THE NENANA NEWS
Application made October 30, 1916, at the Postoffice at Nenana, Alaska, lor
entry as second-class mail matter under the act ot March 2, 1879. by I he Ne
nalia Printing Company. .
Published Weekly by The Nenana Printing Company
Day of Pi bucatiok Saturday Edited by R. G. Sovthworth.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
l’er month: bv carrier ldW Single copies . . . .
Six months, in advance .... 5.00 One year, in advance
NENANA, ALASKA, SATl'KDAV. A EH. li, 1;H7
ponds very closely with the
gains recorded during the i>ast
three years, the average being
forty per cent, in the number
of ears and fifty per cent in
the amount of revenue collect
ed from that source. When
viewed over a period of years,
the increase in automobile reg
istration and revenue has been
remarkable. There were only
48,000 cars registered, for in
stance in 1000, and the gross
revenue derived by the various
states was less than $200,000
and only a small part of that
amount was expended on rural
road work.
Iowa led the United States
in 1010 in the number of
motor cars registered in pro
portion t<> population. She had
one car for every 11 persons.
California was a close second
with one ear for every 12 inha
bitants. Nebraska and South
Dakota had one for every 13.
Arkansas could show but one
for every 110.j
ONE WAY TO GET THEM
1
Good roads have followed
quickly throughout the States
in the wake of tlu^ automobile.
And more automobiles have
followed the good roads. It is
sort of an endless chain propo
sition. with both good roads and
automobiles increasing in num
ber at an astonishing rate. In
this connection, it is interesting
to learn that there were 3.500,
000 motor cars registered in
the United States last year, or
one to every 29 inhabitants. The
| several states collected in reg
istration and license fees near
ly twenty-six million dollars,
of which amount more than
ninety per cent was expended
directly for construction, im
provement or maintenance of
the public roads.
There were more than one
million cars registered last year
than in 1915, a gain of forty
thm* per cent. This corres
NEWS OF THE WEEK
VOX DA Vs nULLKTlX
RASEl’ALL PLAYERS
HERE FROM TOLOVANA
The 1 .rooks baseball team,
accompanied by a number of
fans from the Tolovana camp,
reached Xenana (luring the
night to play a series of games
with the local aggregation.
There were nineteen in the
party, headed by Dave Cas
caden and each with a little
change in his pocket to wager
on the series.
According to present inten
tions. the first game will be
played on Friday and the re
maining games of the series
on tin* two days following. A
series will then be clayed at
Fairbanks, probably during the
coming week. The tri" to
Xenana was made on the -T.
D. Moore launch.
Mrs. IVt'-r Perrin arrived
on the Carl White Tolovana
mail launch.
Mrs. Herman Anderson ar
rived from Seattle on the Can
adian last night to make her
home in Xenana. She was
accompanied by the Misses.
Mildred and Valentine Ander
son.
Loss llernard, who came
down on the Peerless on Satt
urday. returned to the upper
town this morning.
_ i
The Carl White Tolovana ex
press and mail launch arrived
from the Log Jam during the
night with several passengers
and a shipment of gold for the'
Fairhanks hanks.
ills. E. Ih.thenburg, mother!
of Xight Watchman Oscar!
Iiothenburg, is a recent arriv-'
al in Xenana, having made!
the trip in from Seattle to re
side permanently with her son
and daugher-in-law.
•1. F. Kernel*, office engineer,
and Fracis Kotcli, Jr., pilot of
the .Midnight Sun, left for the
upjier river this morning on
the Sunbeam in response
to instructions received last
week to start immediately for
tlie Outside to prepare them
selves for service in an offic
ers training camp.. F. I).
Hayden, Hank Kvie and Dick
Ward have been excused.
The launch was in charge of
I. A. Alderman
A son was born at Fair
hanks this morning to the w’ife
of H. H. Chittenden.
77 ESI). 1 rs HI LLETIX
Chief-of Police Frank Wise
man is a passenger on the Se
attle No. v, enronte to Ruby
to attend the Callahan case.
Mrs. J. C. Moore and Mrs.
Georg** Moody are coining down
from Fairbanks today to join
their husbands. They will go
down river to the Tolovana on
a little outing.
WEDXESDA PS HULLETIX
•J. D. Reigh, of the Domin
ion Commercial company, re
accompanied by his son.
turned to Fairbanks today.
Mrs. Van Orsdel lias return
ed from Fairbanks, after a
short stay in the upper town.
Bishop Rowe left Fairbanks
for the Outside today. He
is making the trip over the
trail.
Til I Rsl). 1 VS HI LLETIX
The steamer Canadian was
in port a short time last even
ing. enronte from Fairbanks
to Dawson with a few passen
gers bound for the States. An
empty cattle bar'*e was in tow.
J. C. Van Orsdel and Bud
Saum are in town from the
Kantishi.;- country
Pat Meehan, veteran of the
Fairbanks district, where lie
has been engaged in mining
since the early days, passed
downstream last night on the
steamer Canadian, bound for
the Outside. He has closed
out all of his holdings in the
tinner camt) and expects to
spend his remaining years in
the States.
Fit/DAY'S HI LLET/X
The steamer Yukon made a
short stop here today enroute
to Fairbanks with several pas
sengers, and the barge Sterl
ing. with 450 tons of general
freight for the upper town. |
A barge of railroad material
was left here.
Carl Douglas, who has con
ducted the Summit roadhouse,
on the Fairbanks-Cleary road,
during the past several years,
is in Fairbanks get tin" ready
to leave the country. Hhe ex
pects to get away in a couple
of weeks.
The total di 1 ursements of
the office at Anchorage for the
period June 22 to June 30 were
$35,907.27. The payment of sal
aries and wages amounted to
1*13.304.21; to contractors $17,
437.61; for local purchases
| $4,166.25; dock claims $97.13;
other expenditures $962.07.
VICIOUS EDITORIAL
STARTS LIREL SUIT
J. Harmon Caskey, owner
land editor-in-chief of the
Alaska Daily Citizen. of Fair
| hanks, has been named as de
fendant in criminal libel pro
i ceediugs which \vere started
Mn the upper town during the
I week by Editor W. F. Thomp
son. of the News-Miner. The
charge was provoked by an ed
itorial which appeared in the
Citizen several days ago. under
the caption “Patriotism for
Profit" and in which Editor
Thompson is accused of al
most every offense known to
the newspaper frame.
The institution of libel pro
ceedings marks the first pause
in editorial dueling which be
gan with the arrival of the
Citizen’s ehechaeo editor a fort
night ago. It marks the end of
j the first and perhaps final
j round of a newspaper “go" he
'tween a verbose, but inexper
ienced young editor and a bat
tle-seam d veteran whose* belt
heav with the scalps of lbe
hangs heavy with the scalps of
chechaco writers- The en
counter has lacked interest be
yond making the public ac
quainted quickly with the new
arrival, but there is the prom
ise of lively developments on
■Tuesday when tin* case will be
! aired in court.
Two of the editorials above
referred to are reproduced
by the News for the benefit
of those Nenanaites who have
not seen the originals. Tin
first appeared in tin* News
Miner on Tuesday and the se
;contl is the reply of tin* Citi
zen to which the editor of the
j News-Miner has taken exeep
| tion.
Comparisons are Odious.
It seems that our suburban
j friend, the Citizen, finds it im
J possible to proceed satisfact
jorilv without our fuuishing
; the topic of conversation and
the excuse for its new
editor to exhibit his cliee
chago vocabulary. We have
j more serious work to do, but
j we feel that we can afford,
I from time to time, to extend
the helping hand to our ener
getic contemporay to enable it
with excuse to pursue the way
it seeks to go. We are aware
that the general public is not
overwhelmingly in sympathy
with newspaper bickerings, but
we can promise our readers
that we will not neglect their
interests for that sort of work.
Quite peevishly the Garden
Island Citizen this morning
refers to our age and “moss
baekism," and asserts that it
is left to the Citizen to do all
the up building in the camp,
and that the News-Miner’s
part is the “sour grapes” end
of the game. If the Citizen has
ever gained anything in this
camp which would create envy
in our system, we have utterly
failed to notice the fact—the
Citizen has “got by" without
our knowledge. Just as an ex
ample let us compare the work
of the two papers for the first
six months of this vear:
The News-Miner has encour
aged railroad work and rail
road building in this District,
iwhile the citizen has onposed
'and handicapned it. We pulled
•off our annual l’otlach this
'year, and it was the greatest
ever. Then We organized the
farmers of the District for pre
paredness purposes, obtained a
census of the camp for the
same purpose accomplished the
purchase of a suitable drillshed
and civic auditorium known as
the Loyal League Armory where
nightly embryo soldiers drill,
the city band practices and
gives concerts and dances for
the benefit of the community;
ihe farmer’s organization meets
there monthly, the lied Cross
has a home there, the Commer
cail Club has had a meeting
place of its own and has used
tlie Armory for that purpose;;
for the first time in its history
the city has a Civic building j
free for all public nurposes—
this in spite of the fact that
the Citizen knocked the rono-;
sition to the limit, day after]
day. If a civic understanding
of the estimation in which the
Fairbanks News- Miner and
the Garden Island Citizen are
respectively held is desired,
what better evidence can be
given that the News .Miner was!
able in a day to finance a
So,000 buy in suite of the most
earnest efforts of the Citizen
to the eontrarv? Since the war
was in sight of America, the
News- Miner has worked for
practical preparedness in
every possible wav. giving its
money and time thereto; has
encouraged and backed up the
Government and all Govern
ment enterprises for the good
of the Nation, while the Cit
izen has found time to knock
and misrepresent every Govern
ment enterprise and every
thing the Government has been
trying to do in this District
during that time. We have
i»iveil our time and our space
mil our money, paying income
tax and other taxes, and the
principal owner of the News
Miner is just finishing a £10,
000 home in Fairbanks as an
evidence of his faith in this
I camp. How much money has
jthe Citizen spent, how much
| time has tin* Citizen devoted to
public work for the good of tlie
camp, how much income tax
did the Citizen pay the Govern
ment for last year to help the
Government in its time of need
To an energetic newcomer.
I honing for action and not know
ing how to act as though ‘‘to
| manor born." the daily pro
gress of the News-Miner may
j .seem a trifle slow, but our
; new chum must appreciate the
| fact that such evidence may be
the result of the environment
and an understanding of the
North, its understanding and
its ways. We have been engag
ed in the newspaper work in
jthe real North for nineteen
! years, and have grown no with
jthe pioneers of the North, met
jthem on trail and in camp,
j studied them and kept in touch
! with, now why ema't andk
;wiih them, know how tliev feel
! t the majority of them i on overv
j subject relating to the North
itself, and know why they feel
that way. We have demonstrat
ed in our earlier Northern ex
perience that a man can write
“not wisely, but too well"—the
point the Citizen is just today
trying to demonstrate and mak
ing a complete success of it.
We know when to knock and
when to boost, and we use our
own judgement—if we could
be induced to run this paper
tin* way the Citizen would like
us to run it, we would last
quick. When we have learned
a country and its habits and
thoughts bv experience, if we
go wrong in dealing with that
country and its people it is
on: fault—that's why we can
not allow a suburban contemp
orary to influence our treat
ment of the camp, its people,
or its institutions. Aside from
that, we would be inclined to
give our friend across the
Slough all the rope it needs at
this time.
The people of the North read
and think for themselves. They
are not inclined to take another
man’s word or the word of
any newspaper as to tin* relative
merits of men or newspapers—
they KNOW, from experience.;
The News-Miner has no record;
to live down, and is living se-;
renely in the present, treating
matters and things as tliey|
should be treated today, in the]
best interests of the camp. Af-l
ter thirteen years in business
in this camp, everybody in the
camp knows just what to ex
pect from the News-Miner—
there can he no misunderstand
ing between the people and
the News-Miner as to what we
will do. Also, it may be a good
thing for the Citizen whenever,
if ever, it can reach that stage
of newspaper life in this camp
We almost forgot to men
tion it, but this year the News
Miner obtained through Rep
resentative Luther Hess a
public holiday for Alaska for
ever to be known as Seward
Day in honor of the statesman
who put through the puivhase
of Alaska from Kussia. IIowi
many days has the Citizen
been able to have set aside as
distinctly Alaskan holidays?
Patriotism for Profit
Tin* editor of tin* News-Min
or avers that his entire being
thohs with a high patriotic re
solve and that he is the only
simon-pure, blown -in-t lie-hot
tie patriot in Fairbanks. Who
ever heart! of Thompson throb
bing with any kind of emotion
excepting at so nint h a throb?
And thus, if he is throbbing
with patriotie impulses, he is
a patriot for profit, and Fair
banksans already have pm him
down as such.
Compared to a patriot for
protit, the leaders of the Ok
lahoma draft riots are saintly
enough to sit in the amen cor
ner, and hanging is too good
for them at that. They, at
least, did not expect to make
any money out of their treas
onable acts, while the patriot
for profit feathers his own
nest by preying on the lofty
sentiments of all ~ood citizens
and then places himself upon
his own little pedestal as a
illigh Priest of Patriotism,
i He points with pride to his
record in raising funds to pur
chase the armory. How did
he do it? Wasn't tin* system
but little short of blackmail?
Didn't lie decide how much
each business man and citizen
would have to pav toward his
pet scheme, and didn’t he
threaten to brand as slackers
and traitors anyone who fail
ed to come through? Will
you deny, P.rother Thompson,
that you received a good, fat
commission from the deal?
Deny it as emphatically as you
will, the people of Fairbanks
will not believe you. They
know you too well.
The veteran assimilator of
the Pap says a man can write
not wisely but too well. Well
does he know it. IIis rates
rates for editorial opinion are
well known up and down the
street. A dollar for a roast
and two dollars for a boost.
Take your choice, < lentleinen,
lie can flop from one side to
another with the grace and
agility of a Mexican jumping
bean, provided he gets so much
a jump.
He prates about supporting
the government. Nothing could
ge father from the truth.
What he is supporting is a
bunch of infamous pet tv ofiic-l
ials who have earned the scorn t
and contempt of all true Alas-;
kans for their petty grafts.j
They do not represent the J
government and the officials!
af Washington would not!
tolerate their chicanery, if thc\ j
knew true conditions And!
Thompson is supporting '.hem!
solely for federal patronage'
and pap. If he has a shred
of decency about him, he must*;
loathe them as truly as do a!!,
good citizens.
The editor of the News Mil-:
er prates about iiis new Spi.-i
000 home. He can hardly j
call it. his home. <’orreeilv,
speaking it is a eomininiitv j
home built fo>‘ the veteran i
scribe, because practically «-v- i
eiyone in the business coin-!
munitv owns an epiitv in the:
building.
The owner of llie Fitizeni
cannot boast of siieb a ‘•home."'
Iloweer, lie lias just spent *10,-1
000 buying new stock and!
equipment to make the Fitizinj
a better, bigger and brighter
paper than ever before, and
tilt people of Fairbanks will j
be given the benefit of this.!
And they will hold no such
equity in it as tiny do in the
Thompson mansion.
Our contemporary points
with pride to the fact that lie
has been engaged in newspa
per work in the nortli'and for
nineteen years. Very true, but
he does not mention the twen
ty-seven failures in tin* news
paper game lie has perpetrated
from one end of tin* territory
to another. That is consider
ably more than on * failure n
year, and from his oast re
cord and present indications,
he is due for his twenty
eighth consecutive failure in
Fairbanks ere the snow and
ice makes slippery the entrance
to the Tanana club. And
yet he presumes to give advice
to his contemporary as to how
to conduct a successful news
paper.
He declares he has grown up
with the real pioneers of Alas
ka, met them on trail aud in
camp and intimates that in*
knows them like a hook They
itlso know yon, 1 Spot tier Thoinn
son. The writer, who must ad
mit that lie is a newcomer
and lias lots to learn about
Alaska, heard of Thompson all
along tin* trail, and oidlinuTs
painted a word picture s-nee
! thing tilling the lines of this
editorial. Thompson s;n,; he
knows how they lee!. So do
wo; Their admonition was
•'hook out for Thompson.”
Cut out tin* soh-stulV ..boat
age and senility, brother. We
have nothing hut respect and
veneiation for gray hairs and
the dignity a tit 1 poise that ordi
narily come with years. t,it
when one capers about like a
‘two-year-old beneath the bright
{lights. In* should not claim tie*
!sanctuary that age is ordinari
ly entitled to.__
ro.u discovered
OX MAIN LINK
A discovery of coal was made
jrecntly at Station tif.11. near
| Mile 17.1 on the right-of-wav
| of the Government railroad.
!about one mile northwest of
: the crossing of tin* Litle Susit
na River. (5. (iianninni X t’o.,
I who were awarded a eontraet
j last May for stripping and
i grading the right-of-way be
Itween Stations (143(1 and (147.1,
(uncovered the vein while driv
ing a trap tunnel for the pur
pose of semiring mek and
! gravel for the roadbed. The
jeoal was eneotmtered within
!eight feet of the surface of a
hill about thirty feet from the
(grade, and at the noint of dis
covery the vein is about four
i feet thick. No examination has
j as yet been made to determine
| tin* extent of the eoal bed or
! the value of the coal for steam
ing purposes.
Coal appears at numerous
(places along the branch line of
'the railroad in the Matanttska
. field, and has been found in
; various se-tions ot the Terri
tory outside the known coal
bearing areas, but this is the
first coil eiieonntre 1 on the
main line of the (lovernment
1 railroad.
THE EYES
OF THE_WORLD
Coliseum