THE CORDOVA DAILY TIMES
Entered at the Postoffice at Cordova,
Alaska, as second-class matter,
V H. Gi. STEEL
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1919
THE ENDLESS WAR.
As of old the builders and wreckers
are at war. It is the only kind of
war that never ends. However fer
tile in woe for humanity, military
combats come to an end. And when
they terminate the builders, patient,
long-suffering, devoted and consci
entious, shoulder the burdens im
posed by the warriors and begin
slowly and painfully to remake the
world.
But always the wrecker is at hand
to war on the builder. Always the
disintegrating forces of society begin
to corrode the monuments of endur
ing gold or brass.
The world’s biggest war has ended
and the hewers of wood and drawers
of water have1 commenced again their
loyal tasks. And as never before the
wreckers, with derisive shouts and
dark menaces, have mobilized to stay
the hand of progress.
Never before have the wreckers
been so bold. In other times they
worked secretly, ratlike, undermining
the social and economic fabric. To
day they mass in armies and call
themselves Bolshevik! or Industrial
Workers of the World.
These are the conscious wreckers.
But almost as destructive are the un
conscious wreckers—the men who
never gave vent to an anarchistic
threat, never voiced a radical doc
trine, never formed any theory or
revolution and reconstruction, Dut
who, wars being ended, give them
selves over to sloth.
The wreckers and builders, the
speeders and the drones are at war.
We have heard moving panegyrics
of America’s achievements in the
war and we shall hear them again
and again. They will tell to us and
repeat to the coming generations a
story beside which the lamp of Allad
in becomes a mere flickering and
smoking taper. Something astound
ingly titantie was the feat of Ameri
can energy and determination. The
Hun had almost won the war, had
made almost secure his title to do
minion of the world, when, with an
onset unapproached in history, Ameri
can ships and men hurled him into
the abyss.
It was an apotheosis of momentum.
Never had speed , accomplished- so
much. But now deadening inertia has
taken hold of many.. They will not
strive in peace as they did in war.
It would require the character and
the eloquence of another Roosevelt
to preach the “strenuouos life” that
is esse tial if the world is to be
saved from bankruptcy, if men are to
create vith sufficient sfreed the
wealth tl at is to pay for the war in
the forn of taxes and thus lift from
the -vorl. a mortgage of hundreds of
, illicos.
Before the war America had, and
s )m< hues humorously boasted that
it ha 1, a million tramps. We shall
we p» each and legislate againat sloth,
against “laying down” for rest after
the battle.
Europe is a wreck. It is a monu
ment to the work of the wreckers
who, in his instance, labored hand
i * ha.id vith militarism. In fact, the
wrec'-ers almost won the war.
Sc ue (f us were amazed to find
,tha> the foundations of the social
structure were laid so deep. We had
far-cies that the blows leveled against
•civilization would have annihilated its
historic institutions, but the labor of
the builders through thousands of
years had proved too much for' the
wreckers.
, The, wreckers do not admit defeat.
They are leading mighty hosts Sn
mysterious Russia against the armies
of civilization. They are destroying
machinery in our factories, throwing
sulphur bombs into the haystacks of
Illinois, Utah and Oregon. They are
making freak laws in our legislatures
and they are charging such exorbitant
prices in the marts of trade that they
threaten to bring the whole financial
structure about our ears. And where
they are not actively wrecking they
are undermining by sloth.
If we could perform the labors of
peace with the energy and speed we
threw into the war .the immediate
future of the human race would be
much happier than it promises to be.
If we could but keep it in mind that
a foe as mighty as the Hun still con
fronts us, if we could visualize that
reality, and foresee the perils that will
come to us with the defeat we would
retain our state councils of defense
in existence or substitute for them
similar agencies and we would be as
active in our effortB, as liberal in our
contributions for the aid of our build
ers as we were for the aid of our war
riors.
WEEK OF SONG
TO COMMENCE
NEXTSCNDAY
All America is expected to be sing
ing during the week beginning Sun
day, February 16, and ending Satur
day, February 22. The movement is
promoted by the magazine, Normal
Instructor and Primary Plans, and is
indorsed by United -States Commis
sioner'of Education, Claxton; leading
state, city and county superintend
ents; music supervisors, and leaders
of community singing throughout the
United States.
The objects are “to awaken and de
velop a love for singing and to make
America a singing nation, and through
the medium of songs of the right sort
to inspire us to higher ideals and to
unite us as a people.” The ends
sought are worthy ones. The im
portance of song in developing the
spiritual life of an individual or of a
nation are too well known to need
comment here. Some one has well
said, “Tell me what you read and I
will tell you what you are.” It oan
likewise be said of a nation that the
character of its songs indicates pos
session or lack of proper ideals. A
nation which has as one of its nation
al airs an arrogant boastful song,
such as “Deutschland uber Alles,” can
well be guilty of all the long list of
crimes which Germany has perpe
trated upon the civilized nations of
the world. On the other hand, a peo
nle which sines a "Marseillaise” can
well be expected to stand in the path
of an aggressor and to defend indi
vidual, national and world honor al
though blood must be poured out until
all the rivers of the land run red.
The community chorus is filling a
larger and larger pldce in the life of
American communities. Hundreds,
and in some localities thousands -of
people are regularly meeting to take
part In the “community sing.” Added
importance is also being attached to
song as one of the vital elements in
the education of the child. If any of
the schools of Alaska have in the past
failed to recognize this fact, the Na
tional Week of Song \yill present an
opportunity to inaugurate a new phase
of school activity. If the “commun
ity sing” has not found its way into
the city or village in which your
school is located, the last night of
National Song Week will be a fitting
time to introduce this important line
of community activity. The success
of this meeting should lead to other
similar gatherings and to the forma
tion of a permanent organization
which shall meet weekly, bi-weekly or
monthly, as the case may be, not prim
arily for the purpose of practicing
and rendering the great oratorios
which have been produced by the
master minds of mpsic, but in order
that opportunity may he given to sing
the good old songs of home and coun
try and those later songs with which
many may not be so familiar but
which have in thbm those elements
which make them worthy to be placed
in the list of those which have made
our country great and her sons and
daughters lovers of morality, freedom
arid justice. There Is no development
in either community or school without
harmony and union and nothing can
so bring together and unite the pupibi
of a school or the residents of a com
munity as an hour’s song fest.
Methods of organization for the
Week of Song will very in different
communities according to the oppor
tunities which each affords. No com
munity should, however, fail to make
the most of the material available.
The following suggestions are very
general but may be helpful. Certain
schools may not receive the Bulletin
until too late to arrange for the cele
bration'of the regular song period.
The arrangement for a local Song
Week at a later date will, how
ever, enable each school to carry out
the idea and to secure the benefits to
be derived therefrom.
The National Week of Song should
bo advertised as widely; as possible in'
each community. This is not the first
time that an attempt has been made
to set all America singing. The pro
moters of the movement report that
last year single gatherings ranging
all the way from ten people to eight
thousand observed the event. If there
is a newspaper in your community,
acquaint its editor with the fact of
the movement and what it is meant
to accomplish. It has been suggest
ed that newspapers be asked to pub
lish under the heading “Songs You
Ought to Know” the words of some
of our national, patriotic and folk
songs, witn a suggestion tnat tne
words be clipped from the paper and
memorized. Also that they publish
stories about the song, giving the
names of the authors arid the circum
stances under which the songs were
written. Warning is given that care
should be used in the selection of
songs- to be ufeed during the week.
There are plenty of good wholesome
songs and, therefore, no necessity to
resort to the cheap and trashy variety.
The promoters further suggest that,
since the week begins with Sunday,
February 16, the co-operation of the
churches should be secured. Pastors
can be asked to choose for their
theme subjects dealing with the value
of song In religious worship, its effect
on individual and national life, etc.
Sunday School superintendents will
gladly devote a part of the regular
period to the singing of special songs
and hymns. During the week, daily
singing should take^riace in all grades.
Elaborate programs are not expected.
Variety ca,n be introduced by having
a pupil give a short account of the
history of some song, together with
interesting events connected with it.
Solos, duets and quartets may be
rendered. Orchestra music or1 special
instrumental accompaniment to songs
will add to the pupils' enjoyment ef
the week.
Further suggestions are to the
effect that clubs, lodges and other
community organizations be asked to
open and close their meetings with
song, In honor of the event. Also that
theaters devote ten minutes at each
performance to singing appropriate
songs.
On Saturday night the "community
sing” should be held in the largest
and most convenient auditorium in
your community. A special school
chorus can be selected- to lead the
singing and to assist the chorus lead
er. Variety in this program can also
be introduced as in those held in the
school rooms. In order to make this
event a success it is desirable that a
committee selected from the commun
ity at large be chosen for the purpose
of promoting it. Representatives of
the school may well find a place on
this committee, but in addition, it
should embrace those interested in
music and also one or two persons
who are boosters in all community
activities. This same committee may
well function as general organizer of
the activities for the whole week.
It is hoped that those responsible
for the management of each school in
the Territory will make arrangements
to enter into the celebration of this
week to the extent that circum
stances will permit. The enforced
vacation during the year has handi
capped both teachers and pupils and
too much extra work can not there
fore be undertaken. The Week of
Song should not, however, detract to
any considerable extent from the
regular school work and its benefits
will surely compensate for the extra
endeavor on the part of the teacher.
America needs to sing now, if ever.
She has just emerged victorious from
the greatest war in which she was
ever engaged. Her position among
the nations of the world is estab
lished as never before. Our boys are
returning by the thousands safely
from the battlefields of Europe where
they went to lay down their lives, if
necessary, in the cause of liberty.
For these and many other reasons
there should be Joy in the land and
how can any peaple better give ex
pression to theier joy than in song?
But there is also sadness in the homes
of our lai)d. Many boys have not re
turned. They are lying beneath the
soil of our own and other countries
whose redemption they purchased at
the price of their lives, but their souls
are marching on and leading men to
demand that that which they secured
at so great a price shall not have been
bought in vain. Others are return
ing but with bodies maimed and with
mind and senses shattered by those
things which they endured, and these
shall ever be to us a reminder that
there is something of the Divine In
man and that, after all, but a' narrow
vale separates this earthly career from
the heavenly. Many others in civilian
life have answered the final summons
and hearts of friends and loved ones
are sorrowful. There is, however, a
song for every emotion and therefore
all America^with her mingled feelings
of rejoicing and sadness can well sing
during the National Week of Song.—
Alaska School Bulletin.
--♦
Advertise in the Daily Times.
Rocks—Sulphurous Waters—Oils
—just as they come “Hi
Press” takes them on and
beats them. There never
* was such a boot for wear.
The most heart-breaking
service merely brings it
back for more. Miners find
they do not have to attach
I
■ i ' -
“Help make the world safe for men who
are trying to make reverence for law the polit
ical religion of the nations.”
Ponder on this utterance and let it he a guide to your
action in the reforms that should resolve from the pres
ent social unrest.
The variety of our industries Insures a wonderful
future for us, but without a bank account you will be
handicapped.
Don’t be afraid to come in and talk your affairs
over, so that you can open an account now with the
BANK OF ALASKA
Capital $170,000.00
ALASKA'S' BRANCH BANKING SYSTEM ■
Cordova Skagway Wrangell Anchorage
NICHOLLS TRANSPORTATION CO.
Plying Between
Chitina and Fairbanks
Carrying Passengers and Freight from
Either End
Rates and other information can be obtained
from Fred Nicholls, at Paxson’s, or Oscar
Breedman, at Chitina
■ •
SANITATION SERVICE SATISFACTION
Perfect The Best Guaranteed
MODERN LAUNDRY
F. A. JONES, Proprietor
PHONE 66
First Avenue, Below Alaskan Hotel
. —— i —■——————4
ARE YOU GOING OUT THIS FALL?
Visit San Francisco and Stop with
Mark C. Thompson
at his new hotel in the heart of the city between
Powell and Mason Streets.
The Dale- Tallac Hotel
140 ELLI8 STREET
Special Rates and Headquarters for Alaskans.
Manhattan Hotel
B. W. FERRELL, Prop.
Electric Lighted. Hot Water. Turkish and Tub
Baths.
OPPOSITE CORDOVA GRILL, CORDOVA, ALASKA.
PHONE 99
1 11 "" .
r— .... ———————i
Don’t Waste Money on
“Hand-Me-Down”
Clothes
A Suit to your meas
ure for $45 or $50
looks a lot better and
feels better.
TOM HUBBERT
Tailor
-I
largain Store
JUST RECEIVED
A LINE OF SHIRTS, PANTS, WOOL BLANKETS
QUILTS, ETC. FROM F. A. PATRICK AND CO.
We also handle the Hirsch-Weis and Co. "Rose City"
brand of Mackinaws, Loggers’ Shirts, Rainset and Au
apelle Clothing.
Black Bear brand of union made Overalls and Jackets.
A complete line of Wool and Cotton Blankets, Quilts of all kinds,
Bed 8preads, Sheets and Pillow Slips, Wool Sox and Insolea.
Parkees, Gloves and Mittens, Shoe Pace and Rubber Overshoes.
Tents, Bed 8heets, Paok Sacks and Clothea Bags.
Towers' Pish Brand Oil Coats.