water system is inadequate. Under the
present system it would appear, and in
fact has been amply demonstrated that
it is - impossible to put out a fire that
has a good start and that the best that
cau be expected is to confine it to the
vicinity wher* ii originated. The peo
ple of Juneau have too much at stake
to hesitate o\er the question of im
proving the present vater system by
the addition of a salt water mam with
sufficient pressure to take cure of a
large fire in the district between the
water front and Third street,. A con
s uVrable initial cost would be thus oil
ta:led, but it is my op'nion .that the ad
d-tion of such, a main would reduce the
rate of insurance to such an extent as/
to offset the cost in a very short, while.
Further, Juneau is growing and the
town is becoming better every day,
which is good and sufficient reason why
the fire fighting equipment should grow
and be bettered whenever circumstan
ces demand it.
Another point which would bear in
vestigation is the matter of some sort
of a fire boat. There is considerable
property lying along the water front of ■>
Juneau which under the present condi
tions can only he fought in case of fire,
from one side. The same condition ap
plies to the town of Douglas, and to
some extent to Treadwell. Such being
the case, the cost of installing and
maintaining this fire boat could be
borne by the three communities and in
that way each would receive the maxi
mum of service at a minimum cost. It
may be that I have not given this lat
ter point the consideration that I
should before offering it, and ’that it
may be impractical to do this, still I
think it should be looked into and
something done along these lines.
It is not the intention to tear down
what has already been built up or to
institute any radical reforms, but simp
ly to bring the citizens of Juneau to
the realization of things as they are
and to suggest lines along which we
may secure an imprqveinent. Real and
just criticism never hurts anyone or
anything but tends rather to produce
better results.
SUBSCRIBER.
POOR ALASKA
(Robert Heml In Leslie’s)
‘ ‘ Alaska as she now stands is ut
terly desolate and all forlorn, unpro
tected in the extremest sense of the
word, weeping at the doors of congress
and begging that her citizens may be
permitted to enjoy the blessings of
freedom and be protected in their lives,
liberty and pursuit of happiness. ”
Those words were written over thirty
years ago by William Gouverneur Mor
ris, a special agent of the United States
.Treasury "Department. They are just
as true today. We secured Alaska from
Russia without blood shod or strife in
1876. The price was $7,200,000, an
amount now frequently paid for a single
public building or even a battleship.
Alaska proved to be a country of stu
pendous, undeveloped natural resour
ces. It is a fact that since 1905 Alas
kan products have yearly exceeded
$31,500,000. Alaska has paid for her
self nearly fifty times over. With all
this the country is still undeveloped,
the surface of its wealth barely scrat
ched. In the face of such a marvelous
history, the territory is now and al
ways has been a field of suffering and
privation for its citizens. It has been
totally neglected and uncared for.
Added to its troubles today, the ter
ritory is the bespattered target for
muck-rakers. It has served as a cause
for a wholly unjustified attack upon the
President of the United States, a cruel
onslaught which resulted in driving
from the cabinet a Secretary of the In
terior, a deliberate attempt to befoul
an Attorney General, a pointing of the
finger of suspicion at several great cor
porations representing capital—the one
great need of Alaska—which have at
tempted to develop the country, and
the bankrupting and ruination of pio
neer American citizens who have suf
fered the privations and hardships of a
nnw and rough region.
From the very beginning Alaska has
had the worst of it. Major General A.
W. Greely, U. S. A., writes that in the
early years of Alaska’s history as a
part of the United States it suffered
from the utter neglect of congress as
regards law and government, so that
there were grounds for the application
to the territory of Kipling’s aphorism
that
’ Never a law of God or man
Funs north of Fifty-three.
General Greely goes on to say that the
President took action by sending tlie
army in 1SG7 to protect Alaska, but af
ter ten years of stormy experiences it
was entirely withdrawn and Alaska was
left to its own fate. Murder, rapine
and lawlessness followed, and the citi
zens in Sitka appealed for aid to Brit
ish Columbia and for a time were pro
tected by the British navy. W. H Dali,
another reliable depicter, describes Al
aska, at a period from 1867 to 1897, as
a country where no man could make a
legal will, own a homestead or trans
fer it, or so much as cut wood for his
fire without defying a congressional
prohibition; where pologomy and slav
ery and the lynching of witches pre
vailed, with no legal authority to stay
or punish criminals, and generally a
good place to keep away from. He
states with emphasis that it will be a
perpetual testimony to the character of
the early American settlers in Alaska,
that under the circumstances they bore
themselves so well. That is merely the
briefest outline of Alaska’s past vicis
situdes; lack of space forbids the one
half being told. It took this country
thirty years to give the territory a pen
al code. In 1884 congress finally gave
Alaska a governor and put into exis
tence the first district court. After the
Nome gold excitement in 1900 a civil
government was provided for. And so
some slight relief has been afforded
by the government, but upon my trip to
Alaska with Secretary Fisher I found
some amazing conditions.
Alaska’s most crying need today is
cheap fuel. Her population is dwindl
ing for the lack of it; her most valuable
natural deposits, gold and copper, can
never be properly developed without
fuel from the territory. It is true that
there are immense coal fields, contain
ing a deposit which would supply not
only Alaska but all our navy vessels in
Pacific waters, and, if it could be done
profitably (a fact over which there is
a controversy at the present time), the
entire Western coast. But these coal
fields are locked up. Conservationists
caused the country to go into convul
sions by exaggerated estimates of the
value of the Alaskan coal, and the land
which contains it is now all withdrawn
from public entry. Secretary Fisher
was taken to Alaska in an oil burning
steamer and returned on a United States
revenue cutter burning British Colum
bia coal. The coal question, however,
is quite a seperate, lengthy and pain
ful epoch in Alaska’s history, and it
will be gone into iii another article at.
proper length. My opinion may change
but after what I have seen and heard
in the territory, I am convinced that
the greatest value for Alaska coal will
be its use for the development of Al
aska. After the expense of mining the
coal has been overcome and the trans
portation cost paid to the Pacific coast
of the United States, it is doubtful if
any huge fortune will be made when
that product comes into competition
with coal from the near local British
Columbia, Washington and other fields.
I was surprised to find that in all Al
aska—a territory so great that if one
extremity of its shore line could be
.placed in California, another would be
found in Texas, a third off North Caro
lina, and the other in the Great Lakes
—there are barely two hundred and
fifty miles of standard gauge railroads
constructed. Seventy miles of this
track are now streaked with rust, its
cars are idle—an exhibit of the pres
ent day inactivity. Where Alaska
should be echoing with the construction
of railroads—a prime necessity of de
velopment, because the government and
the conservationists have blocked the
opening of the coal mines which would
now be in existence—everything is sil
ent.
I was amazed to learn the slight aid
our government has given to navigation
At P. H. Fox’s
’
Better see our line
of Overcoats, Fur
Caps & Mufflers.
We have a stock of
Winter Wear that
cannot be beaten.
DEPARHEN1
>4* • 4* • 4* • 'b • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4» • 4* ® 4* • 4* • 4* • 4* • 4*
ToJUNEAU
HOUSE
HOLDERS
THE DOUGLAS ISLAND CONCRETE WORKS
have made the blocks for nearly three hundred chim
ney during the summer just past and all of them are
giving perfect satisfaction. 8 inch Chimney Blocks
50c each. Telephone Douglas 4-3-6.
GOOD PLUMBING PAYS!
Take a look at my work in the new
Alaska Labor Union Hall.
.!. MINKOVE
E. M. Peters
PLUMBING
STEAM FITTING, SHEET
METAL AND MACHINE
WORK. JOBBING AND
ALL KINDS OF REPAIR
ING DONE ON PHONO
GRAPHS, GAS ENGINES,
& SEWING MACHINES.
FRONT STREET
Near Baseball Park
DOUGLAS CITY