, Anrljuraijr BafU}
AND COOK INLET PIONEER
VOL. 2. NO. 54.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 1917.
PRICE TEN CENTS.
PETROGRAD, Jan. 3.—For the past two days the Teutonic
armies, under command of General von Mackeusen, have been
attacking the Russian line from the Dvina river, on the north,
to the Danube river, on the south. The attacks have been ex
ceedingly vicious and in all cases have been beaten back by the
Russian forces, with heavy losses to the enemy.
SEES END OF THE WAR.
SOFIA, Bulgaria, Jan. 3.—The Bulgarian premier, speak
► ing in the parliament yesterday afternoon and answering ques
Gns put by the opposing members, declared, “I assure you the
ential part of Bulgaria’s task in this war is done.”
FAMOUS MONK DEAD.
LONDON, Jan. 2.—Newspaper correspondents in the Car
pathians report that Gregory Rasputin, a monk who was re-1
puted to have great influence over Czar Nicholas, because of^
his abnormal powers in lupaling the'sick, is dead. Rasputin'^
body was found on the bank of one of the branches of tit/
river Neva. It is believed he m&t with foul play.
CARPENTIER NOT COMING.
PARIS, Jan. 2.—It, is considered unlikely in Paris that
Carpentier, the French champion heavyweight pugilist, will be
allowed a three months’ furlough in order to have a match
with Jess Willard, ’Jie intJd’s .champion. Carpentier is now
on a month’s leave, due to throat^fouble, but he will return to j
the aviation corps one day this week.
FRIDAY HARBOR, Wash., Jan. 3.
—Albert W. Blanchett, aged 23 years,
was arrested here yesterday, charged
with the murder of Clyde Amons at
Albuquerque, New Mexico, several
years ago. Blanchett attempted to
^unmit suicide when his identity be
iWpne known, but the arresting offi
cers prevented the rash act. Follow
ing the murder, Blanchett fled the
scene and detectives have been scour
ing the country to locate him. He
was finally traced to this place. |
DANCER KILLS
FATHER-IN-LAW
SEATTLE, Jan. 2.—Daniel Darac
ma, a professional dancer, shot and
*^illed Willard Pardee, his father-in
law, last night. Daracma had had a
violent quarrel with his wife. Going
to the home of his father-in-law, and
I failing to find her there, he killed the
victim, following a vicious wordy
quarrel, in which the dancer accused
his father-in-law of seeking to separ
ate the two.
OVER EAST
PASADENA, Cal., Jan. 3.—The
^Jest triumphed over the east for the
jpjco^id time in the second annual pest
Cfr.son football game, when the Ore
gon state university eleven defeated
the University of Pennsylvania elev
en. in a game New Year’s day. Last
year the Washington state university
eleven defeated the Brown university
team.
FROM SEATTLE
Secretary Koch is in receipt of the
following communication from the
Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Cham
ber of Commerce:—Seattle, Wn., Dec.
30, 1916, Anchorage Chamber of
Commerce, Anchorage, Alaska—To
the people of Anchorage and vicinity
the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle
Chamber of Commerce extends best
wishes for the year of Alaska’s semi
centennial that it may be one of un
equalled prosperity in the develop
ment of your mining, fishing and ag
ricultural industries.
J. L. McPHERSON, Manager.
SEATTLE, Jan. 2.—Peter Villa
mueza shot and killed his father-in
law, A. L. Garcia, late last night.
Two others, J. Jaroda and G. H. Lo
rando, yrh© sought to take the gun
away from Villamueza, were badly
wounded. The murderer then took
his own life. Villamueza and his wife
had a quarrel, after which the wife
went to the home of her father. Vil
lamueza followed her there, and upon
the refusal of the fatherin—law to ad
mit him to the home the murderer
drew a gun and killed him.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.—In an ad
dress before the national parks con
ference this forenoon, Secretary of
the Interior Lane advocated that
Mount McKinley, in Alaska and the
Grand Canyon, in Colorado, be created
as national parks.
As there is apparently a great deal
of misunderstanding and confusion
caused by the recent issue of notices
of assessment for maintenance and
operation of Anchorage Townsite to
Sept. 30, 1916, the following state
ment is issued for the information of
all concerned.
This assessment is, as its title indi
cates, for general maintenance and
operation of the Townsite from the
date of establishment until Sept. 30,
1916.
The following items are included on
this roll:
Disposal of garbage .$1,630.58
Fire protection . 884.10
Street and sidewalk mainten
ance . 707.28
Administration and general
office expense . 7,227.50
General engineering and sur
veying . 3,112.25
[ The first of these items, disposal of
garbage, is self-explanatory, as is al
io street and sidewalk maintenance,
s.itl fire protection. It will be under
ood by all who are familiar with the
conduct of the town as to how this
money has been spent.
The fourth item, administration and
general office expense, is, as its title
indicates, expense incurred in the
maintenance of the Townsite office,
apart from the portion borne by the
"'afgU'Sion. This item consists of
c:1<pk hire, accountant’s time, and oth
ei'V.eheral expense in connection with
the conduct of tiie office. The money
expended herein would correspond in
an incorporated city to salaries of city
clerk, treasurer, attorney, health offi
cer, together wjth their assistants,
and necessary stationery, heat, and
other expense. In the establishment
of the townsite this item has been
greater than it will be in the future.
The reasons for this should be quite
apparent, in that a considerable
amount of work in the past in direct
ing and assisting people in the estab
lishment of their homes and busines
ses will not be necessary in the fuJ
ture.
me item, general engineering and
surveying, is chiefly for work done
during the summer of 1915. During
that period most of the engineering
and surveying work was not segre
gated to the different jobs, with the
exception of the water works, which
was charged with its proportion of
engineering and surveying. It has
been necessary therefore to assess
these out as a general assessment
against the whole town. This assess
ment would correspond in an incorp
orated city to maintenance of the
city engineer’s office. This item will
practically disappear from future as
sessments.
With respect to the manner in
which this assessment has been levied,
there have been complaints that it
was exorbitant on the lower priced
lots and insufficient on the downtown
property.
A general basis of charging resi
dence lots or lots without fire limits,
on a ratio of one to three, with busi
ness lots, or lots within the fire lim
its, was established, for this assess
ment. The matter of the value of
lots was not taken into account, but
assessments were levied on the basis
of the service received, and it was
deemed that this service was approxi
mately in the ratio of one to three.
This was exactly the. service ren
dered in the collection of garbage,
where a collection once a yveek is
maintained in the residence districts
and three times a week in the busi
ness districts. It would of course be
a difficult matter in the other services
to state the exact proportion, but it
was felt by those who had done the
work that this was approximately the
ratio of service.
It will therefore be seen that this
assessment, while it is replacing or
taking the place of an ordinary tax
levy in an incorporated city, is an as
sessment for service rather than
money to be placed in the general
treasury. Anchorage has the distinct
advantage ever incorporated cities to
be able to pay for this service after it
is received, the usual custom being to
levy a tax out of which all incidental
expense for the city must be borne,
and it is therefore necessary to levy
upon some other basis than the serv
ice, but when the service has already
been done it is then possible to charge
according to that service.
The complaint has been made that
unimproved property was charged at
the same rate as improved property.
This statement is quite true. This is
done for the reason that all of the
services rendered have been at the
disposal of all parts of the city, and
of all property within the city and
are therefore chargeable to all prop
erty within the city.
With respect to the two largest
items included, it is quite manifest
that it is just as difficult and just as
expensive to the administration of the
town whether any particular lot is oc
cupied or not, and in the matters of
fire protection and garbage disposal,
these two items are necessary to the
proper conducting of the town as a
whole, and it is not an unfair propo
sition to ask the property as a whole
to bear the expense of it.
Authority for the levying and col
lection of this assessment is contained
in the Alaskan Railroad Townsite reg
ulations, under which the lots were
sold. In the contract signed by the
purchaser of each lot at the time of I
the sale, there is included a promise ,
on the part of the purchaser that he
will comply with any and all regula
tions and requirements which the sec- j
retary of the interior in his discretion
may make or authorize to be made for j
the improvement of streets, sidewalks
and alleys, and the promotion of san
itation and fire protection; and it is
further promised that unless all such
regulations and requirements are
complied with the secretary may for
feit the lots, and that his finding of
fact thereon shall be final.
io supervise the matter of sanita
tion and fire protection, and the other
matters incident to the management
of the town, there necessarily must
be a general overhead expense, such
as the keeping of records, the keeping
of time of employes, and the account
ing for the various expenditures, In
spection of buildings, both as to sani
tation and fire protection, and numer
ous other incidentals which it is un
necessary to mention. All of this
work is carried on by authority of the
Townsite regulations, is a necessary
incident thereto, and is in accordance
with the contract of purchase, and
in the event that payment is not made
in accordance with these requirements
it will be necessary for the Alaskan
Engineering Commission to report
the matter to the proper authorities
for action under the regulations.
The ratio of one to three above re
ferred to for residence lots and busi
ness lots is not necessarily a perma
nent ratio. This will be adjusted from
time to time according to the servi
ces which are rendered, and it will
probably be necessary to constitute
several classes rather than only two.
It might be well at this time to call
attention to the fact that assessments
in the Townsite of Anchorage are no
more than they are in other Alaskan
towns, and that in the future they
will probably not be so heavy, as it
is well known to everyone that con
siderable work was necessary in pio
neering in Anchorage which is, practi
cally completed.
The total amount of money to be
recovered by assessment this year for
work done to Oct. 31, will be approx
imately $60,000. It is divided as fol
lows:
Clearing, Grubbing and Gravel
ing . $16,000
Sidewalks and street improve
ments . 14,000
Total water works assessment,
$32,000. This year’s payment,
one fourth . 8,000
Construction of general im
provements, roads, sidewalks
etc. 8,000
Maintenance and operation .. 14,000
The assessments for the first, sec
ond and fifth items have been issued;
for the third and fourth are now be
WASHINGTON, Jan. 3.—Chairman Lane and Messrs.
Gray and Mott, American members of the joint high commis
sion, are in session here today, to determine whether or not
President Carranza shall be given further opportunity to agree
on a basis for future negotiations between the United States and
Mexico.
SUGGESTS VOLUNTARY WITHDRAWAL.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2.—-Counsellor Polk, of the state de
partment, and Charles A. Douglas, attorney for President Car
ranza, of Mexico, held an extended conference today over the
Mexican situation. Douglas suggested that the voluntary with
drawal of the American troops invading Mexico without wait
ing for action by the American-Mexican joint high commission,
would do much toward clarifying the situation.
SEEK TO CURE LAW’S DEFECTS.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 2.—President Wilson and Chairman
Newlands, of the senate committee on interstate commerce, held
a conference today over the matter of expediting proposed rail
way legislation and seeking to remedy faults in the Adamson
eight-hour law so that the railways and the brotherhoods will
have no objection to it.
SEATTLE, Jan. 3.—Thj federal
mining station was opened here today.
George Watson Evans is the mining
expert in immediate charge of the
station, whose field of operations ex
tends to Alaska.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 3.—S. J.
R. Buckley, a Seattle traveling sales
man, was killed in a fight that ensued
among a company of New Year’s
brawlers yesterday morning.
ing prepared, and will be issued with
in the next 30 days.
Taking as a tax rate 20 mills on the
dollar, which is the legal allowable
rate for Alaskan towns, and which is
the prevailing rate in most of these
towns, it would require an assessed
valuation of only $3,000,000 to place
the townsite of Anchorage on an
equal basis with any other Alaskan
town. But in exchange for this $60,
000 the townsite of Anchorage is re
ceiving the benefit of $130,000 which
has been spent by the Commission on
improvements and management of the
town since its establishment. Of this
$130,000 a total of approximately
$84,000 will be finally recovered by
assessment. The remaining $24,000
being deferred assessment payments
on the water supply. The balance
will be met by the Commission.
A valuation of $3,000,000 does not
appear excessive when it is consider
ed that the assessed value of the town
of Seward is $2,500,000.
No town in Alaska, and probably
no town in the United States has
been given the same amount of im
provements that the townsite of
Anchorage has received in an equal
period from the date of its establish
ment. It has been the constant ef
fort of the townsite authorities to do
all in their power to provide the town
site with improvements that would
add to the comfort anti would pro
mote the best interests of the people
living in Anchorage. Taking into
consideration the conditions under
which it has been necessary to make
these improvements, with the town
1,500 miles from a base of supplies,
with short working seasons, high
cost of labor and materials, it is felt
by the townsite authorities that con
siderable has been accomplished in
the way of transforming a wilderness
into a city, for the amount of money
expended.
It is not the intention of the au
thorities to take the credit for the
construction of this town to them
selves, and they have felt the keenest
admiration for the people of Anchor
age for the way in which they have
built up the present city.
With the exception of a few minor
improvements which were considered
by the authorities absolutely neces
sary to the sanitation of the town,
there have been no improvements
made except at the request of the
property holders.
The present assessment, which has
been misunderstood, that of mainten
ance and operation, is due chiefly to
general overhead expense that has
been necessary in the conduct of the
affairs of the town. In the organiza
tion of the town and the rapid growth,
the work of the townsite office has
been very widely diversified. This
office is now being brought to a more
definite basis of operation.
In future this assessment will ap
pear quarterly for business property,
and semi-annually for residence prop
erty. It will contain three items, fire
protection, sanitation and street and
sidewalk maintenance. All office ex
pense and general engineering and
surveying will be divided among the
I various accounts in the proportion of
I their amounts. (Signed)
J. G. WATTS, Townsite Mgr.
OTTO KANITZ IS THE
SUSPECT HELD AT VALDEZ
Otto Kanitz is held as the incendi
ary suspect in the conflagration that
destroyed ,a great part of the business
district of Valdez, according to advi
ces received by the local marshal’s
office. Kanitz is an old-timer and
large property owner in Valdez.
SEN. RONAN WILL PRESENT
BILL FOR HIGH SCHOOI
SEWARD—Senator Jack Ronan has
expressed his willingness to introduce
in the legislature a bill providing for
the creation of divisional high schools
out of the territorial funds. The plan
has been inaugurated here and Seward
will be a strong applicant for one of
the establishments should they be cre
ated.
William Aitken, for many years the
representative in Alaska of the well
known “Schillings’ Best” products, and
who is known all over the territory,
has left that concern and associated
himself with the large tea and coffee
house of Rogers & Co., in Seattle,
where he will make his future home.