Spirit Of Xmas Shines Afar
«
Christmas Eve on a United
States destroyer, ploughing
through the ocean. Fifty of Uncle
Sam’s sailors are gathered in the
mess hall, faces scrubbed, hair
freshly brushed. The engines
throb, the steam pipes hiss, as
they kneel for an hour of worship.
The room is cold and gray and
bare, except for one splash of
color at the end of the room—a
triptych (altar-piece in three sec
tions) standing on a table covered
with a white cloth. Its panels
show a convoy entering the harbor
and above hovers the Madonna,
holding the Christ child surround
ed by angels. As the flickering
candles light its brilliant reds and
blues and gold, the bare little
room becomes a chapel, filled with
the spirit of Christmas peace. The
chaplain concludes his opening
prayer and the strong young
voices rise in a chant—“Oh Come
All Ye Faithful ...”
Many a scene like that will be
enacted on Christmas Eve in jun
gle, desert and mountain pass—all
of them centered around a color
ful portable triptych. Behind those
triptychs stands the Citizens Com
mittee for the Army and Navy,
and behind it a woman.
She is Mrs. Junius Morgan,
daughter-in-law of the late Wall
Street tycoon, J. P. Morgan. Her
husband, a former vice president
of J. P. Morgan & Co., is now on
leave as a captain in the Navy.
Mrs. Morgan, brown-haired and
blue-eyed, is president of the Cit
POLAR CURIO
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izens Committee for the Army
and Navy, originally founded as a
regional group of New York and
New Jersey citizens who wished
to be of service to the U. S. Army
27th Division, and later extended
to a national organization.
"The Iriptychs started as a re
sult of a visit I made to an Army
camp," said Mrs. Morgan in the
committee's New York headquar
ters recently. "I asked what we
citizens could do for the soldiers
and was told they needed beauty
and wanted something which
would mean tradition. The subject
of their religious services came
into the conversation too. And
later, on the way home I thought
of the triptychs as the answer to
all those needs.
“That was more than two years
ago. Since then we have suppliei
300 original triptychs and 200
smaller and less expensive repro
ductions for the armed forces. The
300 originals were painted by very
fine artists who worked for a
nominal sum that barely covered
the cost of paints. The committee
supplies the triptychs—wood ones
for the Army and metal ones for
the Navy. And the whole thing is
supported by subscription. Army
and Navy chaplains let us know
their needs and we have a trip
tych painted especially for them.
"These triptychs, which are
portable and compact, give a re
ligious atmosphere to services
anywhere. Put one on a stage and
you have a chapel. Our work don't
end with the war. Think of our
350 Dead From
Xmas Accidents
i
Black crepe replaced the green
1 holly on scores of homes in the
i nation as mouring for victims of
violent deaths over the Christmas
holiday. A survey disclosed that
approximately three hundred fifty
persons were killed violently.
More than half of them were vic
tims of auto accidents. Traffic fa
talities numbered 176, while at
least sixty-one persons died of
fires. Violent deaths from miscel
laneous causes accounted for 111
j victims.
| ' " " —
young people who are in service
all over the world after the war,
and you will see that there is
plenty of need for the work to go
on.
Mrs. Morgan is no figure-head
i president. She always had a deep
interest in art and takes a keen
interest in each triptych and its
. design. She spends a large part
' of each day in supervising the
I triptych program in the committee
headquarters. This fall she and
her committee made a special
drive to supply a number of fight
ing units with triptychs in time
for Christmas services. As a result
of their work, boys will worship
before them on Christmas Eve in
United States camps, Germany,
Alaskan snows, South Sea Islands,
! Japan, China, and wherever they
are located.
ARCTIC OIL DELIVERY
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Phone Black 19
Taxation Heavy
front in ued from Page Six'*
nnrt of the Territorial Government.
Wp ask what nriv51e"es he is
horror! from0 He could enter his
rh’'Hren in school here should he
p*->nncp to bring fhprn to Alaska.
The schoolinc would cost hfm
nothin". He has the same nrivi
le"e of everv resident desnite his
self-classification of a non-resi
dent.
The writer has access to the
courts of Alaska, protection of the
laws of Alaska and all the bene
fits that anv other resident of
Alaska mav have. If he renews his
contract with the railroad long
enough he will even be entitled to
free residence in the Pioneer
Home at Sitka in his old age.
The writer aooarentlv saw
something desirable in coming to
Alaska to work, else he wouldn’t
have done so. His iob exists be
cause there is economy develon
ment in Alaska. This develonment
was made possible only through
the establishment of civil govern
ment.
We can cite history as proof
that development is impossible
without government. From 1867
until 1884 when the first civil law
was provided for Alaska, there
was no develonment. Land could
not be owned. Lovers could not be
married. The dying man could not
w’ll his propertv to his son with
any assurance the son would get
it. There was no encouragement
for economic development. Alaska
is a striking example of the need
of civil government if economic
government is desired.
Yet the writer in Whittier, who
cares so little for Alaskft and
wants to keep the lion’s share of
his $306.50 a month, cannot see
why he should contribute five dol
lars to the support of the Terri
torial government.
We don’t know where the writer
came from to Alaska, but we dare
say that he would be paying a
great many taxes if he were to
earn $306.50 a month as a waiter
in his home state.
Perhaps he would have proper
j ty taxes, sales taxes, and an in
come tax. In Alaska he is free of
every sort of taxation except the
j five dollars school tax and the
federal taxes which are universal
under the American flag.
The Whittier waiter is taking a
I “free ride’’ on the salmon indus
try along with every other Alas
kan. The five dollars he pays in
school tax is far below his share
j of the tax burden of the Territory.
Instead of realizing how lucky he
is he chooses to protest the five
dollars.
Alaska could legally impose
many taxes on him. One of the
simplest forms of tapping the
transient worker who contributes
so little to Alaska and takes out
so much, would be a gross tax on
income. Hawaii has it.
Under the Hawaiian law the
maximum tax is two per cent of
the gross income. This waiter,
with an income of $3,678 a year at
whittier, would thus be called up
ion to pay $73.56 a year for his
share in supporting the Territorial
government, whose benefits he
can enjoy on an equal footing with
any other citizen in Alaska.
There is food for thought in the
waiter’s complaint—both for the
waiter, and for all other Alaskans.