Published every Friday by the A N B. Publishing Co., Petersburg <
Entered in the Post Office in Petersburg as Second Class Matter
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
The Alaskan, six months..... |2.50
The Alaskan, per yeaj. $4.00
A N. B. PUBLISHING COMPANY
GIVE IT A THOUGHT
A business man does not for t
a single moment snap any old 1
Tom, Dick or Harry and give him t
carte blanch, authority to run i
the business and issue checks on *
bank account or decide on defin- i
ite policies that woud vitally ef- <
feet the business. Yet the bus- 1
iness men of the average Alas- ;
ka community does just that
thing in selecting councilmen
to handle the affairs of the city.
All of which is brought forth
by the recent caucus when a <
handful of business men and -
others picked several men for i
the important business of look- j
ing after the finances and other
vital matters effecting the com- ,
munity for the immediate fu- ;
ture. I
Never before in the history of ,
this town were the problems
more vital or serious. Never was (
it more important that men with ;
interest solely for the good of -
the communitl be elected; nev
er before, in our years of resi-. ,
dence here were the problems
more complex and serious; nev- :
er suhe indifference shown by ,
the citizens of the town.
It is high time every citizen
awakened to his duty and the
gravity of the situation and de
cide on a definite constructive
policy that will take the com
munity out of financial dol
drums and make it a desireable
one to live in. If we are wrong,
we invite correction. If right, ;
we urge your support in making
conditions right.
TAXES
-o
The tax on a common dog in
Petersburg is six dollars—ap
proximately half the amount
paid on an eight hundred dollar
truck. The tax on dogs in the
neighboring town of Wrangell is
$2 50 for male dogs and $3.00 for
female.
Wrangell has learned that the
dog is a useful animal, friend
and companion and not a pest
of useless piece of property.
REDUCING TAXES
. -G
“The legislature that meets in
Juneau next month ought to re- <
duce taxes.”—Juneau Vampire.
This is a safe generalization
that pleases the ear of the “tired
business man.” But suppose the
Legislature does not decrease :
the appropriations? or even in
creases them. How can the le- ;
gislature then reduce taxes?
Those who clamor for “reduc- ]
ed taxes” should oppose unne- <
cessary appropriations. For ex
ample, the resolution of the Cor- i
dova Chamber of Commerce ask- ]
ing for the reestablishment of <
fish hatcheries at an expense of
over a hundred thousand dol- 1
lars. Increase of Pioneers’ pen- ;
sions asked by Anchorage Cham- !
ber of Commerce will add anoth- ; ]
er $50,000; the “Fairbanks” Col-:!
lege usually means another $100.11
000; and don’t forget the third i
leg of our government. Road En- ]
gineer, $4,000; and the tail, i
pension for Stroller White’s e
family as assistant curator of c
the Alaska Museum. t
We are not necessarily opposed £
to all of this, but we think the s
Juneau Vampire should be hon- c
est. enough to tell the legislature
what appropriations should be t
reduced so that the tax rate
could be reduced.
CITIZENS AND CITIZENS
-o
c
s
c
In a recent editorial Stroller d
White decried territorial appro- f'
priations for a school building at
Yakutat and declared it was an a
unnecessary, unworthy expense. I a
Appropriations for the educa
ion and development of poten
tial citizens is far more worthy
han $5,000 salary appropriated
or Stroller White as publicity
igent of the Territory. The one
s worthy because of its devel
>pment of better citizenship
vhiJe the other is only for the
aliening of political parasite.
HOME STILL IS HIS CASTLE
-o
Be it in Alaska or any where
>lse in the United States a citi
zen’s constitutional right to de
end his home against unlawful
ntrusion was upheld recently in
scathing terms by Municipal
rudge Louis Russil of Los An
geles who may be considered a
rifle old fashioned in some
luarters.
Judge Russil dismissed a fel
>ny assault charge against Chas.
Dunscomb when this opinion
vas made by the court.
A detective and another offic
er tried to force their way into
Dunscomb’s home without a
search warrant to look for li
luor. Dunscomb, who testified
.hat he knows his rights and
ntends having them, disarmed
lie detective after a struggle
md chased both policemen off
lis property. He was later cap-,
:ured in his home by an over
.vhelming number of police and
:aken to the court where the
fiiarge of felonious assault filed
igainst him was dismissed.
TEMPERS JUSTICE WITH
MERCY
o
Recently in California a young
nan was convicted of burglary.
Evidence showed that he was in
an business office New Year’s
and could give no satisfactory
explanation of his presence
:here. ' \
“You have no record,” said the
judge in the case, “and appar
ently you didn’t steal anything.
[ am going to place you on pro
aation for a year. Now, have you
any money?”
“Not a dime judge,” said the
nan. *
The judge reached into his
pocket, handed the man a ten
iollar bill and wished him good
IHIS IN THE UNITED STATES
It is stated that “racketeer
ng” in Chicago cost that, city in
'he neighborhood of $13f6,000,000
a year.
A few years ago Italy was
leartily condemned by the Unit
ed States because of the a«ctivi
;ies of the Mafia in Italy and in
;he United States. Mafia as1 com
pared to “racketeering”1 is .mere
?hild’s play. ^
The Italian government took
/he Mafia situation in hand and
;mothered its activities. [The
state governments seem powver
ess, and the central government
leems indifferent to the situa
ion. The difference hieing in
nanner of punishment. Italy
ined a few up against the wall
tnd shot them and forced oth
ts to swallow a quart of castor
>il. They certainly got it out of
hem. In the United States the:
;overnment—the p e o p 1 e—are
fraid to even give the castor
11.
lS IT LOOKS TO J. R. JUSTICE
In The Star
“Bootlegging, hijacking, nar
otic peddling and kidnapping
sem to be our four leading
riminal industries. And mur
er is the acompanimerat to all
pur.
The chief reason why these
rch crimes are not reduced to
respectable minimum is that
lobody goes about it in earnest,
rhe bootlegger too often has a
'riend in politics or at co” t who
Drotects him. The hijacker nev
er gets into court. His victim
s without legal recourse. Every
nan’s hand is against thi nar
cotic peddler except his victim,
who is the chief witness in the
case.
But the kidnapper has no
friend in politics, at court or
among civilized men. There is
no reason why his profession
should not be abolished in short
order.
chain stores announce I
25 Per Cent GAIN IN JANUARY j
o
Sales reported for January by
31 chain store organizations in
creased by 25.5 per cent over
sales by the same chains in Jan
uary of last year, this rate re
presenting a considerable ad
vance over the average gains
registered in the final months of
last year.
Combined sales by the 31 chain
systems in January were $121,
439,083, against $96,756,846 in
the corresponding month of 1928
the actual increase amounting
to $24,682,237.
Much of the increase is due to
the normal gain in trade and to
the upswing of business which
.gathered headway early last
year and continued thru Janu
ary. A larger part of the gain
however, is attributable to the
expansion of the reporting chain
systems themselves. Many mer
gers of smaller systemst with
the larger companies were con
summated in 1928, with substan
tial increases in the number of
sales outlets maintained by the
reporting companies.
In addition, virtually all hcain
organizations opened new stores.
There were indications last year
that sales per store were making
small progress in the chain store
field, by far the greater part of
the increasing sales being due
to new outlets.
The greatest individual' in
dividual increase recorded in
January was that of the Kroger
Grocery and Baking Company,
with sales of $24,694,795, against
$16,015,718 in January, 1928.
APPEAL FOR GOLD STAR
MOTHERS
-o
Effort was made by national
organizations to have the last
i Senate give consideration to a
bill providing that the govern
ment shall defray the expenses
of a pilgrimage to France of all
mothers whose sons died in the
war and are now lying in the
cemeteries of Europe. The pil
grimage would be under the di
rection and supervision of the
War Department and the Ameri
can Red Cross.
This bill was passed unanimous
ly by the House of Representa
tives but did not get as rapid a
consideration in the Senate.
.. Women laugh when they car
and weep when they will.—Ex.
COMMUNICATION w
——o
The ALASKAN:
Dear Editor:—
May I have a little space in
your valuable paper, by which I
may plead with the wise? Our
inability to understand all that
is being said about this phe
nomenal wave of prosperity that
has been sweeping over this
country of ours. If one would
talk at a time, it seems to me it
would be much more easy for
us that have to spell out the
words to understand. We read
columns any and everywhere
President Coolidge elaborately
told of his qualified prosperity.
Such as this gets us all fussed
up;—we become proud we are—
Americans,—and all that kind
of sensations. Then along comes
some fellow and rocks the boat
in such a way, it makes us feel
like the “mornipg after.” Of
course, we “common everyday
workers’ don’t know anything of
prosperity; don’t know ever
what the word means, and are
not carrying any dictionaries ir
our work pants. We just natural
ly know it is something good tc
eat, there being so much saic
about it. Our not knowing any
thing about it can make no dif
ference, for it is a mistaken ide£
that we workers are a conse
quential portion of the Unite<
States; Alaska, and its work
ers, used to be it is true,’ bu
science, maybe, that isn’t th
right name, but anyhow, som
thing has proven beyond doub
that it is just another of Of
Man Nature’s mistakes, and it i
just a matter of time, and brie
time at that, till we will be fur
nished much more stable foun
dation upon which to build i
the way of the “House of Mor
gan,” the Board of Trade, th
I chain banks, the chain store
the chain “salmon traps of Alas
| ka,” and other chains, it is whis
ipered that are not a very re
' mote possibility. As soon e
I these have a few more billion to
of gold injected into them, the
will have become “hard boilec
enough to demand their righ
as our foundation upon which 1
build and this old, deteriorate
structure, the farm will 1
knocked down and hauled to t!
junk dump where, had it n<
been for ideas as old and as ui
warranted as the structure i
self, it would have been long ag
But what I started to say; as an
uninterested spectator, is that
we have just laid down an issue
L
l
t
of a weekly magazine that says
the United States Secretary of
Labor Davis, says, that 86 per
cent of the people are poor. Now!
he means poor, not maybe. Now !
if this is true, and we have read\
where several United States Sen
ators have said recently about
the same thing, then we have it,
that 14 per cent of our beloved
people have all the wealth.
“ Of course, it is not for us to
^ say, being a disinterested class,
if we think it right or wrong for
f the 14 per cent to have all the
wealth, the 86 per cent produce.
But there is quite a ballahooing
a around, that the 14 per cent do
not create any wealth. We
e workers, and farmers, wonder
how they can be expected to
_ when they are so darned busy
_ storing away what the 86 per
_ cent produces. These same fel
s lows claim that if the 14 per
n
y
:s
,o
d
>e
Le
)t
l
t
o.
cent did not play golf so much—
and banquet so much, they
would have lots of time for pro
duction, because they say, all the
wealth of the country is gather
ed by a machine that works
while the 14 per cent sleep and
play. They do say that Con
gress made this machine and
sold it to the Fourteeners; the
price they get for it goes into
campaign funds. However, we
,^5211^ Satisfaction Always
|| Guaranteed
tig
^ A complete line of men’s
furnishings for work or
dress. A fine line of
(Goods for women
d>0oiuuaus’
ATTENTION!!
Boat Owners
We can take care of general repair in wood and caulking
and all the blacksmith work on any boat up to 100 feet in
length at
Petersburg Marine Ways
J. C Holton & Ed. Walwick
Model Bakery
AJ1 Electrical Equipment
The home of Fancy Cakes and Pastry
A Complete Line of Bakery Goods always on hand
'www-ww.wwv m w w ▼ •
I Merest S\xx&vos
v
portraits
Lianascapes
Alaska
Views
COPYING AND ENLARGING
TINTING AND COLORING DONE IN OIL
FRAMING DONE TO ORDER
4 A A A A44A 44#### ♦ 4 4, .,#■> *-^4 4^j4^44^^^44^4 4^j 4^44^44^44^4 4^4 4^44^44^14% 44^44^44^44 44 44
jrVvVVvV • * ♦ * *
r
:*:
:c
*
BLACKSMITHING
Acetylene Welding Pipe Fitting
Tonean Molybdenum Iron with its copper content
3s superior to all other iron or steel sheets in rust
resistance, excelled only by pure sheet copper.
Have YOUR tanks and pipes made out of
“T O N C A N”
John Kolstrand
| Front Street. - " - Petersburg, Alaska
workers, and farmers, don’t
snow—we’re not interested any
way. Just amused, that’s all
Respectfully submitted,
JAMES R. LITTLE
Portland, Oregon.
P. S. The working men and wo
men are tired of 14 per centers
and their bunk. They can no
longer be satisfied to talk about
a minimum wage for workers.
Meaning thereby sufficient to
feed, clothe and shelter a family.
Nothing less than a “Cultural
wage will do.”
C. H. Sundmacher
Attorney at Law
Arctic Hotel Petersburg
V
Thomas B. Rhone, M. D.
Physician and Surgeon
Office Resident
Dawes Bldg. Arctic Hotel
TAXI
Phone 62
Wheeler Drug Co.
Deaf and Dumb Service
J ohn Fanning
SHOE STORE j
Dealer in
Complete line of Silk Hosiery
Best grade of Shoes for men.
women and children.
Best Quality Goods
X at very low prices
!*! Shoe repairing neatly done.
Buy at Star Bakery and Save Money
Fresh Doughnuts, Cup Cakes, Cookies
and Cinnamon Roils
Always on Hand Fresh
STAR BAKERY
AMERICA FIRST arrives in Pe
tersburg Friday morning, leaving
for Juneau via Kake and way ports
about noon.
HAHO TRANSPORTATION
COMPANY
f
J
l
l
1:
I
i
i
t.
i:
f
t
t
I
c
t
t*
t
!
[;
\
;*
JdRS. C. M.& R. L. CARLSON
IOptometriste and Optician*
218 -19 Commercial Building
KETCHIKAN, ALASKA
Advertise in THE ALASKAN.
Home Service Mending
of Laundered Goods
We give full value for your
money.
H. OYAMA, PRO.
immtmmtmnttnmtnmmnmiimmm
| Sanitary Market ||
A Roast you’ll like
::: The Very Choicest Beef i
Mutton and Fork
i Vegetable in Season I
mnmnnmmnntnmtmmtmnmnma'