How They Worked in 1921
The Natives of Southeastern Al
aska are trying to raise several
thousand dollars to carry on the fight
against the Trap system, and for fair
treatment so that their wives and
children might live. A number of
them, however, feel that the leaders
of the BROTHERHOOD should work
without pay or even money for ex
penses. Among these people are
Jake Williams and Frank Mercer of
Juneau, and a couple of them in
Wrangell and Petersburg.
The reasons the problems of fish
eries and citizenship have remained
unsolved is because smart men like
the above were engaged in personal
fights for personal advancement.
They were so busy in little squabbles
that they did not see that the Na
tives were being pushed off the
earth for lack of proper attention
to school, citizenship and co-opera
tion.
To show such as these how the
canneries and their servants work, I
am printing the following letter. We
get our money in little dabs, while
the cannerymen get theirs in big
chunks and for avowedly political
purposes:
Hotel Seattle.
Seattle, Feb. 9, 1921.
J. T. Barron,
Portland, Oregon,
Dear Mr. Barron:
We don’t want Alaska to go to
the devil entirely. We do not want
Wickersham for Governor, Rustgard
for Judge and Jack White for mar
shal. Wickersham is lined up with
a faction too strong for future good.
Rustgard is so constituted and con
nected that he should not be a judge.
Jack White should have no place
whatever, in any political position.
So we must get busy and do all in
our power to have George C. Hazelet
of Cordova appointed Governor. Af
ter that the appointments can be
made from the best available timber.
McBride, as you know, was chosen
as National Committeeman, and ha^
so far as I know, attended to his
duties in regular political order. The
whole situation has become so acute.
Wick element is so strong that it
seemed positively necessary that
both Hazelet and McBride must go
to Washington, there was no funds
to provide for Jack who had al
ready borne a heavy personal ex
pense to the cause. And it was nec
essary that some one should take the
responsibility of gathering enough
funds to pay. So I have come to
Seattle and have so far succeeded
in quietly gathering enough to jus
tify me in wiring him to leave Ju
neau for Washington which he has
now planned to do on the 14th inst.
As no one cares to have their dona
tions to this fund made public I
have arranged to have all rhe^ks
made payable to E. S. McCord. So
far I have not met with any refusals.
I wish that you would consider this
matter. The donations have so far
run from $100 to $500.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) H. T. TRIPP,
Hotel Seattle, Seattle, Wash.
Citizens who are still sound asleep
should reread this letter and note par
ticularly objectionable sentences. Note
how anxious this man is to have
George C. Hazelet for Governor. Also
note that appointments would there
after be made “from the best avail
able timber.” Also that McBride
has “so far as I know attended to
his duties in regular political order.”
“So I have come to Seattle and have
so far succeeded in quietly gathering
enough”—etc. But the dead give
away of the connery system of gov
erning Alaska is here, “As no one
cares to have their donations” —that
is what they call it—“donations”—
“to this fund made public I have
arranged to have all checks made
payable to E. S. McCord.” I think
I will quit right here. This nause
ating exhibition of these men who
still control Alaskan politics is
enough to make every decent citi -
zen sick. “Donations”! ! Bah! •
-
Mixed Up With
the Scalawags
The people of Ketchikan were
much perplexed for awhile about
who to support at the primaries for
Republican candidate for Territorial
senator, but as time goes on they
are reaching the same conclusion that
the simple minded boy, the son of
the sheep rancher, did relative to
his pet wether.
Jack Davies is quite a popular
fellow in Ketchikan, everybody likes
him and would like to vote for him,
but the story about the simple-mind
ed son of the sheep rancher and
his pet wether best explains the con
clusion nearly all the Ketchikan
voters have reached. The story
runs as follows:
The old sheep rancher was nigh
unto death. His only family con
sisted of two sons, the eldest of
whom was a shrewd, calculating
youth while the younger was little
better than an idiot. Calling his
sons to his bedside, the lying sheep
man said
“My sons, it is curtains for your
pop and before I go I desire to ex
plain something to you. There are
10,000 sheep on the range and you
two will own them when I am gone.
Divide them equally between you,
and you, my eldest son, see to it
that your brother is dealt honestly
by in the division. He is not quali
fied by reason of his infirmity to
care for himself and you are to
guard his interests as closely as you
guard your own.”
The day following the obsequies
of the old man the ten thousand
sheep were driven into a big corral
from which there was an opening
into an adjoining corral. Then the
elder boy got busy and divided the
flock, putting all the scalawags in
one lot and leaving the good sheep
in the other. While he was so en
gaged his simple brother showed no
interest in the division but spent all
his time playing with a pet wether
that he had raised from a lamb and
of which he was very fond. After
4,999 sheep, including all the scala
wags, had been put in a flock, the
pet wether was added to it and the
division was equal so* far as num
bers were concerned. Then the
shrewd brother said to the simple
boy: “Brother, the sheep are divid
ed and I am giving you first choice
of the flocks. Take the one you
wish and I will take what is left.”
Without even a glance at the good
sheep the simple boy went directly
to the corral where his pet was and
going to him knelt down beside
him, put his arms around his neck
and thus addressed him:
“Jackie—boo—I think more of you
than of any other living creature. We
have been—boo—playmates for years.
You have always been true to me.
We have drank milk from the same
pan; we have—boo—ran and romped
together and—boo—when tired we
have lain down and slept together.
But—boo hoo—Jackie, we must part.
Gime me a —boo hoo-hoo—goodbye
kiss, Jackie, you are a fine fellow,
but you are mixed up with a damned
bad lot of scalawags—boo hoo-hoo.
—Alaska Examiner.
Five bills making jury service ob
ligatory upon women were intro
duced ^in the New York assembly
by Senator Straus, of New York.
They follow out the principle of
equal obligation as well as privilege
for women under the law that is
behind a dozen or more other bills
pending in the legislature. Senator
Straus said that women now serve
on juries in 13 states, and that the
proposed legislation has been spon
sored by the League of Women Vot
ers, the Women’s Party, the Wo
men’s City club, of New York, and
the Women’s Municipal league, of
New York, as well as by many of
the state’s most prominent jurists.
■ - ■
Admiral Sims: “This Republic
must not be allowed to fall; but it
can not succeed unless and until
the people realize the sanctity of
law and recognize that a govern
ment official who violates his oath
to defend the Constitution is a dan
gerous criminal.”