THE NENANA DAILY NEWS
Application made April 1, 1918, at the postoffice at Nenana, Alaska,
for emry as second class mail matter, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
“WHERE RAIL AND RIVER MEET”
Published every afternoon except Sunday, by the Nenana Printing
Company, at First and B Streets, Nenana, Alaska.
R. G. Southworth.Editor and Manager
RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION
Single Copies.
By the Month, by Carrier or Mail.
Six Months, if paid in Advance.
One Year, if paid in advance.
Two Bits
.$ 2.00
. 9.00
. 15.00
ADVERTISING RATES
Transient Display Advertising, per inch, per issue.$ .50
Minimum Charge . 1-00
Reading Notices, per line, per issue. -25
Legal Advertising, per line, per issue.20
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for re-publi
cation of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in
this paper and also ail the local news published herein.
COMMUNITY BACK-PULLING
Governor Riggs said something
when he informed Nenanaites the
other evening that the little jealous
ies between towns in Alaska have
a tendency to retard and obstruct
the measures that are being taken,
as well as those in contemplation,
for the betterment of conditions in
the country at large. The extent
to which this community back-pull
ing has been carried on in the past
undoubtedly has hurt the territory
and it just as surely will continue
to hold development back until
Alaskans have learned to work
harmoniously for the general up
building of the Northland.
Agitation of the sort referred to
by the governor has a tendency to
make labor restless and capital
timid, and no community which
seeks to stimulate local development
at the expense of some other com-1
munity can prosper for long. That
kind of agitation is not confidence
inspiring and sooner or later the re
action will set in. The agitating
town or community is always hard
est hit in the end, but, in the case
of Alaska, lack of co-operation has
retarded development throughout
the entire teritory.
A glaring instance of this com
munity back-pulling is found in a
recent issue of a Fairbanks news
paper, in the advertisement of a
prominent merchant “Everything
in these departments” reads the ad
vertisement, “must be shipped Out
side. We are packing every day
because there are not enough people
left to buy them. Don’t be fooled
about what put the crimp in Fair
banks. It was not the war, but it
was the building of Nenana. And
the joke of it is that everyone in
Fairbanks knows it. Many act as
if they enjoyed it. We don’t. Every
vacant building in Fairbanks could
be occupied, were it not for the
building of Nenana.”
Such an advertisement certainly
does not inspire confidence in the
future of Fairbanks. It reads much
like a boost for Nenana. and we have
no doubt it will help Nenana to the
extent of stimulating travel in this
direction, though probably not in
tended to do so. In reality, it is
a criticism of the Alaskan Engineer
ing commission for having founded
the town of Nenana at a central
point on a navigable river instead
of establishing construction head
quarters on Chena slough, at the
very end of the proposed railroad.
Whatever may have been the pur
pose of the advertisement, those who
read it will gather the impression
that business conditions at Fair
banks are not good, and to that ex
tent will the Interior country be
injured.
As a matter of fact, Nenana and
the government railroad have been
and are still very generous con
tributors to Fairbanks merchants,
putting money into circulation there
which would have been lost to the
Interior but for the coming of the
railroad builders. Government dol
lars, in large measure, have taken
the place of returns from mining,
with the decline of which the found
ing of Nenana has had nothing what
ever to do. Fairbanksans should
not discourage the expenditure at
government and Nenana dollars.
They should strive to stimulate busi
ness relations between the two
| towns, and work with Nenana and
| the Alaskan Engineering commis
sion for the betterment of condi
1 tions throughout the Interior, and
the advancement of the interests of
; the territory at large.
m r m * ». * «r, * m m * *
s* r
•5 COMMUNICATION «?
*S It
k «r, »».*»«. r * *• r w r * » r r v *
Nenana, August 26.
Editor News.
Your editorial on the proposal to
provide a Government paid bonus
on gold produced, causes me to
speculate somewhat upon the results
of such a stimulus to gold produc
tion. While having the best inter
e.'jts of Alaska at heart, I can not
refrain from injecting into the sub
ject a few thoughts for frivolous
consideration. First, let me quote
the Scientific and Mining Press from
a recent issue:
“Gold as the standard of refer
ence for all markets bears an im
mutable relation as regards a unit
quantity of the metal to the unit
of exchange. All values, all wealth,
all credits, are based on the fixed
ness of that relation. To tamper
with it is to undermine the whole
credit structure of commerce and
of nations.” ,
For purposes of this article I as
sume that this very succinct state
ment of fact will be accepted as
a basic truth, and will make one
other assumption as a premise for
what follows, viz; that Congress has
authorized a bonus of $12 per ounce
on all gold produced in the United
States. (I must also assume as
essential that that bonus is confined
to United States producers.)
Now we have the glorious con
sumation of our hopes. Gold pro
duction in the U. S. has increased
by leaps and bounds. Mines long
laid by as exhausted have become
miraculous producers. The Rand
and every other gold producing re
gions outside the United States have
ceased to produce; (only U. S.
mines have gold), that is to say,
ostensibly they have ceased, but the
actuality is that they have pro
duced more than ever before, and
the gold has found its way into
the sluices and reduction works of
the United States as local product.
Old gold, coins and jewelry now go
to the melting pot by way of smelter
and refinery, mixed intimately with
the ore and concentrates reappear
ing as virgin metal fresh from the
rock of United States mines.
To prevent this, an army of police
men and detectives, greater than
the contending forces at the front,
is bootlessly employed The U. S.
treasury has been drawn upon for
millions of dollars to pay the bonus
on every ounce produced. To meet
the bonus bill (estimated on the
legitimate 1917 production of the
United States without allowing for
any increase resulting from such
stimulus) has put a tax on the
treasury of the U. S. amounting to
over $50,000,000. But we can safely
estimate that next year will result
in doubling the requirement, if not
quadrupling it. Men have found
means of reducing the metalic form
of the old gold of coins and the arts
| to liquid and powdered substances
that can be so poured upon and in
timately mixed with ores and con
i
I centrates as to conceal their salting
operations. The world’s gold sup
ply is draining toward the United
States, naturally, under the com
pelling needs of nations at war. but
this new scheme has caused the pipe
lines of commerce to flood and
overflow upon us. Though no
change of monetary standard has
been provided, a change in value
has taken place. The anomalous
condition has arisen that raw gold
is worth 60 per cent more than its
coined equivalent Does anyone
wonder then why gold standards
have suddenly been wiped out the
world over? Why promises to pay
$1 in gold last year may be settled
now for 66 2-3 cents? Because as
gold commands a premium of 60
per cent, 66 2-3 cents in gold can
be sold to the United States via
the smelter and refinery for $1
But that dollar! What kind of a
dollar? Not a gold one! Oh, no!
A promise to pay $1 in gold.
If the production of the neces
sities of life had only been likewise
stimulated what a happy world we
should now be living in—but
The Government, needing money
wherewith to pay its gold bonuses,
must needs tax its people. And
gold being still scarcer, relatively,
than wheat, meats, sweets and eats,
the prices of these have risen, and
the laborer, who still must needs
eat and who can't, even at the
greatly increased wages, has de
manded more and gotten it. The
manufacturer, to pay his increased
tax, increased labor bill, increased
material costs, has increased his
prices and the dog still chases his
tail. We have automatically, with
out intending it, merely shoved up
the prices of everything. We have
enjoyed a year of prosperity—we
may enjoy another; but the reaction
is on its way. We are going to
try it a little longer, but already
the signs portend the end. Our
product has increased in value, but
our labor, supplies, materials have
so increased also that the margin
between them has narrowed to the
old basis, and already some of our
| producers are agitating for a de
I mand upon Congress for another
| 60 per cent bonus on top of the old.
We have been living in a realism
j of affluent dreamers, superinduced
i by the new opiate: Tr. of Bonus,
! which is even worse than the pipe
■o’dreams at Ah Lee’s hop joint.
W And our fellows “over there”,
; giving of their lives and limbs now,
; that liberty may live, are coming
| back next year or the year after,
halt, maimed and blind, to assume
; the load of debt we will have built
| up for them with our bonus. They
are coming back to the fields and
and shops, willing, anxious to work;
| some still strong, vigorous, hopeful.
|But they will find our fields and
factories anxious to reduce pro
duction costs; competition for the
; few places by the many men is go
ing to shove down the wages. The
.bonus is going to burden and not
i reward them. They are going to
|Pay> pay, pay. With their sweat
| and toil they are going to assume
and discharge the debts we have
I saddled upon them and be poor but
happy in the doing of it—while we
and the other gold bugs of the
nation revel in the wealth (?) we
; have gained through our bonus.
! Oh, yes, the bonus is beautiful!
Beautiful to contemplate, like the
flowery dreams of the eaters of
Lotus blooms and the inhalers of
distilled Poppies.
i Let us by all means have our
, Bonus. Other bones than ours will
. break under the burdens of Bonus_
i what do we care!
Long live King Bonus!
SOUR DOUGH
| WOMAN CROSSES BORDER
WHILE OTHERS MAY NOT
JUAREZ, Mex.—Miss Mary Gray
jJackson enjoys the unique distinc
i tion of being the only American
woman permitted to cross the border
from El Paso to Mexico daily. She
is a stenographer in the United
States consulate here, and has as
a passoprt her photograph, signature
and vise on it. No women are per
mitted by the United States state
department to enter Chihuahua state
It is better to eat a corn dodger
than to be one.
AIL AIRPLANES
SOON 10 CARRY
With the American Army in Eng
land.—Almost every airplane used
by the Allies soon will carry bombs.
Experts in aerial warfare are co.i
vinced that the general efficiency
of the corps v. ill be increased if a
bombing device is i.dded to every
plane sent out, even though it be
of the type once intended only for
recognizance work, and Americans
now training in England are being
as carefully drilled in bombing as
in handling a machine gun.
Lessons .earned during the re
sistance offered m the rec';.it of
fensive have served to increase the
already high regal i of both British
and American officers in the air-ser
vice for the low-flying, bomb cm Ty
ing craft, and, over the camps and
countryside where aviators are being
trained, planes are in evidence al
most every hour, dipping down from
high in the air and skimming the
nearby country, barely missing tree
tops and houses. It is the newer
lesson they are learning, and ob
servers back from the front , where
the Allied planes did such remark
able work not only in scouting and
distracting the enemy, but actually
in breaking up formations and at
points checking the onward move
ment, have urged concentration on
that form of training.
British trainers, detailed to Amer
ican aviation camps, have been lib
eral in their praise of the new
fliers from overseas, their only cri
ticism being that the Americans are
“a bit too keen.” Their tendency
has been to go in for flying stunts
rather too early in training, but
even this, the trainers have ad
mitted, is a valuable fault, although
one not to be enecouraged.
It has been pointed out to the
Americans that team work as wrell
as individual efficiency is a prime
requisite and the Americans have
steadied themselves to the routine
their trainers have found makes for
general advancement if not for in
dividual applause. Fancy flying,
the acrobatic work that once found
favor and drew heavy gate receipts
at aerial exhibitions in the United
States, still is taught, but the learn
ing of that form of flying also has
come to be regarded merely as rou
tine and wholly incident to the
| steady, low-flying desirable for at
tacking camps and troops in for
mation.
Accidents have occurred in the
camps where the Americans are be
ing trained, and a few men have
been killed, but the records show
that the percentage is far less in
England than in the United States.
Those in training here are inclined
to attribute the difference more to
luck than to anything else, although
there also is pointed out the proba
bility that the average airplane used
in England is a better made ma
chine than the average that has been
j used in the United tSates.
i The bombing devices being at
tached to virtually every plane is
not the contrivance that was used
in the earlier days of the war. That
I used then was little more than a
j mechanism that released the pro
■ jectile. allowing it to fall at a point
i approximately near the target. The
device now being used is one with
which the operator may with much
practice, become almost as profi
cient in markman«ihip as an artillery
! man is with his gun. Almost every
! light plane will carry bombs of at
. least 25 pounds and from heavier
types there will be hurled the huge
containers of high explosives not
materialy different from those used
by the Germans in some of the more
recent raids.
E. Hartwick, of the Merchants
cafe at Ruby, arrived in Nenana on
the steamer Tanana last night. He
will probably make his home in Ne
nana.
Every potato you eat is a bullet
fired point blank at a “Made-in
Germany” peace.
WANT ADS
FOR SALE—Enameled double bed,
cotton layer laid mattress, spring ^
Lang cook stove, wood or coal, i
also heater and baker, wheel
barrow, shot-gun, 16 bore, with
shells; axes, wedges, saws, sledge,!
peavy, carpenter tools, etc; all
best quality and cheap. Inquire
at yellow tent, opposite Commis-i
sion sawmill.
FOR SALE, CHEAP—Large tank
heater and pipe drum; flush toilet,,
good as new; also sink. Inquire
Simson’s.
FOR SALE.—Mrs. W. F. Lyons is
leaving for the Outsdie soon and
offers shop, fixtures and business
in cleaning and pressing clothes,
for sale. No reasonable offer re
fused. Sho£ is on A street, near
blacksmith shop.
FOR RENT—Upstairs residence,:
four rooms furnished. See Slippern |
—- ■ - —
FOR SALE AT A BARGAIN—Sew- ]
ing machine, phonograph, launch!
Bunny, with 2Vs h. p. Ferro en-1
gine, shot gun, rifle, etc. Inquire
of J. A. Slippern.
Herbert K. Ward, the new locat
ing engineer, arrived in town last
! night from the camp at 43-mile.
He went out on the line with Mr.
Frederick D. Browne this morning.
Mr. Ward will probably be sent to
Fairbanks to look over the Tanana
Valley, Railroad with a view to its
| rehabilitation.
•
We’ll substitute corn for wheat
j and victory for defeat.
1 ...
Cigars POOL Tobaccos
NICELY
HOTEL
EVERYTHING NEW
FURNISH HI) ROOMS
SPRING BHDS 50c
Mrs. Nicely, Prop.
Highest Cash
Prices Paid for
RAW
FURS
SIMSON’S
Sheldon-6ittson Stage Line
Carrying U. S. Mails
For CHITINA and WAY POINTS
Every Tuesday Morning
Special Auto for parties of four
or more any time.
C. Havry Woodward, agent
Fairbanks
Try One of Our
COCKTAILS
Shrimp, Clam and Oyster
Martin’s Pool Hall
Seth Thomas Wall Clocks
G~
CLOSE REGULATED
CALENDAR
EIGHT-DAY
-STRIKE
GUARANTEED FOR FIVE YEARS
$11
HAMILTON, WALTHAM and ELGIN WATCHES
SOLD AT STANDARD PRICES—(OUR PRICES)
NUGGET JEWELY TO ORDER
WM. TAYLOR
WATCHMAKER
JEWELER
ENGRAVER
| SAFE and RELIABLE SERVICE \
| LAUNCH PEERLESS |
J Leaves for Fairbanks Every Two Days, SAM £
^ Make your Reservations at the Portland £
i mvs\WkWwwm\vvvv\v\\\v\\\\Nv\\\\\m\NVv\v\\\\
I
;
THE BEST
BUSINESS CORNER
IN TOWN
FOR SALE AT A SACRIFICE
Two Lots, 50 x 100
See W. H. GilcHer
BUY AN ELECTRIC FAN
/7QZ7
We Have Them In Six and Twelve Inch Sizes
AND THE PRICE WILL BE RIGHT
3-Foot WIRE FENCING, per yard
25c
TANANA SHEET METAL WORKS
<