The ALASKA
SOV'R'DOVGl
Vol. /. No. 16
Douglas, Alaska, Tuesday, December 19, 1911
10c a Copy
THE LION AND LAMB AT CORDOVA
It must have made a sensation in
Cordova when the Alaskan announced
that Delegate Wickersham had had a
two hour conference with R. J. Barry,
general agent for the Copper River <y
Northwestern Railway and the Alaska
Steamship company—thee Guggenheim
interests-and that ‘ * Delegate Wicker
sham will forget his personal differ
ences with any strong combination of
capital” and “will bow to the superior
.judgment of others. ’ ’ The Cordova
Daily Alaskan is the Guggenheim paper
of Alaska. Heretofore it has been
bitterly opposed to Delegate Wicker
sham.
In a first page editorial under a full
page head “Wickersham, Harmony,
Unity and Aggressiveness,” accompan
ied by the signature of Will A. Steele,
the editor of the paper, the Cordova Al
askan says:
“Advices received from Seattle in
dicate the organizations are desirous of
paying tribute to the generous policy
promulgated by Hon. James Wicker
sham, delepate to congress. They ex
pect to hold a public meeting and to be
addressed by Delegate Wickersham.
Now that the delegate has so strongly
indicated that he has decided to aban
don his former tactics of “objection”
the Alaska workers are anxious to have
him in their ranks to assist in the great
work that the Pacific coast seeks to
accomplish at Washington. These lead
ing spirits of Seattle have always recog
nized and appreciated the talents and
aggressiveness of Judge Wickersham,
but during the past year particularly
they have lamented the fact that those
characteristics have ben so widely mis
directed. As a consequence, when thc
delegate returned from Washington in
September he was greeted more in s ir
row than in gladness or effusiveness.
“But all is now changed, and the
judge declares that in the future his
efforts will be devoted to securing
something favorable for Alaska; not
all that he might wish, but some appro
priations for much needed improve
ments and protection, and much desired
legislation that will lead to increase the
welfare and contentment of our peo
ple. He will work with delegations in
harmony and undoubtedly effective
ness.
“He will not be too insistant in al
ways carrying out his own ideas, but
will bow to the superior judgment of
others. He will forget his personal dif
ferences with any big combination of
capital and mil cease to assail men
who have expended millions in the effort
to develop a part of Alaska. Rather
will he now seek to paint the glories
and rare opportunities of Alaska in
their true light, and so earnestly that
capitalists will be rather attracted
than repelled to this Northland of gol
den promise.
“Judge Wickersham’s recent ad
dress in Cordova made a strong im
pression upon the minds of those who
heard it or read it. They were the
words of a rejuvenated man, who had
seen the light of a better understand
ing and had the courage to publicly
testify to it.”
After quoting from the delegate's
speech at Valdez, rehearsing the story
of the controversy Delegate Wicker
sham had with the United States mar
shal in tht early days of Nome and
tae fact that Steele supported Wicker
sham at that time, and after mention
ing the fact that Judge Wickershain and
R. J. Barry, the Guggenheim agent, had
spent, a pleasant couple of hours to
gether, Mr. Steele declares:
“And now that Delegate Wicker
sham is receding from his prejudiced
opinions, and going into his wrnrk with
an open and fair mind that will result
in accomplishment, he is entitled to en
couragment.' ’
Prom fill of which we may properly
infer that the lion and the lamb have
lain down together—whichever may be
ciitrvfi lilt* let ill u.
IN THE ALASKAN PROHIBITION DAYS
The fight which the United States
marshal's office is waging to prevent
the- selling of liquor to the Indians ’S
not the first battle which the govern
ment officials in Alaska have waged
with the “demon rum.”
There was a time when the territory of
Alaska was a prohibition territory, at
least as far as the statutes went. But
public sentiment never backed the law
and the officials had the devil's own
time in enforcing it, or trying to en
force it, rather, for the consensus of
opinion is that it was not well enough
enforced to be particularly noticeable.
“The utmost vigilance of the cus
toms officers cannot prevent the impor
tation of liquor; it creeps into tire dis
trict in every conceivable way, ” wrote
Governor Kinkead in his annual report
in 1884. Of the fact that saloons were
everywhere, Governor Kinkead made no
bones, and recommended that the sa
loon keepers be licensed, and- that they
be thus compelled to contribute to the
cost of government.
< In 1S85 Governor Swineford said:
“It is questionable, even with the as
sistance of a revenue cutter constantly
plying in the almost interminable wa
ters of Southeastern Alaska, whether
the liquor traffic can be more than par
tially destroyed. That it can, however,
by such means be made much more haz
ardous, and consequently less lucrative
business to those engaged in it, is not to
be denied; but it is mv opinion that the
law ought to be repealed. ’
Congress'neither provided for licens
ing the traffic nor making it more haz
ardous, and Governor Swineford was
apparently too discouraged in 1887 to
discuss the subject in his annual report
for that year. In the following year,
however, he regretted being compelled
to say that the law was practically a
dead letter. “The public sentiment of
the territory is adverse to it, and un
less the right of trial by jury is taken
away, it cannot be enforced, for the
simple reason that it is impossible to
impanel a grand jury that will indict,
or a petit jury that will convict per
sons charged with its violation.
“But, were this not true, the officials
charged* with the duty of preventing
the importation and • landing of in
toxicating liquors are practically pow
erless in the premises for the reason
that they have never been provided
with any means whatever which will
erable them to watch and guard any
part of the extensive coast line, save
immediately at the few points where
they are stationed. There is no water
patrol, no revenue cutter, no transpor
tation, not even a rowT boat under their
control, and, as a consequence, the
smuggler pursues his nefarious calling
wTith very little molestation from
any quarter. The innumerable bays
and coves along the coast of South
eastern Alaska, with its network of
deep and narrow channels, afford as
many hiding places, and I am in doubt
as to whether a revenue cutter, per
manently stationed in these waters,
would be wholly able to break up the
illicit traffic in intoxicating liquors,”
and again recommended a stringent li
cense law.
In his annual report in 1890 Govern
or Knapp said:
“Liquors of the vilest quality, it is
said, are sold openly and in violation
of the law, even to those whose fami
lies are suffering for the necessaries of
life. The reasons assigned for the in
efficiency of the law is that prosecu
tions would be of no avail. Grand ju
ries refuse to indict, and petit juries re
fuse to convict. T presume this state
ment is made intelligently a'nd in ac
cordance with the facts, though I am
not aware of any attempt to secure con
victions. A number of complaints to
the grand jury at the January term, for
smuggling liquor, resisting an officer,
etc., were treated by that body in a
way to indicate that they were not in
sympathy with the restriction laws.”
The governor . recommended the enact
ment of a license law, and repeated the
recommendation the following year.
SOURDOUGH-4
Tn 1892, differences of opinion over
the liquor question culminated in trag
edy. In his annual report for that
year, Governor Knapp said:
“While the-general condition of the
territory has been peaceful and quiet,
, there have been several outbreaks of
crime and lawlessness and resultant
consequences so serious that special
reference to them sems to be required.
Like most crimes and misdemeanors of
the foregoing record, they were directly
connected with the; sale and use of in
toxicating liquors.
“On the 11th day of January Charles
H. Edwards, a government school teach
er, located at Hamilton Bay, on Ku
prianoff Island, with a number of In
dians over whom he had acquired an in
fluence in his work there, boarded a
sloop Hying in the bay, seized and de
stroyed a small quantity of liquor
which they ^ound there. Mr. Ed
wards was detained on board in a strug
gle with the captain, after the Indi
ans left, and was finally shot, death
resulting in a few days.. Two of the
natives also failed to reach the shore.
The testimony4' taken in the ease
tended to show that they were shot in
the water while swimming to the shore.
Mr. Edwards was a worthy, candid
and careful Christian worker, having
the confidence of all good men, and
without question was one of the most
efficient teachers in Alaska. He had
abundant reason to believe that the
vessel was there to sell intoxicating li
quors to the natives with whom he was
laboring, and, though betrayed by his
zeal into an action not warranted by
law, his motive was a high one, and on
ly his nobleness of character, his devo
tion to his work, the efficiency of his
his service and the sacrifice of his
life in the cause of morality and civil
ization should be remembered.” The
captain was arrested and tried for the
crime, but acquitted by the jury.
“But the record,” continues the
governor, “cannot end with the death
of Mr. Edwards and the two natives.
A most dastardly act of lawlessness, in
the tarring a feathering, at Douglas,
of Dr. J. E. Connett, by masked men,
was the direct sequel to the original
shooting. The doctor had been active
in searching for testimony against the
man who shot Mr. Edwards and some
what severe in his characterization of
the offense in a newspaper communica
tion, and he fell a victim to the hatred
of interested parties not ^et identified.
The better people of the territory con
demn the outrage, and demand the use
of all legitimate means to discover and
punish the perpetrators of it.”
Every year until 1899, governors of
Alaska repotted that the Alaska prohi
bition law was openly and notoriously
violated. In 1898 Governor Brady said
in his annual report:
“The more the collector and his
force stop the importation by the
steamers, the better it is for those who
are engaged in smuggling. The chief
smugglers send their orders and checks
to Victoria, British Columbia. The
liquors are put up according to orders,
and shipped to Port Simpson, which is
just across the American line. Smug
glers watch their opportunity to load
up at this place and wind their way
through the various passages leading
north. The average price which the
dealers pay the smugglers is $7 a gal
lon for whiskey which in the market at
Port Townsend or Seattle is worth $4
a gallon. ,
“As the retail dealer considerr this
a high price he undertakes to adulter
ate it and by his villainous compound
succeeds in making two or three gallons
out of it. In one instance last year
one of them, not knowing the nature of
wood alcohol, mixed it with other in
gredients and sold it to a number of
natives. In a few hours two of them
were dead, and several more of them
would have died but for the timely re
lief given by the marine hospital sur
geon. As much as 5000 gallons have
been taken at a time from Port Simp
son. For the past year much foreign li
quor has gone up the to the summits
on the Dyea and Skagway trails. The
seizures of the customs officers for the
past year have probably amounted to
2500 gallons. The amount of foreign li
quor wffiich has been smuggled will
probably amount to 60,000 gallons.”
That same year in his annual report.
Governor Brady arranged the recom
mendations of the Alaska governors on
the liquor question in startling array,
and showed that for nearly every year
for sixteen years, the governors of Al
aska had been urging the government
to repeal the prohibition law, which it
had failed to enforce,and give the ter
ritory a license law. This effort was
successful, and the present license law
adopted, with prohibition still retained
for natives only.
Special sale on curios, souvenir goods
and native ware for holiday trade. W.
H. Case, Juneau, Alaska.
The Sourdough, $3.00 a year.