DINKEY RAILROAD IN ALASKA
PUZZLES SECRETARY LANE
“Run Your —- Railroad to Suit
Yourself Are Orders Finally
Issued
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 24—
The early standardization of the Tan
ana Valley railroad from Nenana to
Fairbanks, which will be accomplish
ed in the spring, recalls the days when
the “dinkey” road, soon to become
the connecting 'link in the standard
guage system, was the only railroad
in central northern Alaska.
The Tanana Valley road holds a
place in railroad history as the in
spiration for some of the best rail
roading stories ever written. When
the late Franklin K. Lane was sec
retary of the interior, the Tanana
Valley railroad was a thorn in the
side of the interstate commerce com
mission. Whatever regulations the
commission made could apply to ev
ery railroad in America except the
Tanana Valley, because the latter
could boast little that gave it the
semblance of a properly constituted
public utility.
There was a regulation calling for
carrying powder ten cars behind the
engine. For violation of this rule,
and the habit of prospectors carrying
a pack-sack full of dynamite on
the two passenger coaches, the road’s
fines amounted to approximately $2,
000,000.
The United States marshal was ap
pealed to to enforce the regulations,
but when marshal after marshal had
to be sent outside with an escort due
to mental aberration attendant upon
trying to solve the problem, the mat
ter finally was passed up to Editor
Thompson of the Fairbanks News
Miner. Thompson and Secretary
Lane had been old-time typesetters
down in the Okanogan of Canada, so
Thompson wrote Lane and informed
him that the ten-car regulation might
be fraught with serious consequences.
Thompson pointed out that the
road possessed only six coaches and
box cars combined. He said to hook
a carload of powder on a four-car
length of cable and tow it behind was
an undertaking at which even a boom
er railroader balked. Suppose, Mr.
Thompson asked, someone forgot to
set the brakes going down hill and
the carload of dynamite bumped the
string ahead? The entire assets of
the railroad, including many of its
regular patrons, would travel to king
dom come, Thompson declared.
When Thompson finished describ
ing the Tanana Valley road, Secre
tary L::ne went over to the interstate
commerce commission, read the cor
respondence, and issued an order as
follows: “Run your d-railroad
to suit yourself, but remember we
have our eye on you!”
FINE CHRISTIAN GENTLEMAN
MAKES $5,000,000 PROFIT
Fifteen Thousand Girls and Women
Employed at Wages From $8 to
$15 Weekly Is Method Used
CLEVELAND, O., Feb. 24—The
more systematically and scientifical
ly you investigate the present econo
mic and industrial institutions of this
country the more you are convinced
that many of these institutions are
non-Christian, some un-Christian and
a few are anti-Christian, Dr. M. F.
Burns of New York City told the
Sixth, annual meeting of the Council
of Cities of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
“As nearly as we can discover
through government statistics,” said
Dr. Burns, “thirty-two millions of
our people are on incomes of $2000
or less per year, twenty-seven mil
lions are on incomes of $1500 or
less per year; fifteen millions are
on incomes of $1000 or less per
year; ten millions are on incomes
of $500 or less per year; practically
ten million others are without in
come while only five millions of all
the income producers of America en
joy incomes over $2000 per year.
“•Tust after the great world war
had started, I sat at lunch with a fine
Christian gentleman. He said: ‘Doc
tor, T have made a net profit during
tne last twelve months of practically
$5,000,000.’
“I replied:
‘How many folks do you em
ploy?’
“ ‘About 15,000.’
“ ‘Who are they?’
“ ‘Women and girls.’
“ ‘How much do you pay them?’
‘From $8 to $15 per week.’
Mr. Blank, do you think a wo
man or girl can live virtuously, dress
as she must to meet . your clientele,
cat such food as she should on from
$8 to $15 per week?’
“ He replied: ‘Doctor, I am not
concerned as to that item; I am
living well within the business ethics
which the church has builded up dur
ing the last two thousand years.’
“T said: ‘You have a fine oppor
tunity to establish a new precedent.’
“He replied: ‘I expect the minis
ter to do that.’
“I then said: ‘Mr. Blank, what
would happen if your minister should
preach sermons on social justice, con
demning the present social and eco
nomic order, and demanding such
changes as most economists believe
should take place?
“He replied, smiling: ‘I suppose
we would have a change of ministers
at the coming session of our annual
conference.’
“There also is the glaring fact
of unequal distribution. We are
told that in 1920 there were fifteen
men in the state of Illinois whose
combined income was twenty million
dollars. There were, on the other
hand, in that state thirty thousand
families who altogether had no more
than these fifteen men.
“Professor Sims states that ‘one
hundred and eighty men possess one
quarter of the wealth of this repub
lic.’ And this additional statement
has been made that the same one
hundred and eighty men control 85
per cent to 90 per cent of the wealth
of the nation, and a very large per
cent of the wealth of the world. H.
H. Klein, in his “Dynamic America,’
gives the names of one hundred fam
ilies who now virtually control the |
railways and the fourteen basic in
dustries of the country.
“Have we, as the greatest of all
the nations, the passion for moral
equity and social justice to readjust
and recreate industry so as to accord
with the principles and teachings of
Jesus?
“In some ways we must make good
our claims of democracy in industry
as well as in political life. Somehow
co-operation must displace the old
competition and conflict. Finally na
tional brotherhood must be inaugurat
ed.”
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
“I tell you,” said the real estate
agent, “there isn’t a finer residence
on earth than this. Just look at the
wonderful scenery.”
“The scene is all right,” replied the
home searcher. “The only trouble is
there is too much of it between here
and the city.”—The Christian Regis
ter (Boston).
BAD AND WORSE
A man rushed into a tobacco store.
“This cigar you sold me,” he said,
“It’s—it's simply frightful.”
“WJell, you needn’t complain,” said
the tobacconist, “You’ve only got one.
I’ve got thousands of them.”_The
Progressive Grocer.