WHERE RAILS AND RIVERS MEET
THE NENANA DAILY NEWS
VOL. II.
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
NENANA, ALASKA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1920.
NO. 242
. LANE ASKS CONGRESS FOR R. R. MONEY
SOCIALISTS OF BERLIN PLAN BIG DEMONSTRA TION
SPOKANE WOBBL1ES UNABLE TO SECURE LEGAL HELP
The revised territorial pension j
law, conceived and put into opera- j
tion by the last legislature, has had j
*. the effect of cutting down the pen- i
sion roll of the Territory to a very i
considerable extent, many of the j
oldtimers who received territorial
assistance under the old law having
refused to continue to accept pen
sions under the new conditions im-1
posed. The new law provides that}
* all pensioners shall deed their prop-1
erty to the Territory, the object I
of the objectionable provision being j
to eliminate impostors from the1
pension roll.
As a matter of fact, and many
members of the legislature are now
willing to admit it, the provision
excludes many worthy oldtimers, en
titled to pensions, but who object
to deeding away property which
some day may make them inde
pendently rich. Nearly every old
f timer owns more or less mining
ground of unproved value, and the
majority of them are reluctant to
part with it, confident that some
day they wall locate the pay or be
able to dispose of the ground to
advantage. They need the pension
money, but they prefer to do with
out it rather than surrender claims
upon which they have expended
years of labor in assessment work
and prospecting.
Some idea of the eltect the law
is having: may be gathered from a.
statement issued by Commissioner
Reed Heilig, of Fairbanks. He re
ports that the pension checks re
ceived by him for the January
quarter number only 11. just half
as many as were issued for distri
bution in the Fairbanks district be
for the new law was passed. And
it is reasonable to assume that sim
ilar conditions prevail in other sec
tions of the Territory.
Senator Dan Sutherland explained
the situation when he was in Ne
nana recently, and expressed the
belief that the next legislature
would eliminate the objectionabl .■
provision from the law.
SERVICE RESUMED.
Telegraphic communication with
SOCIALISTS START
TROUBLE IN BERLIN
—
GENEVA, Jan. 15. — Arrivals
from Germany bring the report that
a serious outbreak occurred in the
city of Berlin several days ago, the
fighting in the streets resulting in
the death of two persons and the
wounding of more than one hun
dred.
The uprising, which is said to
have been precipitated by the So
cialists, was only a prelude to a
general and more serious outbreak
planned for the anniversary of the
death of Liebknecht.
K*RK»>s(*«it«*atRRRRRR
r *
R TEMPERATURE *
R As reported by the government R
R observation station, Nenana R
R R
R Thu'uUjr, January IS. R
R Maximum .31 below R
R Minimum .46 below R
Ir r
EIGHT MILLION IS REQUESTED
TO RUSH ALASKA RAILROAD
the States w as resumed at a late!«
hour this afternoon—too late, how- j j
ever, for The News to receive its!
regular quota of news in time for |
publication. A few of the mess- j
ages first received are printed, and *
tomorrow, if the service continues,.«
an effort will be made to catch up T
with world events. * j 1
COPPER QUEEN MINE
HOLDS SAFETY RECORD
- j1
BISBEE, Ariz. — Copper Queen •
Mining company officials have di- j
rected attention to what the com
pany considers a record in the op
eration of a big mine—a whole
year without a fatal accident, and j
almost 16 months without a fatal1
accident underground to any of the ,
more than 2,500 men employed.
The company operates a number ■
of mines under varying conditions, j
in addition to great open cuts for'
steam shovel mining in Sacramento
hill. !
Freedom from fatalities is con- j
isidered due to a '“safety first" or
ganization drawing on the co-opera
jtion of foremen, shift bosses, and,
! the miners themselves.
COAST SALT COMPANY
HAS BIG YEARLY YIELD
SAN FRANCISCO.—On an arm
|
of San Francisco bay a "salt farm'
j is being- operated successfully, the
'annual harvest being approximately:
: 50,000 tons.
The farm includes 4,800 acres,
{divided into evaporating por.ds into
| which water from the bay is run
; during September of year year. In
i varying degrees of concentration it
j is pumped from one pond to an
iother until it reaches the final stage
in ponds near the refinery. At one
stage the water turns a decided
pink, making a striking contrast
with the white crystal deposits along
the edge.
A traveling belt conveyor and
electric train carry the raw or solar
salt in crystal form to the refinery,
where it is dissolved, purified, and
dried in a contrifugal wringer.
ITenaca. Where Bails and Bivers K«et
WASHINGTON, D. C., Jan. 15.— ]
ecretary of the Interior Franklin
[. Lane has presented a request to
'ongress for an appropriation of
ight million dollars to carry on
he work of building the Govern
nent railroad in Alaska, the !a\v
nakers having been assured that
he amount asked will practically
omplete the Government project.
The appropriation of the money
it this time, the secretary points
nut, will enable the Alaskan Engi
neering commission to complete
its plans for the remainder of the
railway construction, to make nec
essary purchases of supplies and
materials and proceed with the work
without fear of further delay thru
inability to get appropriations thru
Congress when needed.
CLUB TO ENDEAVOR
TO ADVANCE WAGES!
After having had the matter up
for discussion a number of times
luring the past year, the Xenana
Commercial club has placed itself
squarely on record as favoring an
immediate and substantial increase
in wages paid to employes of the
Alaskan Engineering commission in
the Northern division. The senti
ments of the members were freely
expressed at a meeting of the or
ganization held last night, and there
was not one present who opposed
the plan to take up the wage ques
tion.
The meeting of the club was ;
called for the purpose of drafting
a letter to J. L. McPherson, man
i
ager of the Alaska bureau of the
Seattle Chamber of Commerce and:
Commercial club, advising him. at
his request, of the more urgent
needs of the Nenana district, in
order that he may take the matters
up with Congress and the heads of
the various departments upon his i
arrival at Washington within the |
next few weeks. Mr. McPherson
rendered valuable assistance to the
Territory during his stay at the
national capital last year, and he
is going back soon to continue his
good work. A copy of the letter to
the bureau manager also will be
sent to Delegate Grigsby.
The letter will inform Mr. Mc
Pherson of wage and general con
ditions now prevailing in Central
Alaska; of the fact that oldtimers
are leaving the Interior in large
numbers because of the low wages
paid by the Alaskan Engineering
commission and the uncertainty of
employment; of the fact that there
has been no increase in the wage
scale for considerably more than a
year, notwithstanding the fact that
living costs in Alaska have mounted
.steadily during that time. The let
| ter also will advise Mr. McPherson
i that the wage scale is such as to
work an actual hardship on em
ployes with families, thus discour
aging, instead of encouraging, the
employment of home builders,
i The letter will seek the aid of
Mr. McPherson in securing for Ne
' nana, and other towns along the
Government railroad, the refund of
moneys paid to the Government for
| town lots, known as the 50 percent
[refund.
Attention also will be called to
the inadequacy of the present mail
service tc Interior Alaska points,
and to the fact that the routing of i
the mail by way of road Pass next j
winter will eliminate much of the |
trail haul which is causing: so much
trouble and delay at present. The
distance between ends of the Gov
ernment railroad next winter prob
ably will not exceed 75 miles.
Mr. McPherson also will be asked ;
to assist the chairman of the Alaska
Road commission to secure the funds !
j
he has requested of Congress to |
build and repair roads in Alaska j
next year. Chairman Waugh esti- j
mates that he will need nearly ,
three-quarters of a million dollars
to carry out his program, and he j
will need all the assistance he can ■
get to secure it. i
The letter will ask the aid of Mr. j
McPherson in closing the Yukon ■
river and its delta to cannery oper-;
ations, there being sufficient evi-1
dence at hand now to prove con-'
clusively that the operation of the
Carlisle cannery during the past
summer has caused great hardship
this winter among Interior Alaska
natives.
Another suggested means of ail
ing Alaska relates to funds for edu
cational purposes. The Government
has voted large sums for such use
in the States, but has not yet seen
fit to include Alaska in any of the
special grants, which could be used
to much advantage in this country.
Still another request concerns the
construction of proposed bridges
over the Nenana and Tanana rivers.
The letter will point out that the
use of an aerial tram at Nenana
crossing will greatly interfere with
.traffic over the completed portion
of the railroad, and probably cause
.a suspension of coal mining activi
ties south of Nenana. Mr. McPher
son will be requested to urge the
immediate construction of a perma
! nent bridge over the Nenana river,
and at least a commencement of
preparations for a similar structure
:to span the Tanana. Unless such
I action is taken now, the letter will
remind Mr. McPherson, several
years probably will elapse, after the
•road has been completed, before the
: bridges are finished, thereby need
lessly delaying the development for
which the railroad supposedly is be-1
ing constructed.
The letter is now being prepared :
' and probably will be read at a
| regular meeting of the club to be j
!held tomorrow evening, at which
! both Engineer in Charge Fred’k D. j
| Browne and Examiner of Accounts j
IB. H. Barndollar will be invited to:
;be present.
vAriuLrit'i maui'i uiacusscu u> j
dub at last night’s meeting was the ;
proposed curtailment of telephone
service. This matter, it is under
stood, has not been definitely de
cided upon by the Alaskan Engi-i
(leering commission, but it is known
to be under consideration, and the1
members of the club gave their
unanimous approval to a motion of
protest against such a step. This
matter will be taken up directly
with Engineer Browne and Mr.
Barndollar at Friday's meeting ami
a further effort made to discour
age the suggested curtailment.
«? r
* PERSONAL
K K
It UtltlttltltltltltltltRltltl' *
Frank Hodgson has informed The
News that the report of his depart
ure for the coast was greatly ex
aggerated. He says he is too busy
at the Portland's "pan" game t»
leave town.
Manager Dick Thorne, movie
magnate of Fairbanks, h^s a:i
nounced that, beginning on Febru
ary first, he will put on only on.’
show a night at this theater. It
has been the custom in the upper
town, during the past several years,
to give two shows nightly, except
on Sundays and special feature
nights, but the population has dwin
dled to such an extent that one
show is now sufficient to accomm >
date the picture fans.
Arrivals from the end of stee'
bring the report that Bob Toussaint
is now acting as timekeepe. at
Camp 360. He was formerly at
tached to the Mills engineering par
ty in that locality.
Xenana—The Gateway to McXin’ry
.. national Park.
HER OF PAPER
PAPER HAS 0011
The News is in receipt of a tele
gram from George Maynard, owner
jf the Nome Nugget, in which vig
jrous denial is made of the report,
,’irculated throughout Alaska, that
the Nugget has quit publication.
“As several Alaska papers hate
printed misleading statements re
garding the Nome Nugget suspend
ing publication for winter," says
the publisher of the paper, “would
appreciate retraction. 'i he Nugget
never ceased and has no intention
of suspending. Instead of issuing
a tri weekly, we are now publishing
a daily telegraph bulletin and an
eight-page weekly newspaper, at
less expense and with greater sat
isfaction all around."
The News, not being in touch
with the Nugget, was under the
impression that that publication had
suspended. Stories to that effect
appeared in nearly all the Alaska
papers, as stated by Mr. Maynard,
and there was every reason to be
lieve the report was authentic, par
ticularly in view of the fact that it
was generally known that an un
usually large number of people hail
left Nome for the winter.
The Nugget is the only paper
left in Nome. A few years ago
there were two dailies, the Nugget
and the Industrial Worker, the lat
ter being the official organ of the
Seward peninsula labor union. Both
papers were compelled, by declin
ing population, to quit the daily
field, and the Worker finally su
pended publication altogether.
Nearly ever;.' Alaska town of con
sequence has a newspaper, but only
a few can hoast of daily publica
tions, the war and subsequent back
ward conditions having forced sev
eral of the publishers to go into
;the weekly class or suspend alto
gether. The towns now having
daily papers are: Nenana, Fail
banks. Anchorage, Juneau, Ketch
,kan, Cordova, Skagwuy, and Seward.
Fairbanks and Ketchikan are the
only towns in Alaska in which two
papers are published.
Mike Cooney left the Davis road
house this morning with a full log l
for the coast end of the Broad Pa-s
trail. Zero weather prevailed i.i
ithat locality this morning.
AGITATORS UNABLE
TO GET ATTORNEYS
I
! SPOKANE, Jan. 15.—The forty
ifour alleged Industrial Workers,
! whose trial will begin here this
j week, have been unable thus far to
! secure attorneys to defend them,
i Several lawyers have been approach
ed, with offers of liberal retainers,
but there appears to be a disposi
I tion on the part of the legal fra
! ternity to hold aloof from the un
' savory cases.
Arrangements were made with
Attorney J. L. Wallace, but he has
informed the prisoners that he will
be unable to appear for them. W.
C. Donovan, another attorney, was
appointed by the court to act as
counsel, but declined to serve, an i
j the indications now are that the
i prisoners will be compelled to con
duct their own defense.
i