NORTHERN LIGHT
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E. E. Van Ness.Editor
He.irv Ivanod.Business Manager
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Single Copies Fifteen Cents
_ EDITORIAL
BUREAU OF EDUCATION TO AT
The wre:k of the Seddon and loss
of c .tire crew followed by the wreck
of the Wasp and the miracelous es
cape of crew and passangers, among
them Sapt. Evans, makes us think it
quite imperative that the departme .1
ofe lu cat ion should do all reasonable
and possible to induce congress to
m ike an additional authorization suf
ficient to put a float, in these waters,
safe power 1 >orts suitable for distrib
uting s:hool freight and teachers to
the various const and river schools. To
make it necessary, thru failure in
having suitable boats,to send school
olfieials and teachers across Bering
Sen and along the Arctic coast in
unsenworthy boats should be a thing
of the past. At this writing seven
schooners have been lost this season,
and some four or five more are still
. in doubt.
The schools are increasing ancl tlic
risks are likewise multiplying there
fore Congress should lend a hand in
safeguarding the lives of young men
and women who sacrifice homes and
civilization to aid this primitive
people to meet the needs of the fu
ture.
Few people realize the danger of
these treacherous, harborless stretch
es of barren shores. Under the present
condition a teacher arriving in Nome
from the outside destined to an
Arctic point is often compelled to
embark in a little schooner built
years ago, perhaps loaded beyond
the limit. And under the present reg
illations allowed to carry as many
passangers as can crowd aboard
providing there is a life preserver for
each. Understand this boat may be
less tlia-140 feet in length. The alxrve
is a fair picture of many of the lx>ats
upon which officials and teachers are
compelled to defy Bering billows and
Arctic storms in order to reach their
places of duty.A good substantial
Goverment boat in co nandof a com
potent person with a crew of natives
which should be,if possible,engaged
every se ason,that they might become
able and sife seimcn, would be a
blessing to these northern waters.
, It is fitting to state here that the
Revenue Cutter Bear has been of
great service to the work,and always
in such an obliging and royal way
that we,in behalf of theft; of K., feel
constrained to say thanks.
MIS APPLIED
“To the Victors belong the spoils’'maybe
rue to a certain extent when applied to war
fare,proper,where men face men ami measure
.rms in physical combat over disputed ques
tions. I!ut to apply the principal in the po
litical arena is often as unfitting as abeaver
over coat on a grass Hopper. The indiscriini
inate dropping of appointees of one party bt
cause of the ascendency of the victors is to In
deqlored when competent men are thereby
supplanted by incompetant ones. Efficiency
in every ease should be the test.
What is needed often is not an ad
herant to a certain political party but
men,real men;clean broad minded
men burdened with common sense.