THE NENANA DAILY NEWS
Published every afternoon except Sunday, by the Nenana Printing
Company, at First and B Streets, Nenana, Alaska.
R. G. Southworth.Editor and Manager
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SOME MORE AMERICAN
EFFICIENCY
Acting on orders from the Ger
man government, the officers and
crews of the German ships interned
in American waters inflicted such
damage upon the machinery of the
vessels as they deemed absolutely
certain to keep the ships out of
service for two years. By that time
the Germans thought the war would
be over.
But American efficiency and
American invention effected the
necessary repairs in from six to
eight months and at a cost of $273,
000; the Germans had figured the
cost of repairs at $2,600,00 and the
necessary time 24 months.
All of these ships, except one that
has been sunk, are now bearing
American commerce on the seas or
transporting American soldiers to
Europe. The navy department fig
ures that the use of these ships be
tween the time the ships were ac
tually reparied and the time the
Germans estimater they could be
reparied will be worth $240,000,000
to the Government at the present
rate of tonnage.
The Vaterland, one of these in
terned ships and the largest ship
afloat, is now in the United States
service renamed the Leviathan.
Americans are able to operate the
ship at a higher rate of speed than
the Germans were able to do and do
this with 200 tons of coal less a day.
The Leviathan has one American
captain in place of five German
captains of the Vaterland, and one
American chief engineer instead of
a chief engineer and five assistants
that German efficiency required.
POLITE, FAR AND HELPFUL
Courtesy, square dealing, and ser
vice are required by the Internal
Revenue Bureau of its thousands of
employees who are aiding in the col
lection of war revenues. A manual
has been sent out for their use with
the purpose of making as pleasant
as possible the task of the American
citizen to find out what his Federal
taxes are and how to pay them.
The internal revenue officers are
instructed to inform the taxpayer
of all his rights, to require of him
not 1 cent more than the law de
mands, while at the same time secur
ing for the Government all that
justly is due it.
It is estimated that 7,000,000
American citizens will pay income
taxes this year—a great increase
from the few hundred thousand
heretofore paying such taxes.
The work of estimating and col
lecting taxes from such a great
number of citizens is one of great
magnitude, and that it should be
done fairly and without friction is
an achievement worth much effort.
***.»»
THE GREATEST INSURANCE
BUSINESS IN THE WORLD.
More than $12,000,000,000 of in-;
surance upon the lives of members
of the military and naval forces of
the United States has been written'
by the Bureau of War-Risk Insur
ance of the United States treasury, j
A year ago the total amount of
life insurance in force in the United
States was about $22,000,000,000.!
In a few months the United States
Government has written more than j
50 per cent of that amount.
It furnishes this insurance to the
beneficiaries at the same rate that |
private companies would furnish it
in times of peace. This insurance j
is bought and paid for at regular j
rates by the beneficiaries, except
that the nation assumes the addi-1
tional risk that being in the military
and naval service of the country en
tails upon the beneficiaries.
When Americans give uo their
private occupations and in obedience
to the call of their country and the
law of the land, often at great fin
ancial sacrifice, face the dangers of
war and offer their lives in the ser
vice of their country, it is but right j
and just that upon the nation and
not upon them should be put the
added cost of insurance their dan
gerous occupations incurs.
Secretary McAdoo says that the
soldier and sailor insurance is the
justest, wisest, and most humane
provision ever made by any nation
for its fighting forces. This opinion
is shared in by the soldiers and sail
ors and by the people of the United i
States. The injustice, the partiality, !
the inequalities and other evils of j
the old pension system are replaced :
by a just, fair, and generous insur- j
ance system which over 90 per cent i
of the fighting forces of the nation i
have hastened to take advantage of.
MILITARY MORALS
One of the uses of the proceeds j
of the Liberty Loan that will appeal
strongly to the great mass of Amer
can people is the care and attention 1
given to the moral welfare and pro- \
tection of the American soldiers.
Heretofore with the American ;
army and even now with some of
the armies of our allies the moral
welfare of the soldier was and is a
matter largely ignored. In the Ger-!
man armies provision is even made \
for immorality.
It is to the gi ^y ot American j
arms and American national char
acter that of the men who wear the j
United States uniform a high stand- i
ard of conduct is expected and de- :
manded, and provided for. Kipling’s
‘‘Single men in barracks” are not j
to find their prototypes in the |
American army.
General Pershing says there is
no cleaner-living body of men in
the world than the Ameriacn army
in France.
THE SOLIER AND THE BOND
i
_
It is the sacred duty of every
citizen and it should be regarded as
a glorious privilege by every patriot
to uphold the Government's credit
with the same kind of self-sacrifice
and nobility of soul that their gal
lant sons exhibit when they die for
us on the battle fields of Europe ”
Secreary McAdoo has issued no
stronger call upon the American .
people to support the Liberty Loan. '*
The third loan is now befoie the'
people. Behind every American
soldier in France, back of every
American sailor on the seas, there j
should be a worker and a bond buy-:
er at home. Theirs is the braver
part, but we who remain at home:
can be no less useful if we exhibit j
that self-sacrifice that they dem- .
onstrate in risking their lives
If the American people possess
and put into effective force the!
same faith in Americanism that the
Germans show for their kultur, the j
struggle between German kulturj
and American civilization will be a
short one and America’s victory
overwhelming.
We may be a little slow, may have
much inertia to overcome, but Amer
ican might, like the mills of the
gods, may grind slowly but will
grind exceedingly small.
*****
We must meet sacrifice at the
front with sacrifice at home.
“The Allies are all in the same
boat, a long way from shore and
on limited rations.”—and Uncle Sam
is running the relief ship.
It doesn’t matter who started this
war, Uncle Sam will finish it. „
*****
Only a slacker could stand idly
on the sidewalk and criticize as the
army of workers goes by.
I
IN U. S. ARMY
SAYSJECRETARY
Secretary of the Interior Lane
has sent the following letter to the
president and to Senator Hoke Smith
and William J. Sears, chairman of
the Senate and House Committees on
Education.
“I believe that the time has come
when we should give serious con
sideration to the education of those
who can not read or write in the
United States. The war has brought
facts to our attention that are al
most unbelievable and that are in
themselves accusatory. There are
in the United States (or were when
the census was taken in 1910)
5,516,163 persons over 10 years of
age who were unable to read or
write in any language. There are
now' nearly 700,000 men of draft
age in the United States who are,
I presume registered, who can not
read or write in English or in any
other language.
Illiterate* Over 20 Year* of Age
“Over 4,600,000 of the illiterates
in this country were 20 years of age
or more. This figure equals the
total population of the states of
California, Oregon, Washington,
Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colo
rada, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New
Mexico and Delewar. The percent
age of illiterates varies in the sev
eral states from 17 per cent in
Iowa to 29 per cent in Louisana.
More than 10 per cent of it was in
13 states. Half of the illiterates
were between 20 and 45 years of
age. It has been estimated by one
of those concerned with this prob
lem that if these five million and
a half illiterate persons were stretch
ed in a double line of march at in
tervals of 3 feet and were to march
past the White House at the rate
of 25 miles a day, it would require
more than two months for them to
pass. Over 58 per cent are white
persons, of these 1,500,000 are na
tive born whites.
Vast Economic Loss.
“I beg you to consider the econo
mic loss arising out of this condi
tion. If the productive labor value
of an illiterate is less by only 50
cents a day than that of an edu
cated man or woman the country
is losing $825,000,000 a year through
illiteracy- This estimate is no doubt
under rather than over the real loss.
The Federal Government and the
states spend millions of dollars in
trying to give information to the
people in rural districts about farm
ing and home making. Yet 3,700,
00, or 10 per cent of our country
folk can not read or write a word.
They can not read a bulletin on
agriculture, a farm paper, a food
pledge card, a Liberty Loan appeal,
a newspaper, the Constitution of the
United States, or their Bibles, nor
can they keep personal or business
accounts. An uninformed democ
racy is not a democracy. A people
who can not have means of access
to the messages of the President
and the acts of congress can hardly
be expected to understand the full
meaning of this war, to which they
all must contribute, in life or prop
erty or labor.
“It would seem to be almost
axiomatic that an illerate man can
not make a good soldier in modern
warfare. Until last April the regu
lar army would not enlist illiterates,
yet in the first draft between 30,
000 and 40,000 illiterates were*
brought into the army, and approxi
mately as many near illiterates.
.“They can not sign their names.
“They can not read their orders
posted daily on bulletin boards in
camp.
“They cannot read their manual
of arms.
“They cannot understand the sig
nals or follow the Signal Corps in
time of battle.
“There are 700,000 men who can
not read or write who may be draft
ed within our army within the next
year or two. Training camps for
soldiers are not equipped for school
work, and the burden of teaching
men to read the simplest of Eng
lish should not be cast upon the offi
cers or others in the camps. We
should give some education to all
our men before they enter the army.
Teaching the English Tongue.
“There is even a larger problem
that this that challenger our atten
tion, and that is the teaching of the
English tongue to millions of our
j population. Dr. John H. Finley,
I president of the University of the
state of New York, in a recent
speech, presented this picture which
[he found in one of the cantonments:
“ ‘How practical is the need of a
language in this country, common
j to all tongues, is illustrated by what
I saw in one of the great canton
ments a few nights ago. In the
mess hall, where I had sat an hour,
j before with a company of the men
of the National army, a few small
'groups were gathered along the
tables learning English under the
tuition of some of their comrades,
one of whom had been a district
supervisor in a neighboring state
, and another a theological student.
! In one of these groups one of the
: exercises for the evening consisted
I in practicing the challenge when on
I sentry duty. Each pupil of the
group (there were four of Italian
and two of Slavic birth) shouldered
in turn the long-handled stove shovel
and aimed it at the teacher, who
ran along the side of the room as if
j to evade the guard. The pupil
j called out in broken speech, “Halt!
. Who goes there?” The answer
came from the teacher, “Friend.”
And then, in as yet unintelligible
|English (the voice of innumerable
ancestors struggling in their throats
to pronounce it), the words “Ad
vance and give the countersign.”
So are those of confused tongues
(learning to speak the language of
the land they have been summoned
to defend. What a commentary up
on our educational shortcomings that
in the days of peace we had not
taught these men, who have been
here long enough to be citizens
(and tens of thousands of their
brothers with them), to know the
language in which our history and
laws are written and in which we
laws are written and in which the
commands of defense must now be
given! May the end of this decade,
though so near, find every citizen
of our state prepared to challenge
in one tongue and heart, the pur
poses of all who came with the
cry, “Who goes there?” ’
Urges House Bill Passage
“WThat I have said here leads to
a respectful request that you give
early consideration to House Bill
6490, which provides for a modest
appropriation for the Bureau of
Education to begin and conduct a
vigorous and systematic campaign
for the eradication of adult illiter
acy. If the bill can be passed soon
special attention can be given to
teaching illiterate men of draft age
and especially those who are classi
fied in Class A.”
Juneau recently completed a nine-1
weeks pledge-card camaign. Aproxi-!
mately 1,400 pledge cards were sign-*
ed, covering nearly every home in j
the community. During this period
nearly 100,000 wasteless meals, 65,
00 meatless, and 42,000 wheatless
meals were reported. In other towns
situated in Southeastern Alaska, out
to the westward and in the Interior,
pledge-card campaigns are actively
under way with excellent results be
ing reported. ,
A letter received from O. W. Kick
bush by Jim Cody of Ruby, says he
has bought some land back in Wis
consin and is working for a big
automobile concern to acquire a
knowledge of the business. “Kick”
was one of the successful Poorman
operators and went out last fall with
a homestake.
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We Are Closing Out Our Entire SUck of
HARDWARE
Saws, Axes, Planes, Hammer and Axe Handles, Stove
Pipe, Graniteware, Kitchen Utensils and Many
Other Household Utensils We Have In Stock
MUST GO IMMEDIATELY
See Us For Bargains In Anv of the Above Lines
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Stage Headquarters
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First and A Streets
CONFECTIONERY
ICE CREAM
Jackson & Brakke
Take Advantage
of the New Water and Sewer Lines
Get Your Order in at Once for
Flush Toilets, Bath Tubs
Lavatories, Sinks, Etc.
. Tanana Sheet Metal Works
i
Dr. F. W. Lamb, formerly station- j
ed at Nulato as physician in charge ;
of the government hospital there,
and later transferred to Akiak, in1
the Kuskokwim, has been married
to Miss Rose May Wynne,, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wynne. The
bridal couple will make their home
at Akiak.
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AND
POOL ROOM
UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
EVERYTHING NEW
BASOFF & SOGURA. Props.
■ ■
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cans to your CovwnmMt Mean I
oyalty to yoor Covernment !
1BERTY BONOS MEAN SUCCESS I