“WONT BE SILENCED.”
PINCHOT DECURES
Defines Honesty in Politics;
Does This Definition Apply
To Alaska Officials
“Honesty in Government is a
question of purpose/’ continued Gov
ernor Pinchot. “What is a public
servant for? Theoretically to give
the best that is in him to the ser
vice of all the people. Actual], un
der machine control, to do anything
and everything that may be neces
sary to help the organization. Prac
tically, in case after case now known
to every one, to feather his own nest.
“Honesty in Government means
more than public servants keeping
out of jail. There has been too
much talking as if all that was
necessary to justify retaining a man
in the Cabinet was the failure to
show legal evidence that he ought
to be in prison. Such a standard is
wholly without excuse, and nothing
could be more dangerous to the pub
lic service.
“The fitness of a public servant,
and especially a public servant in
high position, is not proved by the
mere fact that his guilt cannot legal
ly be established at all. A man does
not belong in the Cabinet merely
because he has not been convicted
of crime. He does not belong in
the Cabinet at all unless his honesty,
his capacity and his zeal for the
public service make the public inter
ests entirely safe in his hands.
“Honesty in Government goes far,
beyond the refusal to steal. No pub
lic servant is honest in any genuine
sense who puts any other interest
ahead of the interest of all the peo
ple; no man who serves a political
machine first and the State or na
tion second; no man who prefers his
own profit to the profit of the Com
monwealth, can claim to be an hon
est public servant. What Govern
ment in the United States needs just
now beyond all other things combined
are high standards among public
servants.
“Too many men of high position
and responsibility, like Fall, betrayed
for private profit; too many men
like Denby, in their muddle-headed
carelessness of what the people need,
have let slip the golden opportunity
to check great losses and render con
spicuous service; too many Govern
ment organizations fail to protect the
public interest / committed to their
charge.
“The most conspicuous example in
our Government not only of failure
but of refusal to do the work com
mitted to it is that of the Federal
Enforcement Service in Washington,
not only in Pennsylvania, where its
scandalous breakdown floods the
►State with liquor, but in many other
Commonwealths its willful neglect
to use the authority committed to
its hands has brought degradation,
disease and death upon the people.
“Since it refuses to do its duty, the
Federal Enforcement Service must
be compelled to do it. I cannot
make Pennsylvania dry until the li
quor its slackness allows to flow
over the State is checked at the
source. Therefore, no defeat at the
polls will keep me from insisting on
the absolute need for efficiency in
law enforcement. I will not be sil
enced, and I will not lie down. The
American people have a right to bet
ter treatment in this matter, and,
so far as I can help, they are going
to get it.
“I would not have you believe that
our national Government has sunk
U the level of the Enforcement Ser
vice. It has not, but it needs to
day, as it has seldom needed before,
a re-birth of genuine devotion to the
public service.
“It is not enough to punish crim
inals. It is not enough to keep the
public wealth from being stolen.
Honesty in government means more
than that. It means capable, intelli
gent and devoted service to the pub
lic. It means using every power,
every opportunity, to do what the
people need. It means doing all that
can be done all the time to serve
the people.
“You cannot serve God and mam
mon. You cannot serve either God
or the people if you put some other
service first.”
THE SITKA TRIBUNE
“Considerable literature was in cir
culation the day before the election
from the pen of William Paul,
wherein an editorial which recently
appeared in these columns was
thoroughly dissected and ridiculed,
however,' the Tribune is of the same
opinion as when it was written.”
And thus the editor will never learn.
The answer to the editorial was
not intended to ridicule the Sitka
Tribune, for in this campaign I have
tried to make our appeal to the rea
son of the voters and not to their
animus..
The mistake of the Sitka editor is
that he has forgotten the principles
of economies which he learned at
school, first, that it is the ultimate
consumer who pays all taxes; sec
ondly, that it is the producer of
wealth who creates the prosperity of
every community and not the store
keepers, jewelers, tobacco merchants
and holders of real estate.
In the Sitka district, this year, as
for several years past the despised
illiterate Indian will go out in his
little seal boat and at the risk of
his life, he will bring in at least
.$20,000 of real money to Sitka dur
ing the month of May. The Sitka
Editor will get a part of this; so
will Mr. W. P. Mills, Mr. McGrath,
Mr. Peterson, Mr. Smith, the jewel
er and money lender, and other
“large tax payers.”
During- the summer, these Indians
will go out and fish, working long
hours, and by their labor, they will
bring in to Sitka about $30,000 in
real money, which again will go to
Mr. Sitka Editor and his advertisers.
At this present moment, I see in
the Sitka Tribune, that the Young
Bros., Indans, represented as dan
gerous to Alaska by Stroller White,
John Troy, Bert Faulkner and their
like, have just brought in “A raft -
- - - containing 100,000 feet of
lumber, practically all clear. The
mill is now cutting about sixteen
thousand feet of lumber per day.”
The market price of clear lumber
here is $11.00 per thousand, so that
these “damned” Indians have brought
in to Mr. Sitka Editor and his ad
vertisers at least $1760.00 in real
wealth. Does the Editor produce
as much ?
During the winter when industry
in Sitka is at a standstill, these In
dians, whose children are not al
lowed to enjoy schools supported by
taxes from the children’s parents, go
out hunting and bring in many thou
sands of dollars in real wealth. Dur
ing the spring, these same Indians
go out trolling and add more wealth
to Sitka.
The point is this, Mr. Sitka edi
tor, the 500 Indians in Sitka are the
real producers of wealth there. They
created the entire wealth of W. P.
Mills and the other “big tax pay
ers.” I can talk about Sitka be
cause I was raised there, and I re
member when Mr. Mills was just a
kid and his father occupied that old
shack filled with a very small stock
of groceries and cheap clothing.
I do not condemn the thrift and
trading skill of Mr. Mills, but I
think every student of economics
will have to concede my argument
that it is the producer of wealth, the
one who wrests it from the ground
or water, who creates the prosper
ity of your community.
As for the tax-payer, Mr. Mills
and others simply add the tax to
the cost of the goods, and ipso facto,
Mr. Indian, who gets no credit from
you for so doing, pays the tax for
which Mr. Mills and other middle men
get credit for paying.
CARD OF THANKS
We wish to thank the many friends
who sent flowers and extended sym
pathy during our late sorrow, and
who in other ways softened our
sorrow in the loss of Jack Cool.
Mrs. Jack Cool and family.