ALASKA EDITOR
IN THE GAME
FORTY YEARS
W. F. Thompson, editor of the
Fairbanks News-Miner, in a recent
history gives the following sketch of
forty years experience as a publisher
and editor of newspapers:
“Forty years ago today, at Howard
City, Montcalm county, Mich., the
writer “published” his first “news
paper.” It was named “The Howard
City Snorter,” and its principal news
story of that day read: ‘Peter Bab
cock has a new suit of clothes.’
“You would think that after forty
years of newspaper experience,
“printing” from one end of the
United States and Canada to the
other, over and back, hither and yon,
, publishing newspapers in Michigan,
Texas, Wyoming, Washington, British
Columbia, Yukon and Alaska, and in
several places in each several dis
tricts, that the result would be that
a publisher would ‘know a lot,’ and
we are cogitating today as to how
much we really know. Three years
later, in Hillsdale college, our pro
fessor in chemistry, Prof. Fiske, used
to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning
to tell us in class at 7 (think of going
to school at 7 a. m.) ‘Man knows
NOTHING, save that HE EXISTS—
certain atoms or molecules moving
through the air convey to his brain
and mind through the eye that the
thing he sees is a horse, or a man.
J which is simply a BELIEF, and be
lief is a condition of the mind and
neither a matter of logic or reason
man knows NOTHING, save that he
exists. All else is belief.’ After 40
years of active experience in the
emptying of thought tanks, we are
prepared to state that Prof. Fiske is
right, so far as we can demonstrate.
Also science backs him up in the
statement.
“Forty years ago we ‘knew’ more
than we do today. Thirty years ago
we knew more than we did 40 years
ago. Twenty years ago today we
knew almost EVERYTHING, using
the reservation ‘almost’ simply out
of courtesy to the remainder of the
knowing world. Since then, year after
year, we have known less until today
we are uncertain as to anything and
everything. We wouldn’t bet one of
the baby's cast-off shoes upon the cor
rectness of any proposition on earth,
except the laws of human being and
the effect one’s actions have upon
one's own self. We will take a chance
and gamble on anything that looks
like an even break, but we are always
prepared to lose on any ‘play’ we
make we believe and we gamble on
ANYTHING simply for the belief of
the spirit of gambling that is in us.
“After 40 years one would think
that we should know how to ‘run a
newspaper,’ but scarcely a day goes
by but that some tried and true friend
tells us that we should run this paper
in some other way, manner or direc
tion, and they may be right. In our
earlier publishing days, when we be
! i • .
neveu mure in me general knowledge
of mankind, in kindly friendship and
interest, and were beginning to have
a little doubt as to our own judgment,
■we accommodated a dozen or more
fr.ends of that kind by changing our
system of publishing as they thought
we should. The result has been that
. scattered all over North America are
little newspaper graves wherein lie
the literary babes of our trustful
younger years, and wre invariably
found that we had to bear all the
funeral expenses and were the only
mourner. Today we are getting the
same advice constantly, and in our
skepticism we tell the friends, ‘prob
bly so,’ and go right back to the of
fice and start in again to run the
paper in the same old way, right or
wrong, and in the evening take home
a few slices of bacon to the babies,
which seems to us today to be the
only real way. And, reaching for
safety-first appliances, we have dis
' covered that we can change our sys
tem on our lines and out own ideas
as fast as is necessary under the cir
cumstances and still keep the smoke
house wherein hangs the bacon open
and doing business with us as usual,
so why take suggested chances?
“Time has taught this burned child
some sad lessons, and some comical
ones—lessons of FACT. Here are
some of the maxims which now ap
peal to us: •
»
“ ‘Lives of great men all remind us
that—it is easy to lie.’
“ ‘When you see an editor who can
please every reader, you will see him
through a little square of glass, and
in a box, and he won’t be standing
up.’
“ ‘Politics is its own reward.’
“ ‘The wages of sin are the only 1
t
wages which have never been re- #
duced.’
“ ‘The ten commandments, written
in less than ten minutes, probably
with a burnt stick, have stood through
all the censorship of ages without
revision.’
“‘It may be true; and then, again,
it may not.’
“ ‘The world and all in it moves in
a circle; don’t break your back to
keep up with the procession; drop
out and rest and then catch on again
when the procession circles around
again to where you are at.’
“And a lot more of ’em.
“Chances are there are no men in
Alaska and few in the United States
who can lay claim to 40 years of con
tinuous newspaper publishing. If
many such there are, it might be as
well for you to not waste your time
in trying to reform them and their
systems which are the result of 40
years of study. If they last, their
system must be the right one in the
community which they ‘last;* In—
otherwise they wouldn’t be there.
“There are times in this strenuous
life of ours when we wish that we
had ‘learned the carpenter’s trade, at
twenty shillin’s a day,’ and'there are
times when we don’t envy the car
penter a bit, but, come good, come
ill, we don’t see where NOW we can
quit and start at something else.
“Do you ”
If you do not receive Vour copy of
the Times regularly, please notify the
circulation manager.
Special dinner served from 11:30
o’clock every day at the City Bakery.
Read the Daily Times for tne latest
and most reliable world news.
ALASKA TRANSFER COMPANY
TRANSFER AND STORAGE
GOAL AND WOOD
AUTO SERVICE
DAY OR NIGHT
A
Office, Northern Hotel Bldg. Phone 85
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. ' . ‘ - . ' ' •' ■ ■ " '* ■ ' ‘ ■■ 1 -* 1... ■' ■
BOX STATIONERY
In our Stationery Department we are showing many varieties of
Box Papetries, such as Symphony Lawn, Ustaco, Lord Baltimore,
Cascade Linen, Riviera Linen, etc., in various shades, such as white,
blue, champagne, lavender, etc.; these Papetries range in value from
50c to $1.50.
TABLETS
We carry a complete stock of the various sizes and styles, from the
10c Children’s School Tablets to the higher grade linen for social
correspondence.
ASSORTED ITEMS
In addition to the above you can find in our Stationery Department
all the other well-known items in this line, such as Fountain Pens,
Inks, Pens, Pencils, Erasers, Blank Books, Files, Pastes, Memo Books,
etc.
Cordova Drug Co.
The Store
SERVICE Wl TH A SMILE
■ KIWI
ARE YOU GOING OUT THIS FALL?
Visit San Francisco and Stop with
Mark C. Thompson
at liis new hotel in the heart of the city between i
Powell and Mason Streets.
The Dale- Tallac Hotel
140 ELLIS STREET
i Special Rates and Headquarters for Alaskans.
THE NORTHERN CLUB
FRED HAEF, PROP.
POOL, CARDS, TOBACCO
Soft Drinks of All Kinds
The Popular Comer
PHONE 47 CORDOVA, ALASKA
OSBORNE BROS.
JEWELERS AND
OPTICIANS
WATCH REPAIRING
JEWELRY TO ORDER
_
CORDOVA, ALASKA
« —
Cordova
Adjustment
Company
K. G. ROBINSON, Mgr.
Collections, Reports,
Insurance
Ostrander Bldg., Cordova, Alaska
giililiiillllililll
I The Cl b !
gs |||
I Pool and I
j Billiard Hall j
■ A Clean, Cozy Place Where Good Fellows fj
1 Congregate 1
I TOBACCOS, CIGARS, CIGAR- 1
I ETTES AND SOFT DRINKS |
1 Meet Your Friends at The Club I
1 TOM CLONINGER, - I
MANAGER.
The Times Will Do that Job of Printing RIGHT
DR. W. W. COUNCIL
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Office and Residence, Cordova I f
General Hospital vOstrander
Building).
Phones—Residence, 115; Office, 132
DR. W. H. CHASE
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
Office over Cor.dova Drug Store.
Calls may be left at Cordova
Drug Store.
Residence, Alaska Hotel.
♦-♦
DR. W. D’ARCY CHACE
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON
WINDSOR HOTEL
Hours:
1 p. m. to 3 p. m. and 7 p. m. to 8 p. m. j
^ ' j
DR. CHAS. DAGGETT j j
DENTAL OFFICES ’j
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CORDOVA, ALASKA 1 -
♦-* -
DR. CORA DAGGETT
SPECIALIST
Pyorrhea and Dental Prophylaxis
-'
DR. VON ZESCH
Dentist
ADAMS BUILDING
I i
--4
DR. CHARLES M. RODSETH
CHIROPRACTIC. PHYSICIAN
Northern Hotel,
Phone 158 | I
P—----p J
D0N0H0E & DIMOND
ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW
Offices:
CORDOVA and VALDEZ
FRANK H. FOSTER
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
ROOM 1, OSTRANDER BUILDING
E. F. MEDLEY
ATTORNEY AND COUNSELLOR
AT LAW
Room 1, Adams Block
CORDOVA, ALASKA
♦ ---p
R. H. L. NOAKS
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW
SECOND ST., OPP. HOSPITAL
FRANK A. METCALF ]
CIVIL AND MINING ENGINEER
U. S. MINERAL SURVEYOR
Juneau, Alaska
♦ -:-p
THE ALPHA
SCHOOL OF DANCING
Private lessons every evening.
American Bakery. Phone 203.
»-P jL;
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^Steamship Company
Regular Sailings Between Seattle,
Ketchikan, Juneau, Cordova, Valdez,
Eiiamar, Liscum, Latouche, Seward
FROM SEATTLE- SAILS SOUTH
Oct. 4 ...... NORTHWESTERN.Oct. 14
Oct. 9-ALASKA ..Oct. 19
Oct. 16-ALAMEDA Oct 26
Oct. 23 ...... NORTHWESTERN ...... Nov. 2 1
Steamer Alameda will make trip to Anchorage.
Frequent sailings of freighters carrying explosives.
This schedule subject to change without notice.
F. B. TRACY, Agent
Alaska—Washington—California ALASKA ROUTE
Safety Courtesy Service Speed
OFFICE EMPRESS BUILDING
WEST BOUND SOUTH BOUND
LEAVE CORDOVA LEAVE CORDOVA
About Oct. 15.WATSON.Oct. 25
Three Sailings per Week from Seattle for San Francisco, Los An
geles and San Diego. For further information call
I 0ffice Phone 223- L. A. COUNTS, AGENT Residence Windsor hotel '
C ipper River and
Nnrthw sternRy. I
Trains leave Cordova for Chitina Monday and Thursday.
Trains leave Chitina for Kennecott Tuesday and Friday. 1
Trains leave Kennecott for Chitina Sunday and Thursday.
Trains leave Chitina for Cordova Tuesday and Fridav
Dining Car in Connection with all Regular
Passenger Trains between Cordova and Chitina.
Freight received and delivered at Cordova
Wharf from 9 a. m. to 5 p m., except Sundays.
Tickets on sale at Second Street Depot office ■
oik- iiour before departure of trains. *
CALEB CORSER Superintendent
D. L. LEATON, Ticket Agent