. .Published every Friday by the Alaska Native Brotherhood
Publishing Company, at Petersburg, Alaska.. Entered in the Post
Office in Petersburg as Second Class Matter.
Subscribtion Rates:
The Alaskan, six months, $2.50
The Alaskan, per year, $4.00
A. N. B. Publishing Company, Louis F. Paul, Editor-Manager.
Ol’R PRESS AGENT WRONG
During the past couple of
weeks we have had a press agent
going about town telling our
friends that the plant and
equipment of The ALASKAN is
to be moved to Ketchikan in the
next two weeks.
This is surely a ‘scoop' on The
ALASKAN and its force. It ap
pears that our agent (?) knows
more about our business than we
do ourselves. For certainly we
have no knowledge of any move
or of any contemplation of such
a step.
The climate is fine. We have
been treated fine albeit rough
at times but there were times
when we punched as hard as we
had to take. We have enjoyed
ourselves following along the
lines of what we believe right re
gardless of other opinions.
We have not always stood on the
popular side nor wrill we look for
that side in the future. If it is
light and good for the town, we
will support it; if we believe it
against the interests of the town,
we will oppose it. If we are
wrong, we are willing to be
shown and just as willing to as
sume the correct position. In
the meantime we will continue
tc peddle our own papers in
Petersburg and vicinity, nor do
we even plan to take a “vaca
tion.”
X
OUR NEW CITIZENS
No less than eight of our Pe
tersburg people returned from
Ketchikan this week bringing
with them those precious bits of
paper signed by the Judge of the
District Court making them full
fledged citizens of the United
States of America.
To those of us who were born
under the “stars and stripes,”
and who for the most part, take
citizenship all too lightly, there
is something inspiring in the
contemplation of the trouble and
expense which is incurred by
others in order to acquire the
privileges which so many of us
accept as a matter of course.
The American born youth, upon
reaching his majority, is auto
matically endowed with the pri ■
vileges of citizenship and in far
too many instances, is not pre
pared for the responsibilities.
Even some of our high school
students are pitiably ignorant
of civil government. This is not
true of the naturalized citizen.
He must necessarily have made
extensive preparation for his
final examination. The expense
c f his trip with his witnesses to
the place where the examination
may be conducted is at least
$200 at the very lowest estimate.
He must value highly that which
costs such sacrifice.
In this connection The ALAS
KAN wonders why it was neces
sary to bleed Petersburg people
this $1600. There are approxi
mately forty persons in Peters
burg who are prospective appli
cants for final citizenship ex
amination. Many of them are
delaying their examinations be
cause they feel they cannot af
ford to incur this expense. Forty
persons at $200 each represents
an expense of $8,000. If a De
puty Clerk of the District Court
were appointed for Petersburg
District, this would not be ne
cessary, as their examinations
could then be conducted here.
Deputy Clerks have been ap
pointed in other Alaskan towns
where there is less business
transacted, and which have less
population than Petersburg. If
we are not mistaken, there are
deputy clerks of the court at
Sitka, Skagway and Hyder. No
cioubt there is a good and suffi
cient reason for maintaining
clerks at these places. Some of
the appointments were made
years ago. Petersburg has de
veloped more rapidly in recent
l years than some of the other
towns and we think it is now
time that the town should be
} given this recognition.
JUSTICE OUT OF JOINT
Old Mrs. Shakes was badly
beaten up by Paul Aiix in his at
tempt to rob her. While she
was still suffering from her
bruises, Judge William Thomas
had the trial and sentenced the
man to five months in jail and
to pay a $300 fine.
If he had been caught with a
flask on his hip instead of this
attempt to murder, the fellow
'T,ould probably have been sen
tenced to serve one year in jail
and pay a fine of $1,000.
Our courts are getting into a
queer mess.
PLAYING TO WIN
Any game which has for its
objective only to win regardless
of rules of the game or of sports
manship, has no flavor in the
minds or hearts of fans of the
games.
A team won the championship
of Willamette Valley by playing
an ineligible. (The coach and
captain knew but the principal
of the school and the student as
j sociation did not know of the in
j eligibility of the player.) Be
| fore the ink had hardly dried on
:the press telling of this ehamp
jionship, another school protest
led the award on the ground that
a team playing an ineligible man
under their association rules be
came ineligible to holding any^
honors they might have won by
using such a man.
The matter was brought be
fore the students, who after con
siderable discussion, repudiated j
the championship claims.
The winning of the game did
not mean so much to this school
is playing the game. And in
repudiating honors won by the
use of an ineligible, the student
body felt cleaner and better for
it.
Just playing to win is the rea
son of more and more rules in
every line of sport. It is the rea
son for much of the unethical
and dishonest business deals; of
crooked politics. It is the bane
of every effort, moral, mental or
physical. It is not tolerated by
ihe right thinking and acting.
It has no part in business or poli
tics, sport or business. It ruins
and never makes men in the
large sense of the word.
; The rabbit punch, the offside
play, the questionable decision
I accepted knowing it to be the
'wrong decision, the befouling of
a name to bring discredit in or- j
der to defeat in sport, business
or politics, all come from the
desire to win at any cost. When
men get down to that basis, then
is it time to turn to and call it
a day.
KNIGHT THE CANDIDATE
-o
Voters of the Alaska railroad
bolt will find it easy to support
the candidacy of Frank L.
Knight, who has announced that
he will seek the Republican nom
ination for Territorial Treasur
er in the April primaries. Mr.
Knight is an estimable citizen
and possesses all of the quallfi-j
cations needed to fill the office
to which he aspires; he long has^
been and still is prominently
identified with the upbuilding of
the community in which he re
sides, being an Alaskan first,
last and all the time, and pos
sessing a broad knowledge of
Alaska conditions and needs, a
knowledge that will serve him
well should it be the wish of the
voters of the Territory to have
him serve them as treasurer and
member of the several import
ant boards of which he will be a
part if he is elected. The Times
glad to see Mr. Knight enter
the primaries; his coming for
ward may give encouragement
to other men of his calibre to of
fer their services to the terri
tory, thereby lessening the haz
k rd of making selections at the
polls—Anchorage Times.
THE TOWN LAGS
Take away the inspiration of
a good weekly newspaper and
the town lags, its population set
tles into a state of mental and
physical satisfaction, and its de
sire for growth and better living
conditions becomes dormant.
Civic spirit which is always
sponsored and promulgated by
real newspapers is the very pulse
that makes towns and' cities
grow, it increases their trading
and number of residents, elevates
the standards of living and thus
enables the population to earn
more and spend more. As long
as its advertising income is suffi
cient the Somersett County
TIMES can give its utmost ef
orts to promoting CIVIC INTER
ESTS and COMMUNITY BET
TERMENT PROGRAMS. The
TIMES has always keen a great
factor in increasing the retail
trading area of Somersett. It has
jalways conducted proper circu
lation promotion, and it has done
far more than any other agency
to carry the retail merchandise
mesages to the outlying territory.
A newspaper to do this always
successfully must prosper finan
cially. Anything that interferes
with its growth and development
will in time, REACT against the
town.—Somersett, (Po.,) TIMES.
-x
HAR! HAR! HAR!
“The Empire is treating the
primary election contest as a
i matter of newrs. It is not its
[present intention to attempt in
anywise to influence the primary
result at all. Its attitude is
strictly independent. When the
tickets are in the field it may
offer advice to the voters. It cer
tainly will do so if it then be
lieves that it can serve the wel
fare of the people of Alaska in
that way. The Empire wTill con
tinue to stand for the Territory
of Alaska stanchly, according to
its light, and, naturally Juneau
is its favorite Alaska town.
But in the meantime, The Em
pire has no primary choice.
Unless something intervenes to'
cause a change it will continue
to the end without favorites for
the various nominations, Repub
lican or Democrat.—Juneau Em
pire.
“BE NEUTRAL IN THOUGHT”
The ALASKAN is reminded of i
the late President WOodrow Wil- 1
: on’s urge to all Americans prior !
t o the World War, that they be !
neutral in act and thought at
all times.
Be neutral in thought. Ye
shades of the old apple tree.
Hav no opinion as to the right
ness or wrongness of matters of
principle.
JUNEAU’S STANDARD HIGH
SCHOOL
From The Verstovian, Sitka.
In a recent bulletin of the Na
tional Education Association a
noted educator has published a
worthy forecast, as follows:
.“A school which merely meets
the demands of yesterday or ev
en those of today is not enough
m as rapidly a changing civiliza
tion as that in which we are liv
I ing.. An analysis of the econo
| acinic, .social .and .industrial
I changes which are now in the
| process suggests that the public
i school curriculum must be built
j Tor a new world, if it is to func
{iion in the lives of the children
| today and tomorrow.”
The Verstovian commends this
! sentiment and believes that it
should appeal to those who are
interested in the education of
i Alaska natives with even greater
: force than to those to whom it
was originally addressed.
A former pupil in Sheldon
Jackson School, now teaching in
■ lie Bureau of Education school
at Barrow, Alaska, the northern
most public school in the world,
heretofore one of the most inac-;
cessible stations on the Ameri
can continent, sent a radio
Christmas greeting to her j
friends the day before Christ-1
mas. In a recent letter she states ;
that on the last wash day, as;
she was doing her laundry work, j
music was coming in from Ger- j
many to cheer her up and help i
her forget the common task, j
V ithin the year Barrow has;
passed from a status of practic- I
ally no intercourse with the rest!
oj the world into daily touch not
only with the United States but
also with Russia, Japan, Ger
many and other European coun
tries. And this in Eskimo land j
whose inhabitants are removed
from the stone age by less than j
one hundred years. Thirty years1
ago, there was not a gas boat,
owned by natives in all Alaska.
All travel was by canoe with the
attendant delay and inconveni
ence. Today, one may go from
Ketchikan to Yakutat without
seeing a canoe. Poor indeed, is
the Thlinget man who does not,
own and operate his own gas
boat.
The change in the social life
of the native has been as mark
Continued on page 4
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