THE CORDOVA DAILY TIMES
Entered at the Postoffice at Cordova,
Alaska, as second-class matter.
H. G. STEEL
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OPPOSITION TO LEAGUE OF
NATIONS
William Howard Taft, one of the
mildest-mannered of men, recently
was moved to remark that “the gen
tlemen in the senate who are setting
out to defeat this league of nations
are those I would not trust over night.”
This somewhat severe arraignment
of men in high position hy the hon
ored ex-President was no doubt called
forth not so much hy the fact of the
opposition itself as to the manner of
it. Evidently he had in mind the cir
cumstances under which severe criti
cism of a document with which they
were then unfamiliar was being in
dulged in by certain senators who. as
it happened, had similarly opposed
measures which had been regarded
as essential to the maintenance of
the honor and integrity of the nation.
The former President went on to say:
“They are citing the constitution as
an argument against it. I revere and
worship that great instrument, and it
is a new story to me if ihe constitu- i
tion prevents this people from playing
their part in bringing peace and order
and happiness to ourselves and the
other peoples of the world.
"This is not a political question.
God forbid. President Wilson went
to Europe because he went bearing a
promise of a league of nations. He
went as the greatest representative of
democracy in ihe world, and the spon
taneous enthusiasm, the pathetic em
phasis of that enthusiasm with which
he was greeted hy the peoples of
Europe was an expression of the dear
est hopes which the soldiers, the work
ers. the plain people of Europe hug i
to their souls—the hope for an agree
ment among the nations of the world <
which shall banish wars from the earth
forever.
"President Wilson is a Democrat s
and will, I presume, always continue i
to be. 1 am a Republican, and expect i
to continue one; but political differ- I
cnees between us begin at our Atlan- :
tic coast and end on this coast. (
“The application at this time of the
doctrine of avoiding entangling alii- <
am es is reactionary to the extent of <
delaying world peace one hundred <
years." >
it is d noteworthy tact that the op
position to the league of nations Is (
headed by men who have consistently
opposed President Wilson and his poli- t
cies both before and during the war, 1
arid have continued that oppositton '
since the signing of the armistice. |
They have been blindly followed by t
every shallow-brained scribbler who t
can see nothing in the mommentous r‘
problems that confront this govern- '
merit but a chance for political advan- g
tage—men who, for instance, quibble
about words rather than ideas, deny
patent facts in order to score in a ^
pointless argument, and querulously
-call for information already published .
io the world. '
The Wilson administration—the .
Lord knows!—has been responsible .
for many grave blunders; and it is ^
far from the purpose of the Daily
Times to pose as apologist for the ad,
ministration. Politics, as Mr. Taft
points out, is not concerned in the
attempt to bring into being an organ- _
ization with such high purpose and of -
such stupendous significance to the
world. It is even within the range of
possibility that, after mature consid
eration, the people of this country
may negative the plan as outlined at
the Paris conference. There are
many innovations in the plan, pertain
ing to both domestic and world poli
tics. The idea is startling in its scope.
And the United States or its repre
sentatives in the peace conclave would
be simple indeed were they to indorse
the league of nations until they were
familiar with its every detail. The
men who are loudest in denunciation
of the league are not, as would nat
urally be expected, the men who are
most conversant with the plan, but
those who have stubbornly refused to
consider it.
In the present crisis in the country’s
ind the world s all airs me interests
>t' Americans and of humanity will be
lest served by giving fullest publicity
o the discussion of the league of na
ions plan. To condemn the proposal
without giving the people a chance
o know just what it is that is being
lenounced is not in accord with demo
uatic traditions. Above all else, the
eague of nations proposal should not
le condemned simply because it is a
lew idea. W. W. Jermane, the Wash
ngton correspondent of the Seattle
rimes, makes the following very inter
jsting contribution to the discussion:
“Americanism meant one thing in
1783, but (|uite another thing in 1865.
15y the same token, in till!) it may be j
(omothing entirely different from
what it was at either of these times.
1'hi' league may not he American, as
vet, but it may not be un-American.
Phis is what the American people
nust find out, and the senate discus
don will therefore be welcome. If it
s to harm anybody it will lie those
(iking part in it.
"In every generation of American
listory public men have wrecked them
selves by opposing measures of prog-1
ess. The Declaration of Independence
was sneered at as hackneyed, lacking
in originality and filled with meaning
less generalities. The constitution of
the United States was savagely at- j
tacked as imperialistic, fatal to the
freedom of the people and calculated j
to reduce them to a condition of bond
ige worse than any they had suffered |
under England.
"The emancipation proclamation
was called an executive usurpation
and a weak appeal to the black man
bearings. So strong was that feeling
in 1S(>4 that the house of representa
tives at first practically rejected the
thirteenth amendment by failing to
4ive it the necessary two-thirds majof
ty, and yet that was the amendment
which prohibited slavery.
"One must read contemporaneous
history to learn the names of the
itatesmen who took this attitude of
hostility to measures intended to
make life more nearly worth living.
“They have faded out of the public
nind and the only names that are re
netnbered are those of the men who
supported these great documents and
helped defend the government that in
nitiated them. In the list of oppo
nents were men as brilliant as any on
he other side, but because their judg
nents were faulty their fate was
iblivion.
“Men who today are supporting the
eague of nations in this country pre
iict that history will repeat itself.
Mile hut mistaken men will kick
Against the pricks, will have a little
>rief notoriety, and then he forgotten,
fhe league will be accepted by all the
lations, and the modern world will be
tin to count time from Friday Feb.
14, when President Wilson read the
•ompleted preliminary draft to the
>eace conference. '
“This prediction will he verified if
listoric precedent is worth anything,
And for that reason the average man
md woman should read the senate at
.acks with open minds and not be too
luick to indorse them.
“World opinion never has been in
;o fluid a state, and people who have
•ocksure opinions about any of the
)ig things that are now taking form
nay find themselves in a hopeless mi
Aority at any moment. As to the
eague itself, a concentration of world
tpinion is now under full headway.
"if this city reads the signs aright,
dr. Wilson, understood this when he
aid in Paris, ‘I dare say that no un
ion will run the risk of attempting to
esist.’ From now on the accomplished
act must be dealt with, and not mere
ispiration, and it must be dealt with
lifferently.
“In advance there were many hon
ist doubts, just as there were many
lishonest sneers. The history of the
ontest between science and religion,
ihieh began with the result of leani
ng, furnishes a parallel to which
riends of the league are beginning to
all attention.
“When any new idea was presented
he people in alarm said that it was
uliciuous; a little later they said it
>’as contrary to the Bible, and still
iter, in numerous cases, that they
lad always believed it. Will opposi
ion to the league of nations repeat
hat history? It may and it may not.
'he chances, however, are that it
till.”
-«
ECRETARY LANE’S ADMISSION.
An Associated Press dispatch from
Washington says: “Senator Pittmas
‘ad a letter from Secretary Lane ask
ig that this be done, and declaring
lat the development of coal lands
i that territory (Alaska) by a leas
lg system under if previous bill had
aen in part a failure."
To Alaska and the West generally
us is no news, and is worthy of
raiment only for the reason that the
lilure of this leasing system is now
officially and publicly admitted by the !
federal official in charge. The leas- j
ins system has been “in part a fail-,
ure” in Alaska; time has been wasted; i
money has been lost, and for what
purpose? Just to satisfy the clamor
of a set of doctrinaires, visionaries
and political sure-thing men who
made monkeys out of a goed propor
tion of the intelligent electorate of
the United States.
It’s an old, old issue, ihis so-called j
•‘conservation,” but we cannot forego
calling attention to the fact that there
arc many, many individuals con
spicuously silent today who ter. years
ago were shattering the dome of
heaven with their cries. The word
“loot” was in great favor then; every
body who did not agree with thorn
w.-s ‘‘looting the public domain” or
about to loot it. Posterity was being
trimmed at a scandalous rrte. There
was Controller hay; vast wealth was
there in oil, harbor sites ar.d other
natural resources, all being stolen.
We just got in on time tr save the
wealth of Controller bay from the
bandits of big business. And how
wonderfully Controller bay’s re
sources have been deveVped. Con
sider the vast quantities of oil that
have been shipped from that port;
what wonderful harbor facilities have
been developed; how all the surround
ing territory is thriving. Consider j
also the Matanuska and Bering coal
fields, how they are supplying all the
west coast of North America with
cheap fuel. Co into any bungalow in
Seattle and ask the furnace tender
liow happy he is by reason of the Alas
ka coal laid down here so cheaply by
reason of the government’s careful
protection of Alaska’s natural re
sources. Truly, as one commentator
an the Alaskan coal field said, the
government might as well have pro
vided that the coal must' lie mined
with oyster forks. The resources of
Alaska have been saved; saved as the
Russians saved them before us, and
us the aborigines saved them before
the Russians, for hundreds ol' thou
sands of years. ,
This bit of nonsense is in a fair way ,
to be corrected and to be forgotten.
In the meantime the same will-o’-the- (
ivhisp chasers are in full pursuit in ,
ither directions? It will take about
en years to catch up with them, as it
lid this Alaska coal leasing business, t
And then it will be something else.— 1
Beattie Post-Intellingencer. 1
AMERICA S WAR
NO BURDEN TO
THE COUNTRY
Carter Glass, secretary of the treas
ury, says: “A thing difficult of un
derstanding is the reactionary spirit
which, in some quarters, seems to
have seized hold of American busi
ness. It manifests itself in a gloomy
and pessimistic view of the future in
no way justified by conditions present
or discernible, and in a disposition to
cavil at the future expenditures of the
government is under the necessity of
making in order to liquidate the war.
‘‘Instead of days of dark forebod
ing, these should be days of rejoic
ing, of confidence and of high resolve.
America is least injured of any of the
nations which took active part in the
death grapple with autocracy on the
soil of France and Flanders. Our
fields have not been devastated, our
homes and factories have not been
razed, famine does not stalk among
us. In all material things the nation
is richer and stronger than it was be
fore we went to war.
‘‘Is the American spirit less cour
igeous than is the spirit .of the French
>r of the Belgians? France, sorrow
ing, but undaunted, has set about to
•epair the wreck the ruthless invader
wrought, and refuses to view the fu
ture darkly. Belgium, stripped of all
mve honor, looks forward to the day
when a greater nation will arise on
lie ruins of the old. Shall America,
hen. bend and groan under the imag
mugs of a burden which it should;
jear lightly, if felt at all?
•“Sight never should be lost of the
'act that America's war debt is sub
itantiallv all owed to the American
leople. Money to meet the interest
•liarges on it and eventually to pay
iff the principal will flow back to the
icoui'ces whence il came. A national
lebt of this character is not a burden
o cripple future business.
“It should be kept in mind also that
he issues of Liberty Bonds were paid
or, or are being paid for, almost en
irely by the current savings of the
leople. There was no impairment of
he capital which had accumulated
rom the savings of former years,
dore capital is available today for
he financing of legitimate business
han ever before in the history of the
lation. More, it must be remembered
or at least two years prior to the
mtrance of this country into war
American business enjoyed uuprece
lented prosperity, with enormous
irofits, untaxed beyond the normal
evies.
“In affecting the savings by means
if which they bought Liberty Bonds,
he American people learned the les
ons of thrift, the benefits of which
rill be felt by our children and our
hildren’s children. The billion-dollar
ndemnity which Bismarck levied in
he belief that it would keep France
irostrate rejuvenated France and un
ified her to become the chief stumb
ing block to Germany’s dream of
rorld domination. So America’s war
lebt, if rightly viewed and rightly
tandled, should make for the content
nont and prosperity of our people,
’o see in it an obstacle to business
irogress is to see ghosts and liob
;oblins and other things which have
10 existence outside the realms of
rncy.’’
A Capitalist?
Capital is accumulated savings. A capi
talist is a person who has saved a portion of his
earnings and has invested it in some income
producing property. Every owner of a Liberty
Bond, a War Savings Stamp or a Savings Ac
count is a capitalist.
Why not open a Savings or a Checking Ac
count and become one of them?
BANK OF ALASKA
Capital $170,000.00 *
CORDOVA SKAGWAY ANCHORAGE WRANGELL |
■- - -
— 9
NICHOLLS TRANSPORTATION CO.
WEEKLY TRIPS BETWEEN
Chitina and Fairbanks
Carrying Passengers and Freight from
Either End
Fred Nicholls and Ed Bartlett have joined forces and are now prepared
to give a Regular Service to and from the Interior
... ... _i__
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Perfect The Best Guaranteed
MODERN LAUNDRY
F. A. JONES, Proprietor
PHONE 66
First Avenue, Below Alaskan Hotel
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. ELLIS STREET
Special Rates and Headquarters for Alaskans.
Manhattan Hotel '
R. W. FERRELL, Prop.
Electric Lighted. Hot Water. Turkish and Tub
Baths.
j OPPOSITE CORDOVA GRILL, CORDOVA, ALASKA.
PHONE 99
JUST ARRIVED
DETMER’S new Spring Samples of the ],
latest patterns in light and heavy !
weights for ladies' and men’s Suits,
Tailored in Up-to-Date Styles.
I
TOM HUBBERT
<
Tailor and Cleaner
I
largain Stor
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 Spreads, Sheets and Pillow Slips, Wool Sox and Insoles.
Parkees, Gloves and Mittens, Shoe Pacs and Rubber Overshoes.
Tents, Bed Sheets, Pack Sacks and Clothes Bags.
Towers’ Fish Brand Oil Coats.
_
CORDOVA,
MACHINE WORKS
E. R. GARNES. Prop.
Residence Shop
Phone 101-3. Phone 1B2
Machine Woik of all Kinds,
Blacksmlthlng, General Repair
ing, Horse Shoeing, Oxy-Acety
lene Welding and Cutting.
AUTOMOBILES
REPAIRED
Office and Shop: City Dock
Cordova, Alaska.
Out of Town Jobs Given Strict
Attention.
]
Smith and
McConaghy
(
Plumbers and
Steamfitters
, i
COR. FRONT and B STS.
c
_ t
The Burkhardt
Hand Laundry
and Bath
A
Burkhardt Flats j
i
Neatly Fitted up with Large
Porcelain Tubs. Everything 1
Clean and Sanitary. Open All !
Night. Phone 61—three rings. ]
k
POISON GAS
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