PUBLIC OWNERSHIP
Sixty thousand men and women
Shivered ’mid the ice and snow,
And the ground is full of fuel;
But, they dassent touch it. No!
Coal enough to melt the glaciers
Stars at ’em from every turn,
More than seven million acres,
But, there’s not a ton to burn.
—Alaska-Yukon magazine.
It would probably not cost more than
a million dollars to build a railroad into
the Matanuska coal fields. With an
investment of less than two million dol
lars, the United States could, probably,
build the road, and open the coal fields.
“The kingdom of Norway,” says a
Juneau man who is familiar with con
ditions there, “operates iron mines in
Lapland, and it has no steel trust prob
lems. These mines were formerly held
by private parties, and to get hold of
them the Swedish government institut
ed condemnation proceedings. Subse
quently the United Steel Trust offered
$50,000,000 for the property, but it was
refused. Six thousand men are employ
ed by the Swedish government in get
ting out the ore. Ninety per cent of
the out put is taken by the Krupp Gun
Works of Germany.
Of the machinery for putting the Al
aska coal on the market, the railroad,
is just as essential as any. If private
individuals furnish the railroad, cer
tainly they should be allowed a large
margin of possible profits, to compen
sate for the possibilities of loss. If the
margin of profit is fixed low, the chan
ces are altogether in favor of a failure
to induce capital to furnish the funds.
There is just one practical w’ay to
insure the opening of the coal fields
within a reasonable time—and that is
ior the government to own its own road
into the fields. The government of the
United States has paid for railroads be
fore—it paid more for the Union Pacific
than the Union Pacific should have cost,
for instance, and does not own the rail
road either.
We might as well recognize the fact
that the public ownership idea, wdiether
we like it or not, has come to stay.
Hundreds of cities all over the United
States, are saving tidy sums for their
citizens, by owning the electric light
plants, and water works. Unquestion
ably, the public ownership or railways
will be an issue in a national campaign
before many years, and sooner or later
the American people are bound to try
the experiment. Why not try it in
Alaska? The idea could fail in Alaska
as cheaply as anywhere in the United
States, and that the idea will be tried
out, must be tried out in America, some'
time is inevitable.
»ig capital must develop Alaska.
That big capital must be furnished by
private individuals or by the govern
ment of the United States. And, as
Pinchot said in his speech at Juneau,
the most that the coal fields can mean
to us is cheap fuel.
Alaska needs coal it is true, but there
is seldom a winter when there is not a
coal famine on the Pacific coast. Coal,
in Seattle and San Francisco, many
times in many winters, sells for as high
a price as $10 a ton in Pacific Coast
cities. Half that sum ought to be suf
ficient for coal either in San Francisco
or Seattle, and coal should cost much
less to the consumer on Gastineau chan
nel.
It is certain, however, that the price
of coal will not be reduced, either in
Alaska or on the Pacific coast, until the
Alaska coal fields are open. And the
only fair, practical and certain way to
open them is for tke government to
open them, and to build a railroad to
the Alaska seaboard. No one ever has,
and no one ever can monopolice water
transportation on any ocean. The trans
portation from the Alaska coast will
regulate itself.
AMONG THE FISHERMEN
The Dick with 30 boxes, the Annita
with 35 the Active with 35, Porpoise
with 20 and the Anita Phillips with 50
arrived in port this week. The latest
market report received here quotes fish
at 5 cents in Seattle.
The Sourdough is making arrange
ments to receive a fish market report
from Seattle by cable every Monday
afternoon.
AN UNOFFICIAL DUEL
Lieuts. Livermore and Denny, U. S.
A., were boon companions. Circum
stances had ever since the war brought
the Ninth Infantry and the Second
Artillery to garison at the same posts,
and these two young officers found
each other’s companionship to be more
than usually agreeable. They were
waiting at Ft. Mason, San Francisco,
in 1867, for an order that would put
them again on the march to Ft. Chur
chill, Nevada. Little difference does
it make to the soldier where he pitches
his camp, so save for the trifling in
convenience of ordering heavier cloth
ing, a change of orders detailing these
two detachments to Alaska instead of
Churchill hardly excited comment at
the post.
Room mates at the officers club at
Sitka, Denny and Livermore settled
themselves in the great log building
and arranged themselves comfortably
for the winter.
Sweethearts they might have left be
hind them in San Francisco, but mem
ory of such, if there were, was lost to
both the young lieutenants when they
met Inez.
The drop of ancestral Indian blood
which coursed through her veins made
itself manifest in the color of her
cheek, the brightness of her eyes and
the grace of her carriage. Livermore
and Denny both became ardent suitors
for the hand of Inez. Livermore’s suit
was favorable in the girl’s eyes; and
Denny soon learned that his friend wTas
winning in the race in which they were
both running.
Denny told his story of love to the
girl; told her howT miserable and void
life would be to him without her; but
she listened with a deaf ear, and told
'him that her heart was given to ano
ther. Livermore’s words of love sank
into the girl’s heart; and it was will
ingly, with a happy spirit, that she
said “yes” when he asked her to be
his wife.
Denny could not be persuaded that
it was his duty to rejoice with his
comrade in his good fortune; nor could
he wish him long life and happiness.
He became morose, quarrelsome and
provoking. He sought other quarters
and the bonds of friendship of the two
young officers were cut. The chasm
grew between them and their every
meeting provoked a quarrel. Happy in
his good fortune, Livermore’s cheerful
parries to Denny’s thrusts served only
to more keenly antagonize the latter,
and it was inevitable certain that a
crisis was at hand.
It is an easy matter to wound honor
when honor is flauntingly paraded in a
challenging attitude for attack. It may
have been a word; it may have been a
look; it may have been imagination,
or it may have been a purposely placed
misconstruction on a chance word from
Livermore which wounded Denny’s
sense of honor.
“I have done nothing, I have said
nothing, my dear Denny, for which I
consider an apology necessary to you.
I love Inez, and I know that she loves
me. My suit for her hand has been
fair, open and honorable. Unfortunate
ly for you, perhaps, you have failed.
Why should that make enemies of usf
Nq* I have not stepped from the path
of honor and to you I owe no apology.n
“The lordly attitude.you have taken
with your morals,/’ replied Denny
“sounds like rubbish to me. I only,
tell you. npw, as I have communicated
to you before, yon will apologize or
fight.”
Denny and Livermore were granted
permission by the commanding offlfeer
to leave the post, at Sitka on a three
days’ leave for a hunting trip.
Having purchased at the settlers’
store, articles of food to be taken on
the expedition, a party of four, Lieuts.
Livermore, Denny and Foote and Mr.
Lowthen, a clerk in the settlers’ store,
left Sitka early in the morning and
crossed the Indian river.
That evening, just as the chimes of
the old Greek church were tolling the
curfew, Denny, Foote and Lowthen re
turned to the village, bearing the body
of young Livermore. At the inquest
held on the body the three men testified
to the accident which had caused the
death of their comrade and friend.
“While climbing up a precipitous
trail the deceased was in the lead, fol
Bargains
This Week
Cor
sets!
We are the exclusive agents for the
Redfem and Warner’s Rustproof cor
sets. In all forms and materials, the
best line of corsets made. .$1.25 to $10.
STUBBINS
WELL MADE AND BEAUTIFUL
F
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Dow mol eoet u mueh as some people
But Our Chair* and Table*
Book Cases, sad indeed all Our Furni
ture adds znueh to the cosiness of home.
Alaska Furniture & Undertaking Co.
L. G. THOMAS, Mgr.