THE NENANA DAILY NEWS
Application made April 1, 1918, at the postoffice at Nenana. Alaska,
for eiury 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
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MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for re-publi-j
cation of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in
this paper and also all the local news published herein.
PROFITEERS
Notwithstanding the fact that the
Government has endeavored to sur
round the public with safeguards
against profiteering, captains of
finance long ago branded as un
scrupulous money makers, and new
captains created by war conditions,
are reaping a rich harvest at the
expense of consumers and taxpay
ers. The Government undoubtedly
has done much to hold these graft
ers in check, but the restrictions
seemingly are not sufficient to curb
their operations altogether. They
continue to amass wealth at an
astounding rate, adding to the burd
ens of the America 1 eoplf. and to
those of the Allied countries which
must make their purchases from
America profiteers.
The power of dominent factors
in a given industry in maintaining
high prices and harvesting unpre
cedented profts is showm in a sur
vey of the meat-packing situation,
recently "made public by the Fed
eral Trade Commission. Five meat
packers, Armour, Swift, Morris,
Wilson and Cudahy and their sub
sidiary and affiliated companies
have monopolistic control of the
meat industry and are reaching fer
like domination in other products.
Their manipulation of the market
embraces every device that is useful
to them without regard to law. Their
reward, expressed in terms of profit,
reveals that four of these concerns
have pocketed in 1915, 1916, and
1917, $140 000,000. However deli
cate a definition is framed for
“profiteering” these packers have
preyed upon the people unconscion
ably. There is reassurance, how
ever, in the announcement that they
are soon to come under further
governmental regulation approved
by Executive order.
In cases where the Government
fixes a definite margin of profit
above costs, as in the case of flour,
there is a considerable incentive to
a fictitious enhaneemnt of costs
through account juggling. This has
added to the volume of unusual profits
Increase of cost showing on the
producers’ books can be accom
plished in various ways. The item
of depreciation can be padded Offi
cers’ salaries can be increased. In
terest on investment can be in
cluded in cost. New construction
can be recorded as repairs. Fiti
tious valuations on raw* material
can be added, and inventories can be
manipulated.
The Federal Trade Commission
has been vigilant and untiring in its
exclusion of these practices. An in
stance of ths practice was afforded
by the Ismert-Hincke Milling Co.,
of Kansas City, Mo. This company
padded its cost by heavily increasing
all its officers’ salaries and manipu
latng the inventory value of flour
bags on hand. As evidence of the
length to which padding can be car
ried, it may be added that this com
pany even include-1 in its costs the
gift of an automobile, which it
charged to advertising expense. This
case was heard by the commission
for the Food Administration. The
commission recommended revocation
of license and the recommendation
was followed.
Payment of extraordinary salaries
and in some instances bonuses to
executives of corporations have been
found by the commission during its
investigations. An illuminating ex
ample of high remuneration, charged
to the expense account is that given
by the American Metal Co. (Ltd.),
of New York, the chief dealings of
which are in zinc. The chairman
of the board of directors of this
concern receives $179-663.36; the
president, $364,326.73; the vice
president $221,596.04; the St. Louis
manager $148,530.69 and the Den
ver manager $136,533.12.
The Federal Trade Commission
occupies an advantageous position,
where it is possible to view certain
tendencies in trade which bear upon
the problem of profiteering. Under
the law the commission has power
to prevent unfair methods of com
petition. and it is daily in receipt
of complaints, which it investigates,
and if it has reason to believe that
an unfair method has been used,
arraigns the party complained
against for a hearing of the issue.
In this way, profiteering is held
in check partially, but much more
vigilance and much legislation will
be required to put a stop to it al
together; and incidentally, fines and
the loss of licenses are not a suffi
cient punishment for such offenders
iu times like these. The Govern
ment should have for them the same
consideration that they have shown
the American public—and no more.
NOTICE
An election of an Advisory Board
will be held at the Townsite Office,
August 17th, 1918.
We are assured that this board
will be consulted, and its decisions
followed by the townsite manage
ment in the conduct of townsite
affairs, unless such decisions are
wholly unreasonable; although the
Board will have no legal status.
The polls will be open from 9
a. m. to 7 p. m.
Candidates’ names will be placed on
the ticket by petition; and a petition
must be in our hands by 5 p. m.,
August 12th, 1918.
Signers for such petitions must be
able to qualify as voters at this
election, under the following rules;
j and the petitions must bear twenty
! five signatures:
Rules.
A vote will be allowed to anyone,
not an alien enemy, provided that
he can be classified under any one
of the following heads:
An owner of real property situate
within the limits of Nenana Town
site, Alaska;
An owner of taxable personal
property within the limits of Ne
nana Townsite, Alaska;
Anyone qualified to vote at an
Alaskan municipal election who has
been a resident of Nenana Townsite
for a period of six (6) months
prior to the date of the eletcion.
1 H. B. JOSEPH,
| Secretary Board of Elections.
7-31, 8-1, 3, 9, 10.
SHOOTING AT ANCHORAGE
As a result of a drunken brawl there
was a shooting at Anchorage re
cently. Victor Mackie shot and mor
tally wounded Robert Nakki. Both
are Finns and the shooting took
place in a bunk house on Fourth
Avenue and East C street Mackie
was arrested and Nakki was taken
, to the hospital.
Treatment of Lignite
Congress Urged to Assist in Determining Most Efficient
Method of Preparing Fuel for Market
(From Alaska Railroad Record)
While the oil and coal leasing bill
was under discussion recently in the
House of Representatives, frequent
references’ were made to the coal
lands of Alaska. Some interesting
facts were adduced in connection
with lignite coal, which occurs in
generous quantities in this territory
and suggestions were offered for
the treatment of this fuel in such
a way as to prevent its waseful
use and to make possible its ship
ment to distant markets.
Representative Patrick D. Norton,
of North Dakota, urged an appro
priation of $50,000 ‘for the special
investigation of lignite coals with a
view to their most efficient treat
ment and use. especially with refer
ence to their utilization in produc
ing fuel for internal-combustion en
gines and in supplying benzine, tolu
ene and other basis materials re
quired by the dyestuff and related
chemical industries.”
The sum of $25,000 is now avail
able for the establishment of mining
experiment stations, and Representa
tive Norton, in support of his pro
posal for an appropriation of
$50,000, said:
‘‘I have been given reasonable
assurance that under existing laws
and under the appropriations which
have been made for the establish
ment of mining experiment stations
of the United States Bureau of
Mines throughout the country that
a mining experiment station will be
established during the present year
somewhere in the Northwest given
over entirely to the carrying on of
investigations to discover practical
processes of briquetting lignite coal
and of investigation!; to discover
the practical ways of developing
the mining and wider use of lignite
coal for fuel purposes.”
Mention Made of Alaska Railroad
Representative Norton took oc
casion to mention the Government
railroad in Alaska, in the following
paragraph:
“In Alaska $35,000 000 are being
spent on a railroad there, and it
seems probable that the develop
ment of a large part of the territory
served by the railroad will depend
upon the utilization of lignite.”
Relative to the production of lig
nite coal, the present wasteful
methods of using it and plans for
bringing about an economic con
sumption of it, the representative
from North Dakota is quoted by the
Congressional Record as saying:
“The nation’s coal resources of ill
, ranks total 3,553,637,100,000 min
ahle tons. Of this total 1,051,290,
000,000 tons, or nearly one-third,
is lignite. Of this lignite 964,424,
j 000,000 tons are located in North
and Sotuh Dakota and northeastern
| Montana; in Texas approximiately
(23,000,000.000 tons; in Alaska 7,
• -104,300,000 tons, and relatively
i smaller quantities in several of the
(other Western and Southern states.
“This lignite coal in its natural
state contains 30 to 40 per cent
; water and for this and other reasons
, inllerent in the lignite itself it is
I not a very desirable fuel as mined.
; Millions of tons of bituminous and
| anthracite coals are shipped an
; nually into these lignite-bearing sec
|tlons—literally ‘carrying coal to
! Newcastle’—resulting in high prices
! for both industrial and domestic fuel
necessarily imposing a great handi
cap upon the industrial development
!of these sections, the tying up of
transportation equipment much need
led for other service, and in other
substantial economic lost motion.
The economic problem is not a
local but a national one.
Grates Cause Waste
“Our leading engineers and chem
:ists have for many years decried the
j wasteful practice of burning coal on
the grates in common use. They
have time and again shown that it
is far more economical to break the
coal up. by means of carbonization,
into its constituent elements of solid
carbon, gas, ammonia, and oils and
tars, thus releasing these several
valuable products for use in their
respective important fields
‘'Because of the shortcomings,
from a fuel standpoint, inherent in
the nature of the lignite itself, it
will never be used to any great ex
tent in its raw state. The one fact
of its 30 to 40 per cent of water
would of itself prevent its use else
where than in the immediate vicin
ity of the mine. This treatment
or carbonization of the lignite, there
fore. which is absolutely essential to
its more general use, is strictly in
accordance with modern scientific
requirements and methods.
“Some progress has been made
in the way of Better utilization of
this lignite, but so far the develop
ment has not been such as to pre
vent people from readily paying a
very considerable differential in
favor of good coal. Instructive ex
periments have been made by the
United States Bureau of Mines, the
j state of North Dakota and the pro
j vince of Saskatchewan, Canada,
which bring the matter measurably
nearer to a satisfatcory solution.
Gulf Should Be Bridged.
“The gulf between the laboratory
experiments and the large commer
cial industry should be bridged at
| once, and it should be done by gov
| ernment agencies. This span is
| already partly constructed and the
j money asked for in this bill is re
uired to complete the work of our
own Bureau of Mines.
“Instead of trying to burn the
raw lignite in the primitive and
wasteful ways now employed it
should be modified to produce sev
eral products, each peculiarly adapt
ed to a particular commercial need,
namely:
“!• Dried lignite, for use on
automatic stokers and in fuel-gas
producers. Because of its more or
less comminuted condition the dried
I lignite can not be handled advan
. tageously by hand, but -it can be
used very satisfactorily by mechani
1 cal means.
j 2. Powdered fuel, from the
dried, pulverized lignite, for use
in cement kilns, railroad locomotives
and other large furnaces. Because
of its volatile content this pu'ver
ized lignite makes an exceptionally
good powdered fuel.
“3- Dried lignite briquets, for
large hand-fired industrial furnaces
■and heating plants. Where it is
necessary to handle the dried lignite
with a fireman’s shovel it must be
briquetted. Tests of these dried
lignite briquets in commercial boil
er furnaces have proved them to be
fully equal in every resepet to good
Illinois and Indiana bituminous coal.
Unexcelled as Power-Gas Producer
“4. Carbonized lignite, for use
in power gas products. Tests of
i t^1’s Product in carload lots have
I proved to be a very exceptional and
i unexcelled fuel for this purpose. It
.is of about the same analysis as
■ Pennsylvania anthracite coal. In
.carbonizing the lignite the objec
tionable tar found in all coals con
taining a substantial quantity of
I volatile matter is removed, and the
gas goes to the cylinder of the gas
engine clean and tar free. For the
production of power in this way
.carbonized lignite is fully equal to
anthracite coal, charcoal, or bitumi
. nous coke.
“5. Carboized lignite briquets,
! f°r domestic service in house heat
jing stoves and furnaces, fireplaces
and cooking ranges. This fuel, ton
for ton, compares favorably in every
way with anthracite coal, and is an
(ideal domestic fuel in such rigorous
climates as those of North Dakota
and Alaska. In climates where the
thermometer not infrequently goes
to 40 below zero the demand is an
immediate and very large one.
“In carbonizing the lignite valu
able by-products in the form of gas,
ammonia, and oils and tars are ob
tained.
“The gas yield is upward of 10,
Continued on Page Three)
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS
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POSITIONS WANTED—There are
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Nenana News office.
WANTED TO BUY—About 40 tons
of native hay. Will take delivery
where cut. Apply to Knute
Koland, Nenana.
FOR SALE—Beaver Board, in plain ,
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dows, sash stock and mouldings
Inquire Simson's.
PIANOS—For sale or rent. Inquire j
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Montana Rooming House
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MRS. HENRY BAATZ, Proprietress.