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Saturday, May 22.
Wiekersham is writing history of
Alaska.
1 |*s has submitted a brief of his manuscript to
some o'his admirers for inspection and criticism. Oi
course he does not appreciate criticism. He always solicits
approbation. However let us review it.
Aecording to the Wickersham chronology, Book 1,
Chapter 1. After delving deep Into the Chinese archives,’
down close to the bottom, Mr. Wickersham has dug up
some overlooked records. He has discovered that at some
time prior to the year 49). A, if, a Buddhist priest named
Hoei Sain, traversed the shores of Alaska. Returning to,
{he Fiowery Kingdom in the year 4*9, and described the
great Han country and the Kingdom of Fusing, which he
located in the j.ur eastern regions. There appears to be con
siderable doubt in Mr. "Wickersham’e mind -as to just1
where Hoei Shin landed, but as there is a long coast line
to America between Baffin’s Bay and Cape Horn, it is not j
necessary to fully determine just where Hoei Shin landed.
Of course iimmie s veracity should never be questioned.
We should all concede the fact Jhat H re: made the trip at
any rate, as it is of little consequence whether he did or
not.
He is very precise in detailing the aeconnts of “Hoei”
and many of the other early explorers mentioned in history
and liction, even to Gulliver's Travel;, and remind; u; of
the Lilliputi and the Brobdignags that have often confused
the minds of school children. But he inadvertently over,
looks all the modern exploiters. Jimmie is a great anti
quary. Events must be very old before they attract his pro
found attention.
If he would only modernize his researches and
delve as deeply into what has been^oing on under his
own nose in Alaska for years, he would be a mere valuable
historian. If he would delve as deeply into the histories of
the A. C. Co., the N. A. T. and T. Co., the N. N. Co., the
White Pass Co. and all others that have been robbing the
peopie of the Yukon river an 1 its tributaries for lo these:
many years, through excessive freight rates, and when he
returns to Congress, introduce some effective measure to
prevent a continuance of the plundering of the already
overburdened people of Alaska by those transportation
companies, he would be rendering a much better service
to tne people of this territory than by writing up old anti
quities, be they historic or fictitious-.
Before returning to Washiagtsu agil.i, he might refresh
his memory a little by b eking over seme of the court re
cords, especially the testimony given in the case entitled
Tan'ana Trading Company versus N. A, T. and T0 C-a., and
Stop A.1!
PIONEER HOTEL
FMRBANKS
DAVE PETREE, PROPBI&I3R:
'."f . .? - '■ ■ — ■■ ..T<
preseirt that testimony before f
the now sympathetic congress
that will enab e him to act. Un
der the plea that congress was
not in sympathy with Alaska,
Mr. Wickershsm has refrained
from doing anything that would
curtail the powers and the plun
der of transportation companies
that have throttled progress in
Alaska. He now proposes to write
history of early days and ignore
what is going on at present.
Future historians will undoubt
edly chronicle facts that will
throw some light on conditions
as they weie fn Alaska ■during
the. first decade of the twentieth
century, and it will readJboutas
follows:
Abeut the year 1900, A. I).,
there came to Alaska a broken
Jovvn politician, lobb* ist and
lawyer of mediocre ability, from
a place named Tacoma 'in the
state of Washington, who for
services rendered there as apoli
tical wire puller In that state, se
cured an appointment as a fede
ral judge to Alaska. He had
great difficu'ty in securing; a con
firmation of his appointment by
the U. S. Senate. He landed at
Nome and at once took up the du
ties of the office. He found the
inhabitants of the territory in a
very crude state of civilization
and very susceptable to hull con,
which he handed out in large
quantities. Enforcement of the
law was a secondary considera
tion, as Was evidenced by the
many forihs Of lawlessness being
carried on within his jurisdiction.
Gambling, Drunken ess, prostitu
tion and many forms of moral
debauchery were ram
pant. The moral 'atmospner^
within his jurisdiction was indeeo I
putrid. He used more high soun
*• i
ding words in denunciation''there
of, with less real meaning than
any man that had ever struck
the territory. The pimp, the gam
bier and the whole lazaroni had
their inning. ‘'Let her go Galla
gar!” Miners and workingmen
were defrauded out* of their wa
ges, kHled in the mines through
'======— -T-+,
the criminal negligence of em
ployee, and buried at the ex
pense of themselves or by the
contributions of their fellow
working men who were fortunate
enough to survive them. Hear
ings in court of which there
should have been many, in wage
cases were always kept on the
tail end of the court calendar,
ahd whenever thrashed out in
court, were usually decided a
gainst the wage claimant. Usuri
ous fates of interest were charg
ed on loans to the operators of
mines by the banks of which the
courts took no cognizance.
The gteat Judge spent more of
his time travelling through the
states or at Washington D. C.
trying to secure his judicial con
firmation by the Senate, than he
did attending to the duties of his
office as judge in Alaska. (End
of chapter 1)
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Troubles Of
City Fathers
Our City Council is sure up a
gainst a tough proposition. Thou
ands in debt and less coming in
than last year, The school board
demanding another teacher at a
time when retrenchment seems
absolutely necessary, the council
is sure up against it.
Dan Callahan wants to dis
pense with the services cf- the
Chief of Police and the City. At
torney. The other councilman
rather frown on this measure
though they are all agreed -on the
necessity of retrenchment. A sa
ving of $117. a month has been
made by the N. C. reduction of
the price ef the city-lights. Calla
han wants to further reduce the
light bill by cutting out the city
lights on moonlight nights. This
the company will not stand for.
The city can evidently be com
pared to a tmall bark trying t6
carry too much sail and badly in
need of a big reef in the main
sail. __
Are You One Of The
Socialists who Says
“Yes I aih a socialist—bean one for many years—always vo.
the ticket—but 'I do not belong to the organization.” If yoh ar>
n that class, you should get out of it The only Socialists tha
count are the ono3 that pay their
little 25 cent dueE per month,' and
aid in the work of the party organi
zation. These are the fellows tnat
are making the Socialist l’arty the
great force for the common good in
America. The capitalist class won’t
finance our party and wc don’t
'want them to. Its the twenty-five
cents per'tatonth from its thousand
of real Socialists that keep the
wheels of the organizatioii goi
Come on in and find out how we
run things. You will have iust as
much to say as another. We i:avo
made it easy for you to take t-ha
first step—below is a coupon whiflib
ycu should
Gut Out, Tear 6ff And Mail today
To N. R. King, Fairbanks, L. Westenvik,
(bleary City.
I am convinced that I should be ainember of the organization you >•
roseai. nai do no om to take iny ap)»lioa.ion.
Name
Address.
1 will be ct home
McIntosh & kubon
Prescription Druggists'
,EET FAIRBANKS. ALASKA
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