THE NENANA NEWS
Application ma de October 30, 1916, at the Postoffice at Nenana, Alaska, for
entry as second-class mail matter under the act of March 2, 1879, by The Ne
nana Printing Company.
Published Weekly by The Nenana Printing Company
Day of Publication Saturday Edited by R. G. Southworth.
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Nenana, Alaska, April 7, 1917
Alaskans thruout the Territory, j
and in all sections of the United |
States, took occasion to celebrate
the fiftieth anniversary of the pur- j
chase of Alaska from Russia by j
the United States last Saturday.
One year ago today Nenana was
a mere handful of cabins. Today
she a well-organized, substantial
town, the nucleus of a permanent
and prosperous city in the heart
of a vast, rich agricultural com
munity. Wherefore the citizens of
Nenana had a double reason to
celebrate.
Fifty years ago Alaska was a
wilderness, and the vast reaches
of her Interior remained untouched
for years by the hand of progress
because of the lack of transporta
tion facifities. Even after the first
hardy pioneers ventured down the
broad bosom of the mighty Yukon,
an<i as they worked their way up
her smaller tributaries, their quest
nas been for gold, and because of
/ the prohibitive cost of getting the
necessary equipment, the agricul
tural possibilities of the country
which were revealed to them were
almost entirely overlooked.
But not entirely forgotten were
those possibilities, and there were
those few minds which by their
effort proved that transportation
would transform the chrysallis of
“Sewards Ice-box” into the full
majesty of an “Agricultural Ar
cadia."
And now. at our very doors,
may be witnessed, in concrete form,
the fulfillment of the promise that
those difficulties are to be over
come. It isn't much of a railroad
yet, as railroads go, but in the
shrill toot of the dinkey's whistle,
and the clang of its bell, there is a
message of hope, not alone to the
citizens of Nenana.but to the whole
of the Interior, and a promise of
that which is to come.
A visit to the right of way re
veals a scene of unexpected activ
ity. and the twin ribbons of steel
which are reaching further and yet
further with each round trip of the
dinkey and flats impresses the on
looker with the feeling that it is
the whole Interior of Alaska reach
ing out to grasp the hands which
are known to be extending each
day nearer and nearer to us across
the barrier of the Broad Pass, and
which, when those hands are for
ever joined will bring the United
States a thousand miles closer to
us, and provide a cheap and rapid
means of freight transportation,
placing the whole of the Interior
on a competitive basis with the
Outside for the product of the mil
lions of fertile acres which can
then be placed under cultivation.
With the railroad as an all-the
year route of transportation to the
Outside, and with deep water at
our river front for the trans-ship
ping of supplies for practically the
entire Interior, the citizens of
Nenana may well gaze into the
future with every confidence as *
their continued growth and
perity. ^ -
According to the code of war
fare established by the military
staff of the Imperial German gov
ernment. the indiscriminate sinking
of all classes of *hips by their sub
marines, and the plundering of all
neutral shipping on the high seas
by their commerce raiders, is not
piracy, but is legitimate warfare.
But when a neutral nation arms its
i merchantmen for self-protection
against these two menaces, that
same Imperial government is the
first to pronounce them raiders,
and as such to be the legitimate
prey of their U-boats and raiders.
It is wonderful, indeed, to contem
plate the egotism of the mind or
minds which can so pervert the
laws of modern civilization to suit
its own desires.
“The mills of the gods grind
slowly, and grind exceeding small."
Review the career of the man who
i
aligned himself with the Supreme
Intellect in the fond belief that by
so doing he would be enabled to re
vise the moral and ethical status
of the world. Witness his success,
is such it may be called, in the
thousands of square miles of terri
tory he has conquered, albeit with
no thought of the millions of dead
with which he has populated them.
And witness now the wrath of that
Intellect being turned against him
to the fulfillment of the retribution
which is so surely his due. In
truth may it be said that “the
mills of the gods have ground
slowly and ground exceeding
small."
James Meeker of Juneau has invented
a wickless oil burner lor heating stoves,
! and has applied tor a patent on the in
! vention. With the new burner, one gal
I Ion of kerosene will burn 24 hours and
will give out a great amount of heat.
DAILY PROGRESS OF THE WORLD WAR
MONDAY
j Washington: President Wilson will
address the joint session of congress at
eight oclock touite.
.
Washington: The total reserve fund
of the Federal Reserve banks has in
creased over thirteen million dollars in
the past week.
Washington: Champ Clark was elect
ed speaker of the house within an hour
after that bodv convened today. He de
feated Mann by a vote of 214 to 208.
Washington: The navy department
let contracts to fifty different concerns
for the construction of nearly four hun
dred of the new style submarine chasers.
Washington: A wave of war sentiment
is sweeping over the entire country, as
indicated by the messages which are
pouring into the capital from every state
in the Union.
Tampa: In opening his speech here
Sunday morning Teddy Roosevelt de
clared that the United States should de
clare war against Germany without any
further delay.
Washington: The navy department
announced this morning that the enlist*
: ments to the navy during March totalled
j 4474 men. The total naval strength on
! April 1st.was reported ns 62,667.
/^aris: An official report issued this
Corning states that the French forces
,outh of Ailette have driven the German
j.'es at that point beyond the village of
"\'hux, un advance of nearly a mile.
I
Berlin: The war office officiallv admit
ted this morning that the British and
French forces have made important gains
ovkr an 80-uiile front extending from
Arms to Oisne, and that fighting is of
the most savage intensity.
Washington: The statedepartmentar
• nounced this morning that the postal
savings bank deposits of all foreigneis
will not be seized by the government,
in the event of war, and may be with
drawn at any time by the owners.
Washington. The department of just
ice today issued orders to all persons em
ployed in that branch of the goverment,
i to the number of 500,000, to use every
means at their command for the appre
hension of German spies and agents.
Washington: It is expected that with
in a week the entire strength of the na
tional guard and the naval mititia will be
called out for service, to strengthen the
regulars, and that the fighting strength
under arms will then amount to seven
hundre4 thousand.
Washington: The senate and house
■♦were called to order at noon today and
it is expected that both branches will
complete their organization by three
oclock. It is the desire of leaders of
both houses to make it possible for Pres
j ident Wilson to deliver lii9 message to
the joint session this afternoon.
Baltimore: After a patriotic demon
stration in front of the academy of music
| in this city last nite, several thousand
people stormed the academy and broke
up a pacificist meeting which was being
j held. They made it impossible for Doc
tor David Starr Jordon to deliver a peace
lecture which was scheduled, and the po
i lice being unable to restore order, further
; attempts to hold the meeting were aban
doned.
TUESDAY
Washington: At the conclusion of his
address to congress last nite President
| Wilson asked that body to “declare that
j a state of war exists between the United
| States and Germany.’’
Washington: Shortly after congress
convened today Senator Chamberlain in
Wm. H. Smith
ATTORNEY AT LAW
NOTARY PUBLIC
OFFICES IN NEW YORK BLOCK
tmdnced a bill calling to the colors all
male citizens of the United States between
the ages of 20 and 30 years.
Pittsburg: The Polish Society of Fal
cons, in session in this citv last even ng,
passed a resolution strongly indorsing
President Wilson and offering to raise an
army division of 250,000 Poles to tight
Germany.
New York: Passengers arriving on
the Cunard liner Carpathia in this port
last evening report that a British Red
Cross hospital ship was torpedoed in the
English channel on March 21 with the
loss of 167 lives.
New York: Allan Benson, leader of
the Socialist party, said this morning
that that party will staiut solidly behind
President Wilson in whatever action he
may take in the international crisis now
confronting the nation.
Washington: Reports ot the sinking
of the American merchantman Aztec
were received bv the state department
while Presdent Wilson was delivering his
address to congress last nite. The Aztec
is the first of the armed American mer
chantmen to fall a victim to a German
U-boat. She was torpedoed without
warning, and only 14 of her crew escaped.
Washington: The text of President
Wilson’s message, as delivered to con
gress last nite, is as follows: "The Unit
ed States has accepted the gage of battle
thrown down bv the kaiser, and must
use all its resources to bring the govern
; rnent of the German empire to terms and
[ end the war. I am not thinking of the
I protection of American property interests,
vital tho that mar be to the very life of
our nation, nor of the devastation of the
countries of Europe now at war; hut only
of the wanton and wholesale execution of
i non-combatants, old men, women and
children, engaged in pursuits who have
always, even in the darkest periods of
modern history, demanded and received
consideration and protection. Property
loss can he paid tor, aud even tho it be
ever so badly devastated, still may it be
reclaimed to its full power of fruitful
ness. But the lives ol innocent people
can never be paid for, nor can they ever
be restored. The present German sub
marine warfare is a warfare against man
kind, no matter of what nationality.
American lives have been taken ami
American ships sunk in ways which have
stirred us to retaliate, but the lives of
other neutrals have been taken, and their
ships sunk m a similar manner. There
has been no discrimination; his challenge
is to all mankind, and each nation must
decide for itself how to meet it. What
ever choice we make must lie tempered
with moderation and counsel, and with a
judgement befitting the high character of
our nation. There is one choice we can
not make—we are incapable of making—
we will not choose the path of submission
and suffer the most sacred rights of our
people and our nation to be ignored or
violated. The wrings against which we
wiil now array ourselves are no common
wrongs. They cut to the verv roots of
human life.” In closing, the president
said; ‘‘Neutrality is no longer feasible
or desirable, where the peace of the world
I and the freedom of its people is involved,
and the menace to that peace lies in the
existence of autocratic governments.”
WEDNESDAY
Chicago: The price of wheat wasquot
' at $2.00 a bushel on the board of trade
j today. This is the highest
quoted on a normal market.
price ever
Washington: The house today passed
I the general deficiency appropriation bill,
which was one of the four large approp
riation measures w hich failed to pass last
session.
Berlin: Coi'nt von Reventlow, leader
; of the anti-American faction inC.erman\,
I described the United States, in an ad
in other sections of Alaska and
in the States who are as much
interested in Nenana and the
development of Interior Alaska
as you;"are.
Why not have The Nenana News mailed
to some of these friends? Save a lot of letter
writing and help build up the community in
which you live.
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