THE ALASKA FEDERAL
MACHINE-HOW IT WORKS
The head of the Alaska Political
Machine right now is Governor Scott
C. Bone, and everything turns around
his high office. But not one person
can accuse him of manipulating his
office for politics for he has care
fully avoided an open display of
politics. At various times, however,
he has “advisers” who tell him what
to do or give him “information.”
When Mr. Bone first came to Alas
ka, his chief “adviser” was Karl
Thiel, the surveyor general. But
to the chagrin of the said Thiele,
Charlie Garfield slipped in while
Thiel was taking a trip to the west
ward. This continued until Charlie
went to Seattle, “promoted” to be
the head of the Alaska Bureau of
the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Then Karl Thiel came back into
power or shall we say into activity,
for the governor has always been in
power. Karl Thiel would like to be
independent. He is a fine man to
meet, and would do what is right if
only he did not have to depend upon
his job for a living. He squirms
and twists once in a while, but al
ways he has to come back to his
“milk” for this business of working
for a living is not all that it is
cracked up to be.
Through Karl Thiel, the machinery
of the political machine works very
smoothly indeed for he is very
clever and oily. He keeps in touch
with Arthur Shoup, the district at
torney, and Marshal Beaumont, and
altogether, they make a fine family.
This machine spreads all over
Alaska. It is a wonder anybody has
nerve enough to even try to break
through. The only one who is not
with them is Delegate Dan Suther
land and he holds his job by virtue
of the vote of the people. The lord
knows if he were appointive, he
would not be there.
The prohibition director, John B.
Marshall, did not work in “harmony”
with this machine and so he got
“removed” and H. V. Means is here
with us. He knows how to work
in “harmony” and so we find him
travelling up and down whispering
to the “leading” men to support the
Governor and others who would
agree to do so.
The hub of the wheel, Scott C.
Bone, governor.
Chief lieutenant, Karl Thiel.
Other important officers, or cogs,
Arthur Shoup, district attorney, Mar
shal Beaumont, Marshal Sullivan of
the Third, H. V. Means, prohibition
director.
High privates, J. R. Heckman, J.
C. Barber, Carl Strong, Bert Faulk
ner, R. E. Robertson, Howard Ash
ley, George Hazlett, Lester D. Hen
derson, Commissioner of Education,
and many others.
COMPLACENT PATRIOTS
Americans too often dismiss all
Europeans as ‘those ignorant for
eigners.” This is patriotic complac
ency. Also it is patriotic ignorance.
In the most vital of all cultural
agencies—the mere teaching of their
citizens to read and write—Holland,
England, France, Finland, and all
the Scandinavian countries excel the
United States. The average north
European could more aptly speak of
America as the home of “those ig
norant Yankees.”
These are hard facts. Six per cent
of all Americans are illiterate. Ger
many, Holland and the Scandinavian
countries have only one per cent of
illiterates or less. In 1910 there
were 5,516,163 illiterates in this
country. In 1920 the number had
been reduced to 4,931,905. At this
rate it will take the United States
about eighty-four years to reach the
high educational standards of Ger
many.
The teaching of reading and writ
ing is not all. Millions of Americans
who are not classed as literate
can read and write but have let their
education expire with just these two
accomplishments. Hundreds of thou
sands of aliens in America cannot
speak English. They huddle togeth
er in colonies in our large cities.
Revolutionary radicals find them and
educate them in radicalism. Give
the radicals credit. They do not
wait for the aliens to step forth and
ask to be taught political insanity;
they hunt up their own pupils.
That is one reason why The Am
erican Legion has been sponsoring
National Eeducation Week, from No
vember 3rd to 9th. American ideals
are unsafe so long as native-born
Americans themselves are complacent
about them. Our ideals are doubly
unsafe so long as we ourselves do
not live up to them. One of our
ideals is universal education, which
is a means toward our most rudi
mentary constitutional ideal—equality
<of opportunity. We will never
THE LINEN SHOP
MRS. L. REINKE, Prop.
Ladies and Infants Wear
Art Goods
Petersburg - Alaska
achieve our own ideals while we per
mit citizens and residents of the na
tion to handicap themselves by illit
eracy.” American Legion, Dec. 8,
1922.
The leaders of this national or
ganization have declared for equality
of opportunity. That has been the
principle upon which this magazine
has stood. This is the principle for
which the Alaska Native Brother
hood has been fighting.
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SING LEE
General Merchant
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