THE NENANA D^ILY NEWS
Application made April 1, 1918, at the postoffice at Nenana, Alaska,
for entry 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. South worth.-.Editor and Manager
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this paper and also all the local news published herein.
A POTASH VICTORY
“Germany has thought all along,
and still thinks no doubt,” announced
Secretary of the Interior Lane re
cently, “that she has a whip hand
over America because of her supply
of potash, but America can in two,
years become entirely independent
of Germany in this regard by the
development of her own deposits
and the use of processes devised by
I)r. Cottrell cf this department.”
When the war started, this coun
try. having had nearly a quarter
million tons of potash from Ger
many each year, suddenly found her
self cut off from this important fer
tilizer material. That constituted
a call to American science to get
busy, and very soon this country
was producing potash from the
brine lakes of California, Nebraska
and other states; from the kelp,
the sea weed of the Pacific coast,
and from various minerals. The
scarcity of potash boosted the price
and these new industries found the
production very profitable.
The production is not yet nearly
up to the demand, although growing
rapidly. However, Secretary Lane
is not basing his assumptions upon
the potash from these sources alone.
The romance of American science
here comes into round out an in
dustry that may be of the greatest
importance. Several years ago Dr.
Frederick Cottrell, now the chief
metallurgist of the Bureau of Mines,
sought some device that would stop
the poisonous fumes from the
smelters that were destroying vege
tation. This device was not only
successful with the smelters, but
a cement company in California, in
dire distress from the dust fumes
that were ruining a profitable fruit
growing country, took the chance
that something that would stop
smelter fumes might arrest the ce
ment dust and put an end to costly
litigation with the farmers. The
dust was caught and it proved to
be potash—so much potash that the
cement company with the outbreak
of the war made potash its chief
product. Another cement company
in Maryland that caught the spirit
early, in 1917, after fully amortiz
ing their plant, cleared $200,000
from potash alone, and this year
the profits will be half a million
dollars. This, of course, is with
potash at the present high selling
price.
The whole of Searlcs Lake, in
California, has been leased by the
Interior department to a number of
companies who have undertaken to
erect plants for the reduction of
potash from its brine. Two plants
are already producing.
From alunite and leucite, two
minerals hitherto regarded as worth
less, potash is being obtained in
Utah and Wyoming.
$67,000 a day for candles is still
being spent in America, or a round
20 million dollars a year.
No wearing of mourning is be
coming general in England and
France. This desirable condition has
come about because it was found
that the wearing of black by so
many not only had a most depress
ing effect on the whole civilian
populations, but also proved a posi
tive menace to the national interests
in that it diverted workmen and
material from strictly necessary
channels into streams that fed the
unnecessary.
ANCHORAGE. — Irrespective of
any criticisms that may be directed
ajrainst the principle of public owner
ship of transportation utilities in
times of peace, employees of the
government railroad in Alaska have
proved that in the matter of the
support it affords national activities
in time of war it is a howling suc
cess. Their subscriptions and dona
tions to causes directly and in
directly connected with the world
conflict, while the United States was
engaged in it, aggregated more than
three-quarters of a million dollars.
They subscribed $610,800 to
Liberty Bonds; donated $102,500 to
the American Red Cross; $27,000
for the relief of destitute Serbians
and the support of French and Bel
gian orphans; $8,000 for the en
downment of Alaska beds in the
American military hospital at Neuilly
France, and $1,620 for the benefit
of distressed Syrian and Armenian
Christians in Western Asia. In ad
dition to these amounts, there were
various contributions for other pur
poses, such as Italian, Russian and
Grecian relief, of which no records
are now available.
Employees of the Anchorage divi
ion numbered about 4500 in
October, 1917, when the second is
le of Liberty bonds was put on the
market. They bought these securi
ties in the amount of §89,400, while
employees of the two other divisions
and of the offices of the Alaskan
Engineering commission in Seattle
and Washington, D. C., took $34,
250 of this second issue. Anchor
age division employees totaled only
1,500 in May, this year, the time
of the Third Liberty loan, and they
invested in it $108,250, and the two
other divisions, with the Seattle and
Washington offices, subscribed $69,
200. The employees of the Anchor
age division numbered 1,450 in
October, this year, the time of the
Fourth Liberty loan, but despite this
decrease in force they bought $204,
650 of the Fourth issue, and the two
ether divisions and the Seattle and
Washington offices took $110,050.
No part of the first issue of Liberty
bonds was offered for sale in An
chorage.
More than half the amount ol
government railroad donations to the
Red Cross and other causes was
from Anchorage division employees
If every man in a regiment ol
100 riflemen would remain per
fectly calm and shoot straight, sucT
a regiment would be invincible
But nervousness and tenseness come
to the average man, and he shoots
wild- However, we are not so bat:
marksmen as in the battle of 1881
where it took 41 cannon shots an»i
33,000 rifle shots to kill seventy
j Arabs. In Afgahanistan the Eng
lish at 300 meters fired 50,00C
■Limes and killed twenty-five enemies.
I
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A piched baseball was recently
timed, and it took 0.288 second tc
reach from the pitcher’s hand to
the batter. The ball traveled at a
speed of 210 feet a second, or 2 2-5
miles a minute. It required 0.796
second to throw a ball from the
catcher to second base; a distance
of 129 feet. Little wonder that
bases are so difficult to steal.
RAILROAD WORK
IS HAMPERED BY
li INFLUENZA
ANCHORAGE. — Spanish influ
enza retarded work on the govern
ment railroad. The epidemic first
attacked employees in the general
offices and in the terminal yard in
Anchorage and then spread to sta
tions and construction camps north
and south of Anchorage. The ill
ness left unscathed just enough
• workers in the steel gang north of
Montana to keep the track-laying
machine in operation. More than
half the miners in the coal mines
of the Alaskan Engineering com
mission at Eska and Chickaloon were
down with the disease. For weeks
the Anchorage hospital, which is
maintained by the Commission, was
crowded with patients to every inch
of its available space. Although
! several hundred Commission em
1 ployees were afflcted with the ail
ment, only six succumbed to it.
Besides taking care of ailing em
ployees, the Commission had to as
sume the greater share of the work
involved in the treatment of afflicted
Indians. All sick natives along the
line of the government railroad were
brought to Anchorage and placed
in a building that formerly had been
used as a hotel and that was im
provised into a hospital. The beds,
bed clothing, stoves and fuel re
quired in the building were fur
nished by the Commission. Quite a
' number of Indians died of the dis
ease.
Every effort was exerted by the
j Commission to prevent the spread of
■ the epidemic into the Interior of
j Alaska. Trains outbound from An
chorage carreid no persons except
those that had been examined and
passed as perfectly healthy by the
Anchorage board of health.
Transportation was refused to all
persons wishing to travel beyond the
line of the railroad toward the In
terior. On the Broad Pass, which
. is the mountain divide between the
coast and Interior divisions of the
government railroad, armed guards
were stationed by officials of the
Fairbanks division to stop and turn
back to the coast travelers seeking
to go to the Interior.
In Anchorage, schools churches,
and theaters were closed and pub
lic meetings and lodge sessions were
forbidden during the epidemic.
ARMISTICE HALTS
TROOP EMBARKATION
In a letter received locally on
the last mail, Asa Pittoek, formerly
storekeeper at 43-mile, writes from
Newport News, where he, with a
great many others in the sendee,
were awaiting embarkation foi
France.
Asa says that the “flu” invaded
their camp and that almost everyone
was down with it, as a consequence
of which the date of embarkation
had to be postponed indefinitely.
Shortly after the abatement of the
epidemic the news of the signing of
the armistice was received and all
embarkation orders were cancelled,
i greatly to the disappointment of the
: boys.
^ A convoy which had set sail one
' morning with a total of about ten
, thousand troops on board the several
vessels, was recalled by wireless, as
a result of the armistice. The re
turning transports docking late at
night.
The cigar stores around camp were
run by Greeks, he says, who appear
ed to take great delight in imposing
on the soldiers and overcharging
them for everything. As soon as
■ they got a chance, the boys more
than evened up the score in a raid
they conducted on the stores. They
turned things topsy turvy and had
a good time doing it. The police,
to whom the Greeks appealed, did
not appear to be very anxious to
make any arrests.
Our good old pastor does not swear
This is a fact that I now tell;
And yet I have heard him declare
That he is working to beat Hell.
Venana—TJj» Rate-vp v ‘,o
National Park.
CHAMBER URGES
UNIIEO SHIES
10 POSH TRADE
LONDON.—Business men of the
United States are urged by the
directors of the American Chamber
of Commerce in London to en
deavor to induce the United States
Congress promptly to create an
American Reconstruction commis
sion to deal with the economic re
lations between America and Great
Britain. This proposed commission,
asserts the statement issued by the
directors of the American Chamber
of Commerce here, should contain
a strong representation of men of
sound experience and judgment in
matters of foreign policy and trade
and should have authority to pro
ceed to act at once with similar
bodies of Great Britain and other
countries formerly at war with the
Central Powers
The time has come for the busi
ness communities of the United
States to prepare to formulate an
after-war policy, says the statement.
The American Chamber is prompted
to make this recommendation because
it believes the establishment of
friendly trade relations between
English-speaking peoples and the re
moval of all business distrust and
suspicion are essential in a success
ful and permanent 11 ague of Na
tions.
The chamber also points out that
the restrictions which have been im
posed upon America’s trade with
Great Britain “have led to the be
life in one country that they directly
benefit the other.” This situation
the chamber says, inevitably raises
the issue with Great Britain. “Noth
ing,” it adds, “ would suit Germany
better than to breed discord out of
them. Nothing this chamber be
lieves is more important to the fu
ture of the world than good natured
adjustment of these issues between
the English-speaking peoples.”
It is none to soon, says the cham
ber, for the United States and its
allies to agree upon a plan for the
equitable disposition of all raw ma
terial so as to reconstruct the stocks
depleted by the wastage of war and
by the criminal folly of German
submarines.
Another matter urgently calling
for joint action is that of dual in
come tax assesments,” says the
American Chamber’s statement. “Not
only does the present situation work
unjustified hardship on individuals
of both nationalities, but it also
practically prohibits the employment
of the capital or one country in the
enterprises of the other, and is thus
a strong deterent to all co-operation
between them in the work of re
construction.”
One of the first purposes to be
aimed at in the proposed trade re
construction should be the restora
tion of private initiative and busi
ness, says the American Chamber.
The chamber, however, realizes
that government control over vir
tually every form of activity cannot
be relaxed immediately, but it asserts
that the revival of private enter
prises is of supreme importance to
the future.
RUST HOUSE
Mrs. Ed. Williams, Prop.
A and FIFTH STREETS
ROOMS AND BOARD
ROOMS 75c and $1.00
Coffee and Doughnuts 25c
DOG KENNELS
r.s. McDonald
CONVEYANCING
GENERAL BROKERAGE
NOTARIAL WORK
LIFE INSURANCE
Local Agent of
Whitely-Wood ward Company
Home Insurance Co., New York
National Fire, of Hrrtford
Hartford Fire Insurance Co.
Norwich Union Fire Insurance Co.
Law Union and Rock, London
Look Them Up In Best’s
Union Insurance Society, London
earthquake cause of
OF FIRE AT TALKEETNA
ANCHORAGE.—As the result of
an earthquake recently, the Alaskan
Engineering commission experienced
a fire that involved a loss of $3000.
The tremor disconnetced the pipe
of a heating stove in the Commis
sion's warehouse at Talkeetna, about
116 miles north of Anchorage. Be
for the flames could be extinguished
a considerable quantity of supplies
and part of the warehouse were
destroyed.
GEORGE GREEN MAKES
GOOD TIME ON TRAIL
In a letter received locally, the
popular skipper of the Reliance, who
is making a hurried trip to his home
over the trail, driving his own dogs,
says that considering weather and
trail conditions, he made very good
time between Fairbanks and Chitina.
He arrived in Chitina on November
20th, and was preparaing to leave
for Cordova immediately.
The necessity for the hasty trip
was occasioned by the death of his
brother Captain Jack Green, of the
A. Y. X. steamer Yukon, who was
a passenger on the ill-fated Princess
Sophia.
Kenana, Where Bails ar.d Rivers Meet
(Assoriat^fl Tivss)
WANT ADS
FOR SAI-E—New lineoleum- ma
hogany phonograph, child’s bed.
and Persian cat. inquire of Mrs.
Mellish.
LOST—Bunch of Keys; five flat
Yale keys and two round keys.
Finder please return to Nev's
Office. Reward.
BUSINESS^OPPORTUNITY—North
Star—Mike’s Place. For rent,
ready for business on most reas
onable terms. Apply R. S. Mc
Donald
FOR RENT.-—Small one room cabin
on First and R streets. Apply
at News office.
LOST—A Grey Husky Don, about
Nov. 27th; has collar on neck.
Finder return to Co>ihi!!’s store.
Dr. R. R. MYERS
DENTIST
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COLBS AIR TIGHT
HEATERS
RANG ES
OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS
Yukon Stoves and Drums
Air Tight Heaters
Any Thing in the Sheet Metal, Plumb
ing or Heating Line
Tanana Sheet Metal Works