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VOL. 2. NO. 74.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1917.
PRICE TEN CENTS,
DEFENSE PROJECTS ARE URGED BY
GENERAL WEAVER, WHO STRONGLY
PLEADS FOR FUNDS FOR PURPOSE
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.—General Weaver, chief of the
coast artillery, appeared before the committee on appropria
•j^ns yesterday afternoon, and made a strong plea in favor of
appropriations for the construction of fortifications at Anchor
age, on Cook inlet, and Seward, on Resurrection bay, which he
described as the two navigable approaches to the government
railway project now under construction. ..“My personal opin
ion,” said General Weaver, “Is that this matter ought to be
taken up immediately, as one of the live projects in the plans
of the defense of the country.”
General Weaver appeared before the committee to make a
^ special plea for the inauguration of this important defense
scheme and to urge an appropriation therefor, so that work
might be started this season. He told the committee that no
provision had been made in the general appropriation bill cov
ering these proposed fortifications, as promised by the com
mittee at the last session of the congress. He declared that the
plans for such work had been submitted to the board of review,
but no action had been taken on them as yet. This, he said,
was not important, as it was a mere matter of detail. The im
portant thing, he said, was to obtain an appropriation at this
session of congress, in harmony with the distinct understand -
i
ing with the committee at the last session.
General Weaver informed the committee that it would take
six years to complete the proposed fortification work and that
he was desirous of beginning this season.
NOTE—Early last spring, according to information oh-,
tained by The Times, reserves for fortification purposes were
established at Point Campbell, on the Anchorage side of Knik
arm; Point McKenzie, on the opposite side of the arm, and on
Point Possession and Fire island.
fflf 96 VOTES. SO FAR
i
JUNEAU, Jan. 26.—The official canvassing board today
released for publication figures with respect to the delegate
election, which show that Delegate Wiekersham, according to
tl f official count as far as completed, has a lead of 96 votes
over Sulzer, the democratic candidate. It may be three months
before the canavss can be completed, as the canvassing board
is awaiting the oath of election judges in certain precincts
which failed to arrive with the returns from those precincts.
The count in the First division is complete and has been offi
cially canvassed and passed. The Second division vote is can
vassed, with the exception of the Utica precinct, in which the
delegate has a plurality of 15 votes. The Third division vote
has been canvassed, with the exception of the Bristol bay pre
cincts, where Wiekersham is unofficially reported to have a
lead of 15 votes. The Fourth division returns are not com
plete.
The returns, so far as counted by the canvassing board,
are as follows:
Wiekersham
First division. 1,966
ijlSecond division .886
Third division ....iru j 1,972
Fourth division .11,468
» , ’ "4^
Sulzer
2,395
673
1,683
1,445
6,292 6,196
Wiekersham’s lead . 96
The only legislative place in doubt is in the Second divi
sion, where Tom Reed, republican, will be defeated by Corrigan,
democrat, when the Utica returns are counted, by a very close
margin.
BERLIN, Jan. 26.—Kaiser Wilhelm has conferred upon
Twieral von Mackensen, colnmander-in-chief of the Teutonic
forces in the Roumanian campaign, the grand cross of the
iron cross, the highest honor that can be bestowed in the mat
ter of crosses or medals.
BOOST HARBOR
Such things are only allowed in the
newspaper business and while it is
hardly fair to Colonel Revell and
Frank Cotter and may get them in
bad in .their own town it is entirely
too good to keep, and the people of
Anchorage should know. These two
Seward citizens have undergone a
change of heart and for various and
sundry reasons have come out openly
in favor of Anchorage and made the
following statements in the presence
of such reputable citizens as Art
Shonbeck, Jimmie Lankin and Johnnie
Barrett.
For instance the doughty colonel
says: “No sir, I shall never be a
party to anything of the kind and
do not think it fair for the people of
Seward to take advantage of weak
ness and bribe part of the crew. Of
course Captain Peterson could not
get in with a mutinous crew and the
idea of them doping one of the chief
engineers at the. last minute and put
ting a dyed-in-the-wool Sewardite in
his place. Anyone who has been in
this country as long as I have knows
well enough that she can get in here;
the waters of the bay today, and in
fact for the past two weeks would ad
mit any of the ocean liners. I have
claimed Seward as my home but be
lieve in fair play. Chief Nicholi was
qu'te right in his prognostication and
from my experience on these waters
I will frankly admit that it is only a
question of a short time until the
Anchorage harbor will surpass it and
it wouldn’t surprise me to see the
government establish a naval base at
this point. I further realize the per
manency of Anchorage and on one of
my future return trips will dispose of
my holdings in Seward and will cast
my lot with the people of Anchorage.”
The colonel was welcomed into the
-SW
chosen circle and was made comfort
able. yjawever no particular surprise
was expressed, for his listeners have
long known it was only a question of
time until he would see the error cf
his ways and flop. They did wait a
litt'e anxiously to hear what Frank
■Jotter would say to the colonel’s ap
parent treachery but were dishnbued
at Frank’s first sentence. “Colonel,"
said Frank, “I am certainly glad to
hear you talk that way, for it gives
me an opportunity to get some things
off my chest that have been worrying
me ever since the Anchorage-Seward
baseball /series and this is the golden
opportunity. Coming from a sporting
family that has always taken an ac
tive part in clean athletics, and I will
admit have also gleaned a few medals
and marks of distinction, the foreign
combination of Lee-Williams his al
ways stuck in my craw and it was al
ways with a blush of shame that I
boasted of Seward winning the series.
Especially did I experience a twinge
of conscience when I observed the
sportsmanlike manner in which the
Anchorage boys took their defeat. I
will admit, with the balance of the
Seward merchants that the four thou
sand simoleons the boys left in Sew
ard materially assisted in making a
hard winter much brighter. And then
again my visits to Anchorage are al
ways made pleasant by these cour
teous good fellows and never a breath
of suspicion is .uttered about our
sending to Seattle for Lee-Williams.
No sir, they have us backed off the
board and I certainly dread the re
turn games next season as far as
Seward is concerned for I realize by
the present expressive attitude right
here that they will not reciprocate in
kind but will ‘turn the other cheek’
and give us oil and wine and maybe
bread when we deserve a stone.
“I als* heartily agree with you col
onel as to the placid waters of this
bay and from my unlimited know
ledge, not being a seafaring man, I
would be willing to wager that even
Fred Tracy or Barney Watson could
safely bring her in and tie her to the
government dock.
"And I further think, colonel, that
you are showing splendid business ac
umen in making the change and only
MANCHESTER, Eng., .Ian. 26.—At a labor conference, at
tended by delegates from ail parts of the British empire, a res
olution was unanimously adopted urging, “That all British
representatives at the peace conference should work for the
formation of an international league to enforce the maintenance
of peace on the plan advocated by President Wilson, of the
United States.”
The unanimous passage of the resolution brought forth,
a tremendous response, manifested by cheers, waving of hats
and other methods of expressing the feelings of the delegates,
as well as the spectators.
ROOT INDORSES WILSON’S SPEECH.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 26.—Eliliu Root, formei* secretary of
state and former United States senator, one of the leaders in
the republican party, in an address last night before the Na
tional Security league, declared that he was in full sympathy
with the purposes of President Wilson’s plan for the mainten
ance of world peace, as revealed in his speech in the senate and
which, Root declared, contained “such noble sentiments.”
BERLIN, Jan. 26.—Russian positons on a six-mile front in
j the northern end of the Russo-Galieian line have been captured
by the Teutonic troops, according to official reports issued by
the war office today. Many Russian prisoners were taken,
says the report, and the Russian troops were forced to retire
to second line trenches. The battle continues today.
—
SHELL GERMAN WARSHIP.
LON DON, Jan. 26.—A single German cruiser appeared off
the coast of Suffolk during the night and was shelled by the
coast defense forts. So far as known, the shelling did no dam
age. _
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 27.—Five
hundred fallen women attended the
Central Methodist church here last
night, going in a body to ask the pas
tor, Rev. Paul Smith, the leader in the
vice crusade, what he proposed to do
with them. The reverend gentleman
informed the prostitutes that he was
fighting their landlords—not them.
“For you women,” said the pastor, “I
have but the most heartfelt sympathy.
For the humans that own the property
in which your illicit trade is plied, I
have the most profound contempt, the
more so because most of them consid
er themselves models of society.”
wish that my affairs were in such
shape that I too could make the
change and have but the one store
and that store in Anchorage.”
Frank received the congratulations
of the surprised but happy listeners
and he and the colonel both knew that
from the very bottom of the heart
came the time-worn but appropriate
ixpression — WELCOME TO OUR
CITY.
ALASKA HAS
TO PUT BACK
SEATTLE, Jan. 26.—The steamer
Alaska, of the Alaska Steamship line,
sailed en route to Alaskan ports at 9
o’clock this forenoon. When five
miles out of Seattle, the steering gear
broke, compelling the steamer to re
turn for repairs, under the tow of
the steamer Jefferson. Repairs will
be rushed and it is figured that the
boat will sail again at 9 o’clock to
night. There were 80 passengers on
board, bound to Alaska points.
MEN KILLED
SEATTLE, Jan. 27.—An auto
plunged through the railing of the
bridge at Bothell this morning and
killed the two occupants, who were
well-dressed young men and whose
remains have not, as yet, been identi
fied.