THE ANCHORAGE WEEKLY TIMES
ANCHORAGE PUBLISHING CO., PUBLISHERS.
CIIAS. E. HERRON.
President
SUBSCR!PTIONS RATES
Single Copies .? .10 Six Months
'i'tree Months .1.00 One Year ...
Application for entry as second-class matter at
the post office at Anchorage, Alaska, pending.
Address All Communications to Anchorage Weekly
Times
Make a’! Checks and Money Orders payable to Anchorage Publishing Co.
1 V;‘
v
ANCHORAGE. ALASKA. THURSDAY. dLLY 11. II)IS.
ISN'T IT THE TRUTH.
The Valdez Miner hits the nail squarely on the head in the follow
ing editorial comment on the activities of the poet laureate of Seward,
who has been industrially employed in a vain effort to secure tin' free
publication in the Alaska press of his frequent effusions with respeet
to Anchorage. Of course, no one for a moment thinks that these poetic
efforts are affecting Anchorage in the least. On the contrary, they
react as against tin* town of Seward, where the poet lives and has his
being.
And while these poetic masterpieces are being ejected into the aii
from time to time. Anchorage is pursuing the even tenor of its ways,
working along constructive lines for the benefit of the Cook Inlet coun
try in particular and the territory in general. We appear to thrive
on the knocks of the knockers. We just doiit ' care what they sav about
us. so long as they say something. It comes under the head of free
advertising. If we cared to he harsh, we might say that this poet
himself gained quite a few perfectly good dollars through a business
established in this town at the inception of work here, and for tin
life of us. we do not see where his particular kick comes.
The trouble with Seward is. that some of the people there employ"
their leisure time in knocking other towns, instead of attending to the; *1
own “knitting" at home. It is the town of one John E. Ballaiue. win
established a precedent of knocking about everything and everybody in
the country, and ilu good people of the ib su, ieeiion bay town have
made the mistake of follow ing his example.
The Miner comments editorially as follows :
The Miner received another contribution from the village to tin
westward this week, from the pen of a Seward resident, entitled “An
chorage." with the request that it be published. We can see no good
reason why the poem should be published, as it is generally untruthful
in its statements and can do no good to the Territory by publicity. And
\wiiu* w i ‘ an* nil in sunjrci wr ran Mr i it» irasiiii iui an\ irjsiurni
of Seward using his ability to knock the railway project and the men
at the head of it. Whatever hurts Anchorage is in the end. bound to do
Seward harm, and vice versa. It' the railway project is brought into
sufficient disrepute 1«> cause a cessation ot‘ work, the result to Seward
will undoubtedly he disastrous in the extreme. The result of this in
defatigable knocking is already apparent by the slacking up of interest
in the wmk by the government. To an outsider it looks as if the town
on Resurrection bay should by all means do all in its power to help
its sister city, as one cannot stand without the other, the railway being
responsibh for the existence of both. If a good harbor can bo built
at Anchorage, and we can see no reason why it cannot, it is bound
to help all the coast towns in the Territory. Alaskans, want coal, and
want it Ik-dy, and have no time for carping criticism of the method, j
of getting it. Seward's ill-advised and untimely tight against Anchor
age is bound to work great harm to both cities. Every town in the Ter
ritory should pull for the railway project, regardless of whether Sew-'
aid or Anchorage is the beneficiary. While the poem submitted is a
clever bit of satire it is callable of working great harm to its originators
and wo must respectfully decline to publish it.
WHAT CHANCE DOF.S SAMMY TAKE?
The .Military Hospitals commission at Quebec has kept an actual
account of hew Canadian troops fared in the war. and has compiled
some interesting statistics based upon its investigations and observa
tions.
Addressing < anadian mothers and tathers the commission says:
If your hoy goes to the front :
lie has d!) chances of coming home to one of being killed.
He lias !)N chances of recovering from a wound to two chances of
dying.
He has only one chance in bOO of losing a limb.
He will live five years longer because of physical training.
He is freer from disease in the army than in civil life.
He has better medical care at the front than at home.
In other wars from ten to fifteen men died from disease to one
from bullets.
In this war one man dies from disease to every ten from bullets.
This war is less wasteful than any other in history.
Only 10 per cent of all Canadians disabled for further service
have been physically unable to engage in their former occupations.
If your boy is one of the 10 per cent, the government will re-edu
cate him in another vocation at which he can earn a living.
This doesn't mean that war is not a dangerous occupation, and
that life in the trenches is as comfortable as in the easy chair here at
home, but it does make it appear less fearsome than it has been painted.
WE’VE GOT THE MONEY, LET’S RAISE THE WAGES.
Now that the money is available, and a considerable gob of it, too.
the Engineering Commission should lose no time in doing what every
other big employer of labor has been obliged to do—raise the wages of
the employes. Men who toil hard are supposed to get something above
a mere living. If is the constructive period iu the lives of most of these
men; it is the time when they must lay aside something for approach
ing old age, when they will be incapacitated for hard labor of any kind.
We can’t expect to retain these men here unless we pay them ;H
least as much as they can earn elsewhere. A working man’s labor is his
capital. He is going to employ that capital where he can earn the most
for it. That is a logical conclusion.
It is the commission’s next move, and if it don’t move, the men will.
That’s the blunt fact about the matter.
THE TRIUMPH OP JUSTICE.
The committee on elections of the national house of representatives
by a unanimous vote, has*declared that the lion. James Wickersham is
the legally elected delegate to congress from Alaska, and that the Hon.
Charles A. Sulzer, incumbent of that office for a year and a half, is
a usurper. , .
What an indictment of the democratic ring of Alaska is this deci
sion of the house committee! What an aspersion upon the character
and fitness of the judicial officer who employed the sacred office of a
federal court to give the incumbent his scat in the congress, in viola
tion of the will of the people as expressed by their ballots! What an
imposture lias been wrought upon the people of this territory, (tlirough
the machinations of this political ring), who have been denied, for near
ly an entire term, the services of the man whom they legally elected
to represent them at the national capital! What an utter disregard, an
utter contempt, this ring has shown for the rights of the people!
Now, this democratic ring, this unscrupulous gang of political
tricksters, stand revealed in their true light. The mask lias been torn
aside. Deceit and dishonor must give way to justice and honor. And
this ring has been convicted in the house of their political friends, for
a majority of the elections committee are democrats. They can now
be known of all men for what they really are—political tricksters whoj
arc willing to resort to any methods, who stand ready to go to any
length, who have no hesitation in entering the sacred hall of a court
of justice, in order to accomplish their foul designs, in order to carry
out their unscrupulous purposes, in order to control, at all hazards, the
political destinies of this territory.
With this democratic ring, which now stands convicted before the
bar of public opinion, right and justice meant nothing; the will of the
people as expressed by the ballot meant nothing; the sanctity of a high
judicial court meant nothing, so long as they were undisturbed and
held the reins of political power. But now we observe the sorry spec
tacle of tlie gang running to cover. They are humiliated, discredited!
and shunned of men. They have run their race. For them, the sun has
set, never to rise. They prospered for a time, hut the day of reckon-'
ing has come, as it must surely and inevitably come to such as these.
•Justice, though long delayed, is bound to rise in triumph in the end.
Who are the men chiefly responsible for inflicting this usurper
upon us? Let us turn hack the pages of history for a couple of years
and see. The territorial election hoard at that time was composed of
Governor J. F. A. Strong, Surveyor-General Charles E. Davidson and
Collector of Customs John F. Pugh. After canvassing the election re
turns, Strong and Davidson found that Wickersham was legally elect
ed and decided to give the certificate of election to him. Pugh did not
agree with his colleagues. The election hoard was enjoined from giving
ihe certificate to Wickersham. and the ease came before Robert W. Jen
nings. federal judge of the first division of Alaska.* The attorney-gen
eral of the territory, George B. Grigsby, and a Juneau lawyer named
liellenthal. appeared for Sulzer. John Rustgard represented Wicker-1
sham. Sulzer was the contestant. The face of the returns proved that
Wickersham was duly elected. The only way that this could he over
come was to throw out some of the strong Wickersham precincts, so as
to overcome "his majority. This, the judge proceeded to do, in a lengthy
opinion, on iiio "round tnat tne voting in tncsc certain precincts was
■‘illegal". Whereupon, he peremptorily directed the canvassing hoard
to issue a certificate of election to Sulzer, and he took mighty good care
to direct, the board to issue the certificate in the “usual” way. This
is to say, in the way it would have been issued had there been no con
test. thus forcing the board to be a party to the farce. The board
thought it had no option but to obey the mandate of the court. With,
the cerificate of election in his pocket. Mr. Shlzer was duly seated in;
congress as the delegate from Alaska. Wickersham contested the case
and. of course, won, and won decisively.
There were some of us who contended that the canvassing board ,
should have disregarded the court's order and that it stand squarely:
behind the* official returns which gave the election to Wickersham and
issue flit1 eertificate of election to him. But tin.' board elected to follow
t In1 court decision.
We presume that the ring considered that they were d< ing a rath-'
or smart thing in giving the certificate of election-to Sulze”. the demo
crat. We have no doubt whatever that they expected the democrats in
congress to back them up in their illegal tactics. But the democrats in
the congress are not the same kind of democrats who are trying to rule
Alaska politically. On the contrary, they believe tlutt a man legally
elected to congress by a majority of the votes of the people, is entitled
to take his seat, whether democrat, or republican, or socialist. The po
litical affiliation of the man makes no difference to men big enough to
he members of our legislative body. They place justice before politics.
•lodge Wickersham has always maintained that if he succeeded in
getting a hearing before the elections committee, he would get a square
deal, and that meant that he would be seated. The result proves that '
the successful contestant knew what he was talking about.
What should be done with the official gentlemen who have been j
found guilty of thwarting the will of the people of this territory; whoj
have been found guilty of foisting this great imposition upon the elec
torate of Alaska ? This is what should be done and every right-think
ing man/every man that believes in a square deal, every man that be- j
lieves that high courts should not be employed to aid the political for
tunes of any one, should aid to see that it is done:
Robert W. Jennings, judge of the first judicial division of Alaska,
should be summarily dismissed from office.
John F. Pugh, collector of customs and the pliant member of the
canvassing board, should be summarily dismissed from office.
George B. Grigsby, attorney-general for the territory of Alaska,
should be summarily dismissed from office.
The lawyer Hellenthal, if he is the one who has recently been ap
pointed as custodian of alien enemy property in this territory, should:
be summarily dismissed from office.
It is unthinkable that the great department of justice in the United
States would longer tolerate in a high judicial position one who has so
flagrantly and so wantonly employed the power of his robes to thwart j
the will of the people. His usefulness as a judicial officer in Alaska has!
been destroyed by his own wilful act and deed. A high regard for his:
duty would impel him to resign. But he will not resign; neither wilU
his brother-in-law, young Pugh. Neither will Grigsby, the territorial j
attorney-general. It remains for those in authority to kick them out
instanter. And if they are not summarily dismissed after this astound
ing expose of their unfitness and their unfaithfulness, the people will
have a right to infer that their superiors are of like mind and are will
ing to endorse the unsavory methods of their subordinates.
The democrats owe it to themselves to scourge from their party
councils the men responsible for this attempted theft of an office from
a political opponent. The ring is too Pig a burden for them to carry.
They cannot go before the people with this handicap and expect to
achieve success at the'coming election. Indeed, they cannot hope to
succeed in any event, for they must suffer for the sins of their assumed
leaders. The people propose to have at least partial retribution and they
are going to elect, by an overwhelming vote, the man whom the ring has
denied his legal rights for nearly two years.
In Alaska politics, we want to hear nothing more from Jennings,
Grigsby, Donohoe, Hellenthal, Pugh, Troy and the lesser satellites. This
gang has sought to destroy the governor who, the election committee
proves, did only his duty in seeking to seat the legally and rightfully
elected delegate to congress. They shall now be given a dose of their
own medicine, and let us hope that the dose will be sufficient to forever
eliminate them from the political affairs of this territory. They have
been tried in the balance and they have been found wanting.
On the theory of credit to whom credit is due, we publish the
names and the political affiliation of the house committee on elections,
which reached such a just verdict and which placed honor and justice
above political chicaneryDemocrats: Kilev J. Wilson (chairman), of
Louisiana; Joe II. Eagle, of Texas; Albert P. Polk, of Delaware; L. D.
Robinson, of North Carolina; Benjamin P. Welty, of Ohio, and Fred II.
Dominick, of South Carolina. Republicans: Merrill Moore, of Indiana;
Frederick \Y. Ballinger, of Massachusetts, and John M. Rose, of Penn
sylvania.
HERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY.
Platinum is now the most sought-after metal in the world. That
should be sufficient information as to its value, but to get down to
something concrete, the last quotations were over one hundred dollars
the ounce for this precious member of the metal family—this “noble”
metal, as it is known to geologists.
What is of particular interest to us in this part of Alaska is that
this valuable metal is native to this country. It has been reported
as occurring by no less a personage than Prof. Herschel Parker, a mem
ber of the faculty of Columbia university of New York city. And he
knows platinum when he sees it, because he is both a student of min
eralogy and geology. Prof. Parker, as is well known in the Cook inlet
country, has made several attempts to ascend Mt. McKinley, and the
last trip reached the peak. During his several trips into the country,
he had an opportunity to see considerable of the geologic formations
native to the area traversed. He found that platinm is a native of
the Susitna and Mt. McKinley. Indeed, he has organized a company
to develop platium claims that have been located and now has a force
employed in development work. We know that platinum is here. That
‘s the initial thing to know. The next thing to determine is as to whether
it exists in commercial, or paying quantities.' It occurs to us that if
this metal is in such demand, and there is no question about that fact,
due to its employment in certain war materials, the government might
well undertake some developments on its own account. But it will
probbaly get around to this after the urgent need is passed. So it re
mains for private individuals to do the digging and the developing.
The platinum is there; go forth and find it in paying quantities, and
remember that it won’t take much, at $10.') per ounce, to make it pay.
Platinum was discovered in what is now Columbia in 1753 by a
Spaniard named Don Antonio de Idiot, who accompanied a French
scientific expedition, and his account of it was the first information re
garding the metal to be brought to the attention of Europeans. Its
nsistabdity to acids and the difficulty of working it were remarked
v»as used at times by counterfeiters as a basis for coins. It was not
until the middle of the nineteenth century that the demand for plati
num for use in chemical laboratories and for electric uses brought its
value up to the point where it ranked as one of the most precious metals.
In the placer mining of gold in Columbia it was formerly thrown
away as waste, and when the rise in price made it more valuable than
gold the ground on which the waste had been thrown became in its
turn a field for mining operations, and even the streets of the principal
( enter of gold refining in Columbia, Quibdo. were torn up and the soil
washed for particles of the new treasure. One man tore down his
store in order to get at the ground beneath, and found so much plati
num that he was enabled to rebuild and make an extra $4,000 for his
trouble.
Platinum is recovered principally from the beds of streams, the
particles having been deposited there through eroision of large rocks,
classified geologically as 4'tertiary conglomerate.” The platinum
grains are found with gold, the proportion varying from 5 to 50 per
cent of platinum. The two metals are recovered by washing the sand
and gravel of streams.
F1GIIT THE HUN AT HOME.
Col. Theodore Roosevelt's visit to St. Louis at this time, says the
St. Louis Republic, has a peculiar significance. Accepting the presi
dent's suggestion that ‘'politics is adjourned,” the colonel is devoting
himself to the task of arousing and unifying public sentiment to the
end that there may be no faltering in our national duty. That duty is
to render ourselves 100 per cent efficient in every line of war work,
and to ‘‘fight the Hun at home.”
In the latter task Col. Roosevelt is easily the pioneer and most con
spicuous exponent in this country. He saw the danger in this country
of a large element in open and undisguised sympathy with Germany,
and he began fighting it long before we entered the war. The fight he
started against German influence in the United States was a typical
Roosevelt fight. It earned him the unrelenting enmity of Bernstorff
and the other German agents, who were doing their utmost to divide
this country, so that we might be powerless to aid the allies when Ger
many played her ultimate cards.
The country now recognizes that Col. Roosevelt was right in his
stand against Germanism as directed towards the paralysis of the
United States by slow poison. It honors him for his courage and fidel
ity to American principles.
WHY WE DO NOT FEAR.
Germany may think in terms of manpower and gunpower for
forty years and yet we cannot fear the ultimate worst, because we sing
The Battle Hymn of the Republic—"God’s Truth Is Marching On,”
and we believe it; it is a part of us; it is as real as our mountains and
cur rivers. The only real blow that we could suffer in this war, or any
other war, would be the destruction of this faith. It explains to us our
history, and those whom we call our leaders. Where it comes from
or whither it will lead us we have not stopped to inquire. Like the
salt that savors the sea it has washed in from all lands. Man’s spirit
everywhere calls out that Justice shall be his, and Justice means under
standing, and understandings means sympathy, and sympathy means
brotherhood, and brotherhood means democracy—and so we come to
the meaning of the great movement a part of which we are.—Franklin
K-Lane- s....