed
over 100 school kids that were in
school.’'
Wm. A_Loerhl ®f the U. S. S.
Utah writes:
“We had no mercy on nobody,
which was proper. Murder and
piu 1 ier was all we wanted, and
we more than gave it to them.
For every one-of our fellows kill
ed we shot down like dogs, about
ten Mexicans. We had about 150
pi oners of which we court mar
tlaled 80 and shot them the same
night. That’s biz” Yes, and fine
% Continued on last page.
Matter May Caust Gity Officials To Gain A Lot Of Experience.
There is room for- conskU
erable criticism with regard
to 'the sale of property for
taxes last Monday.
Letting akmd the fact that
it ds reported that' several
parcels* were sold for which
the cwherscclaim to have re
ceipts lor payment of said
taxes, we fail to -see how the
city can give title to govern
j ment ground -when it sells a
lot nvhich we cannot make
out by the widest strfetch of
imagination Uo have been
held by anything other than
that ambiguous title, “Squat
ter’s rights.” i It is claimed
that we have a charter, but
we have failed to locate anyr
one who has seen; it! We ceri
i
tainly have no patent nor did
the people who have held th6
property all these years as
squatters -on . government
land. \
Wewere-atone of the re
cent council meetings when
a check was produced by th^
cleric frorma party who wish
ed to pay taxes which wer^
claimed* to be due on. proper
ty held by them, presumably
o avoid trouble in the mat
ter of the threatened sale.
The check was refused on
ground that it was not suffi
cient . to cover the taxes due
and-that it*would treatea pre
cedent.
We could not help wonder
ing at the time if the council
man who objected to receiv
ing the money because it
would create a precedent had
any thought of creating a
precedent at the time he
bought in for very small per
centage, his indebtedness to
the W. A. Bank of a fat num
ber of thousands of dollars.
It would be well for this
councilman to stop for a mo
ment-before he takes the zea
lous^part that he has done in
in the selling of property
for taxes.
In very many cases the
property owners who have
had their homes sold away
from them would have had
the money to pay the tax on
their property had it not been
for the' action Of : mbn like
himself, who-failed to blow
back the depositors l money
that they had borrowed
Somebody is goingto lose
Somebody is due to poc
kets'loss in this tax sale. In
nearly every case the proper
ty brought more than the a
mount of tax against it. The
law requires that this excess
be turned over to the delin
quent owner. The law also
provides that all such owner
has to do in order to regain
possession of his property is
to pay up the delinquent tax.
This of course goes to the
buyer but the owner is »ot
compelled to refund the ex
cess that the city has paid
over to him so the buyer is
out just that much. The city
is also in danger 'of becoming
involved in litigation for the
losers are not going to take
kind- y to their loss and may
look to the city to make it
good. It has been suggested
thht the city hold the ‘overs*
untilT the redemption period
of two years has expired,but
as there is nothing in the law
that provides for such • a
thing, any attempts in that
direction may meet with
suits to compel the city to
turn this excess money over
to the owners of tire proper
ty
The whole thih|^seems to
be a bungled up affair. It is
the opinion of most lawyers
that the law under which
the sale was made is faulty
in the extreme, aud it is pro
bable that the city has had
poor legal advice; otherwise
it^would have managed diff
erently and not allowed it
self or its citizens to become
Onthngled in the meshes of
an unsound law.
i
CITY WAGES
Much Dissatisfactiou Among School Force.
A report is current thatdu
ring the recent money strin
gency some of the City em-i
ployees have been getting
their wages regularly while
the school force are made to
wait till the stringency is
tfver.
1
Color is given to the report
by the statement at a recent
council meeting that $1,800
had been paid into the city
and used’ for salaries.
\Va think that the "school
force who only work for a
part of the year should at
any 'rate he placed on an
equality with the employees
who work 3G5 days in the
year.
All should be treated alike
and get their money pro - ra
rata.