THE FAIRBANKS HERALD
Volume 1.
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, JULY 11,1915.
No. 2.
NOTORIOUS LOBBYIST WOK
AGAINST THE TERRITORY
John E. Ballaine of Seward Active In
the Interests of Those Who are
Opposed to A Goxernment
Railway.
There will be no railroad to Fairbanks if one, John E. Ballaine of Sew
ard have his way, so stated a letter from the above named gentleman to the
Fairbanks Times and News-Miner a few days ago.
John K. Ilallaine, the notorious lobby
ist anil townsite promoter was in Wash
ington, D. C., last winter, working, it
is said, in the iuterest of several groups
of corporations who are opposed to the
government railway being extended to
Fairbanks and other interior points.
There are said to be large transporta
tion and commercial interests in Alaska
who maintain an expensive lobby down
at Washington for the purpose of side
tracking any beneficial legislation to the
territory, or any that will affect or allow
any competition in the field which they
enjoy a monopoly of. John E. Ballaine,
we are informed, is one of the repres
entatives of these interests. As a side
line he carries a large number of city
lots in the town of Seward which he
has forgotten to pay the government for
and which he expects to receive tribute
from. He was at one time promotor of
the Alaska Central Rnilroad, was the
principal person who organized it, was
the principal owner of the stocks, rights
franchises, and properly. He owned
$350,(XX).00 of the preferred stock of
said railway company and claimed a
contingent and contractual interest in
54,000,000 of the common stock. Judge
Wickersham was practicing law at that
time and was attorney for Ballaine in
his suit against the Alaska Central.
Since the days of the building of the
buHding of the Alaska Central things
have taken a change. Government
ownership of railways has become a
popular issne and is being widely ad
vocated. The Government of the United
States has authorized the president to
construct a government owned railway
and placed 535,000,000 at his disposal to
do the work. Fickle fortune, the old
goddess that generally attended the
lobbyist who went down to the capital
of the state or nation, greased the palm
of Senators and congressmen with shares
of stock in retnrn for franchises seems
to-have played falae with Johnnie Ball
aine.
Naturally Ballaine ieels aggrieved.
Instead of being king of a private own
ed railway he has apparently becomes
wildcat promoter of townsite properties
with the promoter’s usual unscrupul
ous!: ;ss.
A Good Man
The Valdez Commoner say:
' 'Bart Thane, the man who made
Juneau famous as a mining center, has
taken an option on the George Her
mann property, on Betties Bay, and wijl
henceforth give this district some atten
tion. A fewr men like Bert Thane are
worth more to a commnnity than a Jim
Hill, but he should not be permitted to
introduce Juneau wages throughout Al
aska. Why permit a mining corporation
to rob Alaska of her gold any more than
we shonld permit a cannery company to
rod her of her fish ?
The Cook Inlet Pioneer is a n ew pa
per pablished at Anchorage. It give
the population of the place as 2,200.
Member of First Legis
lature Dies*
N. J. Svindseth, a member of the first
territorial legislature from Wrangell,
died recently and was buried at his
home town.
Bryan Will Get Votes
of Prohibitionists
Mr. Bryan says: "The aeroplane that
drops its bomb from above and the sub
marine that shoots its torpedo from be
low are less to be feared than the
schooner that crosses the bar.”
Council Will Meet In
Solemn Conclave*
To Transact The Business
o1 Its Constituents.
Monday night the members of the
Fairbanks city council will meet in sol
emn session for the purpose of trans
act its regular business. Some business
houses are doing more business than
others and the council will be asked to
remedy this by raising the licenses of
some and reducing that of others so as
to equalize things a little more.
Thomas A* McGowan
On Way Home*
Will Placate Local Democrats Who
Are Dissatisfied.
I.ocal Democrats will greet with joy
the home-coming of Thomas A. McGow
an, the well known attorney who is re
turning to Fairbanks after a brief visit
to the States. On Me Gowan's arrival
it is said that he will be asked to allay
the dissatisfaction and discord that has
prevailed among the local politicians
since his departure.
Do you want an Independent paper ?
The Herald is Independent.
/
REFEREE ALMOST FINISHED
WITH HIS LABORS
Cecil Clegg, the attorney who was
appointed by Judge Bunnell to sit as
referee and hear testimony in the ease
ot the W. A. Bank has about completed
his labors. As soon as he makes hie
findings they will be sent to Judge Bun
nel, who is at present holding court on
the lower river, for his approval.
ns stake
m FIATS
To Look For Gold Near
Keystone Canyon
VALDKZ.— A number of men have
staked the ground above Keystone Can
yon, known as the Dutch Flats, for
placer gold. Good discoveries have been
made and a diamond drill has already
been taken out by Mr. George Steven
son and others. The discovery of placer
here has caused all of Do we River above
that point to be staked and there prom
ises to be good developments in that
locality. The big slide in the canyon is
all that is in the way of t*he prospectors
getting their outfits to the strike.
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS
WILL LECTURE AT
THE AUDITORIUM
A Christian Scienc Lecturer from
lieadquartercs will speak to all those
interested iu the subject at the Audit
orium on Tuesday night. Everybody is
invited to attend.
Fine Soup.
An old sea captain and his mate went
into a waterfront restaurant in Valdez
to get something to eat, and after sit
ting at a table for a considerable time
were approached by a waiter who plac
before them with a great many flour
ishes a mysterious concoction.
“What is this?” demanded the old
salt in a loud voice.
“Soup, sir,” said the waiter, smiling.
"Sosip, Soup?” questioned the cap
tain. “Lor’, Bill,” (to his mate) “You
and I have been sailing on ‘soup’ all
our lives and we never knew it till
now. ”
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Fairbanks, Alaska.
Dear Sir:
In a discussion going on in
the local papers recently, a writer
claims that the word “wee” is only ap
plied to dainty women and quotes
Bobby Burns as his authority. He is
apparently unacquainted with Burns.
Burns uses the word “wee” in ad
dressing a mouse and a louse. For in
stance:
“To A Mouse”
"Wee, sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous
beastie,
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MALONEY & SON HEADED FOR
CHANDLAR COUNTRY
William and James Maloney left to
day for a prospecting trip in the Clinnd
lar country. They have large holdings
of quaatz and placer in that country,
and it is their intention to spend the
summer in prospecting it more thor
oughly to ascertain if it will warrant
beginning dcvolopinent work on a large
scale or whether it will be necessary to
await the improvement of transporta
tion facilities.
CASEY MAY CO TO
SOUTH AMERICA
Bill Casey of the Northern Hotel and
Ciias. Robinson who recently disposed
of his interest in the Arcade Buffet, are
said to be preparing to go to Buena*
Ayeres in the Argentine Republic, there
to enter business.
ATTORNEY HEUG TO STAY AND
ASSIST IN DEFENDING
SANK CASES
Attorney A. R. Helig, it is reported
will probably stay in Seattle and assist
in defending the suits which will be
brought against Parsons, Schraui and
Webster there next month after which
he will return to Fairbanks.
SOURDOUGH EDITOR TO TAKE
A VACATION
W. F. Thompson of the News
Miner will visit outside.
\V. F. Thompson, editor and manager
of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner,
will leave for the outside shortly. The
News-Miner will be edited by Ollie P.
Gaustad, who is negotiating for the
purchase of the stook owned by Mr.
Thompson.
It will be conducted as a Regular Re
publican paper though some seem to
think that it will be Independent.
War Prices Hitting
The Tanana
The War prices seem to have hit the
Tanana. Flour, sugar and all the rest
of the Hecessaries~are xising. The raise
in the price of outside privisions will
?ause home grown stuff to be more in
demand.
O, what a panic’s in thy breastie!”
and “To A Douse”
“Where you goln’ ve wee bit beastie,
Crawlin’ o’er iny blouse sae hastie?”
Burns, then, apparently .uses the
word “wee” in referring to anything
small, not necessarily of the human
species.
SANDY MACINTOSH
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