The
ALASKA SOURDOUGH
Published for the Sourdough and
the Chechako as well, by A. B. Calla
ham.
Subscription price, $3.00 a year;
Six Months, $1.60; Three Months, $1.00.
Single Copies Ten Cents.
Issued Every Tuesday
Entered at the Post Office at Doug
las, Alaska, as second class mail mat
ter.
Home Office, Old Methodist Church
Building, Douglas, Alaska. Tel. 36.
NO SOUP HOUSES
For all of her Taku, and all the oth
er unpleasant features of her winter
climate, southeastern Alaska is in many
respects a jolly good place to live even
in the winter.
At this season of the year, bread 'inos
are forming in New York, soup houses
are being established in other cities,
and in still other cities there are poor
wretches who wish for both. Here in
Alaska there are no bread lines and no
soup houses, and no need of either.
Pleasant is even a plate of beans, eaten
with the reflection that there is no hun
gry human beings within several hun
dred miles.
CLEAN TITLE TO ALASKA
‘‘On the whole','’ observed Hubert
II. Bancroft in his preface to his his
tory of Alaska, ‘‘the people of the
United States have not paid an exhor
bitant price for the ground on which
to build a nation. Trinkets and trick
ery in the first instance, followed by
some bluster, a little fighting and a lit
tle money, and we have a fair patch of
earth, with a good title, in which there
is plenty of equity, humanity, sacred
rights and star-spangled banner. What
we did not steal ourselves we bought
for from those who did, and bought it
cheap.
“Therein we did well, have that
much more to be proud of, and to con
firm us in our own esteem as a great
and good nation; therein lies the great
merit—the price we paid. Had it been
dear as has been some meager strips
of European soil, over which France,
Germany and the rest have fought for
centuries, spending millions on millions
of lives and money, all in the line of
insensate folly, and for that which they
could not keep and were better off
without—then we would cease boasting
and hold out for peace. But our nei
ghbors have been weak while we wore
strong; therefore it is not right to pay
them much for their lands.
“Ignoring, as we do, the birthright
of the aboriginal races, that had no
Christianity, steel or gun powder, we
may say that the title to the Mississippi
valley was settled, and the Oregon ter
ritory adjudged to be ours, by divine
right. Texas came easily; while one
month's interest, at the then current
rates, on the gold picked up in the Sier
ra foothills during the five first years
of American occupation would repay
the cost of the Mexican war, and all
that was given for California and the
adjoining territory.
“In the case of Alaska we have one
instance where bluster would not win;
fighting was not to be thought of; and
so we could pay for the stationary ice
bergs or let them alone.. Nor with
money easy, was Alaska a bad bargain
at two cents an acre, it was indeed
cheaper than stealing, now that the
savages receive the teaclrogs of civil
ization in reservations.”
SOME SUGGESTIONS
The Sourdough has received the fol
lowing communication from a citizen
of Juneau, which are at least inter
esting:
It was manifestly evident at the re
cent fire at the Alaska S.| S. Co’s dock
that there is much need for reform in
the manner of fighting fires iu Juneau.
I realize that it is a very easy matter
for the spectator or bystander to offer
criticisms in a matter of this kind and
I also realize that the members of the
department all volunteer their services.
It is not my intention to criticize the
motives or the individual efforts or sac
rifices of any member of the department
but to simply offer a few practical sug
gestions which appear to me to be in
order at this time.
At the dock fire, and at the hotel
fire, there existed a state of affairs
which to my mind greatly retarded the
efforts of the fire fighters and reduced
their efficiency, namely, the promiscu
ous intermingling with the firemen in
the immediate vicinity of the blaze of
the spectators and others who should
have been kept well away from Ihc
scene of operations in order to allow
the firemen who were fighting the fires
a chance to work unimpeded.
1 do not for a minute doubt the good
intentions of some of these people, nor
wish to belittle whatever good they
rendered in some instances, still 1 be
lieve the amount of liinderance which
they offered in acting thus more than
offset whatever good was done in in
dividual cases. I believe in leaving
the fire to the firemen to fight, because
they are there for that purpose, have
had the experience and most likely
would call on the spectators for aid
when the case demanded it. Further,
a small body of men under intelligent
leadership can do more effective work
in ten minutes than the whole populace
can do in ten hours working on their
own accord and giving orders promis
cuously.
To obviate a continuance of this state
of affairs at future fires it would seem
advisable that the mayor or the coun
cil should take steps immediately to
vest the city marshal with authority
to deputize about a dozen persons
whose duty it will be to respond to
fires and at the direction of the mar
shal establish fire lines, within which
no one will be allowed except those
having business there. In cases re
quiring the hauling of hose, removal of
furniture, etc., the marshal could allow
this to be done in an orderly manner
by responsible people, thus doing away
with a great deal of confusion that
now exists at every fire.
I have nothing but praise for the
present fire chief, and I believe he has
his men with him at all times and that
they respond to his commands with
explicit obedience, but I think that
his labors at times are of a too physical
nature. I would suggest that he dis
continue taking active part in extin
guishing the fires and think it would
be far better for him to simply take a
stand where he could watch the pro
gress of the blaze and direct the efforts
of his men. Further the firemen should
be directed to take no orders from any
one except himself and whatever other
lieutenants he may designate—the few
er the better, as with the least num
ber of persons issuing orders the small
er the chance of cross orders being
given. One thing noticeable at the
dock fire was the number of people
giving orders, with the resulting con
fusion.
v\ ltli regard to the personnel ot the
present department, 1 believe that it
would be just as effective, if not better,
if about one-quarter of the men were
weeded out and others substituted in
their places. If there is any qualifica
tion that a fireman needs, it is cool
ness. This should be coupled with good
judgment and a disposition to do what
he is told. At the recent big fires, it
wTould take a Marathon runner to keep
up with some of them; they changed
their minds and their positions so many
times. They would receive an order
to do something and would go to do it
for about five minutes, after which
things seemed to grow monotonous for
them and they would change their posi
tion to some other point. This con
dition is up to the members of the de
partment themselves and can only be
remedied by them. A fire department
is like a company of militia. They
should have no opinion or desires of
their own when fighting a conflagrat
ion but should depend on their chief.
Of course, there are instances at every
fire where it is up to the man on the
job to go ahead without orders, but as
a general thing better results are ob
tained when one man has charge and
the others do his bidding.
There is an old saying, viz: “A hint
is as good as a kick,” and I believe
that the taxpayers and property own
ers of Juneau have received the hint
in the two recent fires that the present
\
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