THE NENANA DAILY NEWS
Application made April 1, 1918, at the postoffice at Nenana, Alaska,
for enrry as second class mail matter, under the Act of March 3, 18«9.
“WHERE RAIL AND RIVER MEET”
Published every afternoon except Sunday, by the Xenana Printing
Company, at First and B Streets, Xenana, Alaska.
R. G. Southworth.Editor and Manager
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WICKERSHAM LETTER
TO SECRETARY LANE
The Former Delegate Declares Express Company Given Right to
Rob Shippers Over Road Owned By the United States.
Horse Feed $160 Per Ton At Fairbanks.
CHAPTER THREE
The third instalment of former
Delegate Wickersham’s letter to
Secretary of the interior Lane, in
which he pours fourth figures on
Alaska freight rates, and alleges
profiteering by express companies,
with the assistance of the govern
ment railroad, is as follows:
‘‘Since April 9. 1914, the White
Pass Co. in conjunction with the
Alaska Steamship Co., has had un
disputed control over freight rates
on the Yukon and Tanana rivers,
while the Alaska Steamship Co. has
exerted an equally undisputed con
trol over coastwise rates from
Seattle to Seward and Anchorage,
the Pacifict coast terminals of the
government railroad. These two
interests are so intimately assoociated
"in the control of rates as to be prac
tically one concern. The joint and
several rates established and main
tained by them on Alaska business,
and in effect there ever since the
government railroad was organized
in March, 1914, are the most extor
tionate which afflict American trade,
and bear particularly heavy on the
people of Alaska.
The American Railway Express
Co.’s rates are also made on Alaska
business in connection with those
two transportation interests, and re
flect their extortionate policy in
transportation rates. Just a single
instance will exhibit how the gov
ernment railroad is used and con
trolled by those combined interests.
The American Railway Express Com
pany charges a rate of 25 cents per
pound, $25 per hundred, for ship
ping matter over the government
railroad from Seward to Anchorage.
Alaska, a distance of only 1X5 miles,
a rate of $500 per ton. The gove
ernment railroad carries that ex
press for the American Railway Ex
press Cc., for S2.40 per hundred or
$48 per ton, thus giving the express
company a profit of $22.60 per
hundred or $452.20 per ton for re
ceiving, forwarding and delivering
at Anchorage. Why do you assist
the express company in imposing
such extortionate rate burdens on
the shippers along the people’s rail
road? If it is actually worth $25
per hundred to transport such ex
press matter, why does the govern
ment do the actual work of trans
porting for $2.40, and give the ex
cess profit of $22.50 to the express
company?
Then, too, the charge of $2.40
per hundred imposed by the govern
ment railroad is itself highly exces
sive, not to mention the heroic size
of the express company’s rate, for
it costs but $1.54 per hundred to
ship the same character of express
matter from Washington, D. C., to
New York City, a distance of 228
miles, twice the distance from Se
ward to Anchorage. At the Alaska
rate per mile it ought to cost $4.84
from Washington to New York,
which shows that even the govern
ment rate of $2.40 per hundred over
the people’s railroad in Alaska is
more than 200 per cent per mile
than the Washington-New York rate
jover the Pennsylvania railroad.
But when you permit the express
company to pile on a $25 per hun
dred rate, it becomes a crime against
the development of Alaska. It is
more than 16 times as much as the
Washington-Xew York rate. Then,
too. if the government railroad, un
der your management, is determined
to go into profiteering on the ship
pers in Alaska, why do you give
nine-tenths of the loot to the ex
press company?
While the excessive rates imposed
upon the public on the Yukon and
Tar.ana rivers, at the Xenana ter
minal of the government railroad
are not fixed by you, they have
your approval, and are just as harm
ful to the success of that railroad
which you administer. In 1914, the
minimum or flat rate to Fairbanks
over the steamboat lines on these
rivers was less than $40 per ton.
In 1917, it had increased without
your objection to $50 per ton, and
in 1918, in view of your failure
to build over the Broad Pass it was
' advanced to $62 per ton. And,
mind you, this was the minimum or
base rate; the actual rates paid by
me snippers ran to s»v, S11U,
$124 and even to $186 per ton on
exceptional commodities, and now
stand at those heights.
In 1918, horse feed sold for $160
per ton at Fairbanks, teamsters
killed the^ir horses and walked out
of the country, broke and disheart
ened. The government railroad,
needed every horse and every man,
but you made no effort to assist
them, as you might have done with
your powerful influence as admin
istrator of the government railroad,
to secure just and reasonable rates
so they could exist in the Tanana
country. In your estimate, 1920,
page 762, you estimate for the Fair
banks division for “Horse feed, 500
tons at $80 per ton," while those
teamsters had to kill their horses
and abandon the country because
they could not pay $160 per ton for
the same feed at the wharf where
yours is landed- And so it is with
food supplies, mining materials, etc.,
for the miner and homesteader in
that wide fertile valley.
In the tariff rules promulgated by
you for the government railroad it
is provided that the railroad will
advance to ocean and inland water
carriers (which means the Alaska
Steamship Company at Seward and
Anchorage, and the White Pass Com
pany at Nenana) their unpaid trans
portation charges on through freight
and will add charges to the local
waybill and collect from the con
signee at the point of delivery on
the railroad. This joinder in rates
with these carriers at both railroad
terminals gives the public to under
stand that the railroad is a partici
pant in their extortionate rates.
Anri when the shippers discover that
the railroad rates over the govern
ment line are more excessive than
those of the connecting water car
riers, the impression of the unfair
ness on the part of the government
line is accentuated.
The following is a statement of
your government railroad rates on
specified commodities from Anchor
age to Houston, a station in the cen
ter of the farming (and the nearby
mining) region 60 miles north of
Anchorage, in comparison with
standard rates on the sourthern rail
way and generally on southern and
western railroads, for the same dis
tance.
Commodity
Comparison 60 Mile Rate
Hardware
H. H. Goods
Canned Goods
Flour .
Hares . .
Dried Fruit
Fresh Fruit ..
Meat, cured
Kerosene .
Sugar .
Vegetables ....
Butter __
Anchorage
to Houston
Govt. Road
13.80
.$24.30
9.80
9.80
13.80
9.80
16.20
9.80
11.40
9-80
16.20
13.80
Southern Road
for same dis
tance
10.00
$10.00
9.00
3 80
10.00
9.00
10.00
4.50
9.00
6.00
7.30
11.50
Excess on
Govt. Road
Alaskan
3S
pt- ct.
$143
9
157
38
9
62
117
26
63
121
20
N'otice that it costs 143 per cent
more for settlers to take household
goods upon their farms, than over
the railroads in the south and west
for the same distance: 157 per cent
more to secure flour for hr • id; ’ 7
per cer.t for for meat and 1J1 ptr
cent more for vegetables. F >r sugar
it costs them an excess of 6 ’ per
cent and for hardware over stand
ard rates: the average excess m the
articles specified is 67 per cent
greater for the farmer and miner in
the Houston-Willow Creek region
along this people's railroad than
over the corporation-owned and op
erated railroads in the United States.
The gold miner cannot pay su h e'
cess and dig Willow creek gold, the
price of gold has not iner ■ i 'J >n
any proportions, although it s just
now greatly needed by the govern
ment. How differently the Canadian
railroads have treated their settlers
and miners so necessary to the de-j
velopment of Canada west.
A large proportion of ail freight
carried to the Seward and Anchor
age terminals of the government
railroad and sent out along the rail
road by waybill on joint account is
carried by the Alaska Steamship
Company. The rates on this Alaska
Syndicate carrier have increased ex
cessively in the last four years,
since the combination in April. 1911,
to control Alaska transportation.
These are its present rates from
Seattle to Anchorage on specified
articles heretofore mentioned:
Commodity Rate from Seattle
to Anchorage. Alaska
H. H. Goods $16.50
Canned Goods . 14.50
Flour . i x06
Eggs 17.00
Dried Fruit . 1-1.50
Fresh Fruit .l%Jfi
Meat, cured . . . f.50
Oil, Kerosene . 16.00
Sugar . 14.50
Vegetables . ikOU
Butter . ' 7 :00
Hardware . 14L50
3 5. i'm'i
14.50
- 30.00
Horses
At:. Inks
Cattle
^per head
Add these excessive rates to the
higher rates on the government rail
road, and you have the reason for
the abandonment of their farms by
the Matanuska farmers; you have
a reason why no coal operator dares
to take a lease on and prospect a
coal mine in the Chickaloon field;
and you have also, before you the
beginning of the* same process of
strangulation on the government
railroad which nas given the Alaska
Syndicate its present autocratic con
trol over Alaska copper and the
Bering river coal fields.
The Alaska Syndicate has in cor
porated its Alaskan activities undei
the corporate name of the Kenne
cott Copper Corporation. That cor
porate n owns and operates the Ken
necott copper mines at the inland
terminal of the Copper River &
S. W. Ry , and 52 per cent of the
capital stock of the Alaska Steam
ship Co. Mr. Stephen Birch is the
president of the three companies,
and the Guggenheims are in the
directorate of each. Their Alaska
Steamship Company commands the
control of ocean rates to the ter
minals of the government railroad
at Seward and Anchorage and fixes
the ocean rates which you collect
on joint account by waybill from
shippers over the railroad.
Look at the rates by which this
syndicate maintains its control over
the Bering river or Katalla coal
fields and the copper resources of
the Chitina region. The following
figures stated by the Interstate
Commerce Commission in the Alaska
Investigation, Dockets Nos. 8975 and
8976, and gives a view of the un
fair practice of the Syndicate in
charging the independent miners
and settlers of the Chitina region a
far greater rate for freight than it
charges its own business on a longer
haul:
Distance Rate per toil Rate per tonCommodities
(Miles (Dollars) Mile (MiUsI
Kennecott mds.
1911- 1912
1912- 1913 .
1913- 1914
1914- 1915 . ..
1915- 1916
Fuel coal .
McCarthy mdse.
Fuel coal .
Coal, blks.
Hay .
Nails _
Grain ..
Flour .
Picks, shovels
Hardware .......
Groceries .
Stoves ..
Coffins ..
..... 196
_196
.196
... .196
l’ . .196
.196
£ IBP
Jr..190
.,190
§§l*l>
“...190
190
t-,.190
190
V.190
.190
:__190
Cipars ..r... 190
$ 16 43
14.55
14.55
17.53
17.80
11.60
11 60
12.60
28.60
30.00
36.20
41.60
41.60
48.20
59.40
72.30
83.20
11880
$ 83.82
74.23
74.23
89.44
90.56
59.13
61.02
66.31
.150.52
157.89
190.52
218.94
218.94
253.68
312.63
380.52
437.89
625.26
mills
The lowest merchandise rate tu
McCarthy, over the C. R. & N.
Ry, for the merchant and miner is
almost 100 per cent larger than the
average rate paid by the Kennecott
company for six years, on its own
merchandise, and picks, shovels,
hardware, grain, furniture, groc
eries, and the necessities of life for
the independent miner and the set
tler jump to 200 per cent and even
300 per cent above Kennecott rates,
though the freight is not hauled so
far by six miles of heavy mountain
grade.
Nenana House
Under New Management
Q.—Wliy is the NENANA HOUSE like a dog sitting on
a cake of ice? A.—Because it’s so dog gone nice.
Mrs. A. B. Easterly, Proprietress
I
ENDEAVOR ML
BE MADE 10 OPEN
T010VWA TRAIL
At the meeting of the N'enana
Commercial club, held at the club
chambers in the Union Hall last
night, the matter of opening the '
Happy trail from the Joyce Lake
roadhouse, (Dunbars! was again
taken up and discussed at some
length. |
None of the
ther data to
members had any fur- t
submit or suggestions
to offer in addition to those already
brought before the club. The mem- j
bers felt that a large volume of the j
trade from the Tolovana camp will
undoubtedly be diverted to N'enana '
if the Happy trail to Dunbars is
opened up arid put into shape for
winter travel.
Mr. Browne, engineer in charge. -
had made the statement that train
service to Dunbars would be estab
lished next winter, and the club felt
that action should be taken imme
diate! to have the Happy trail opened
up for winter travel.
On motion duly made and carried, i
the secretary was instructed to get
into communication with Robert
Sheldon, chairman of the Alaska
Road commission, and request that
SIOOO be appropriated from the road
fund to be used in marking and
uinervwse nxmg up tnt1 Happy trail
for travel nex* winter.
Seereary Joseph addressed the fol
lowing letter to Chairman Robert
Sheldon, regarding the Happy trail:
Nenana, April 26. 1919
“Dear Mr. Sheldon:
The above named club was dis
cussing the Happy trail at their
regular meeting last night, and in
structed the secretary to write you
regarding it.
“Of course there is no need to tell
you anything about that trail from
Fairbanks to Brooks, nor about the
other from Olnes.
“Barring accidents to the appro
priation for the railroad construc
tion. we should have rail service
between Nenana and Fairbanks this
coming winter, which means that
rails would connect Fairbanks and
Nenana with the Happy trail at
Joyce Lake or Dunbar's roadhouse.
“Would it not be to the advant
age of all concerned to spend prob
ably $1,000 or so on the Happy
trail from Joyce Lake to Brooks,
flagging it across the lakes, and do
ing any other minor work necessary?
“We are informed that flagging
across the lakes is the most im
portant matter to make it a prac
ticable route for winter service
“Please advise what you think 1
of this.
“In the matter of the Kantishna
road, I suppose everything will stay
more or less up in the air until ,
Congress does something definite,
when no doubt Mr. Browne will be
able to make some plans along that
line.
Yours truly,
H. B. JOSEPH, !
Secretary.” j
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LOST—Nugget chain. Liberal re
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seasons outfit... Bed and hat nets
a-e now readr. at small‘cost at
MRS. D’ORSAY'S TAILOR SHOP, *
Third and A Streets.
Membership List
Nenana
Commercial Club
Anderson, Herman
Allred, Mrs. Clara
Bergman, Charles
Brown. Jess
Berggren. Ernst
Browne. F. D.
Bresnahan, E. D.
Blankfield, D.
Bowen, J. R.
Brooker, Ed
Bennett, J F
Ball. I. B.
Brown, Erie —
Coutts, W I.
Calderhead, it. W
Campbell. N. J.
Coghill, W. A. i
Cooney, M. J.
Loner, Frank .
Liven, R. J.
Louse, Fred
Ekeland, Alf * -
Funk, A B.
Finlayson, K A.
Fisher, Joe f
Flower, J. H.
Foster, Steve
Gagnon, Wm.
Ghezzi, Alfred ‘ *
Gray, E. B.
Gilcher, W. H.
Head, E. A.
Hagan, James
Hill, L. w.
Hagen, Hans
Hoey, Andy
Isabel, L. C.
Irvine, A. J. ' ' d
Johnson, A. G.
Jones, Frank
Julian, W. J.
Johnson, Joseph
Jepson, Peter
Joseph. H. B
Koland, Knut
Ketooroky, John A.
Laughlin, E. L.
Lund. E. E.
Lehr, Q. F.
Markus, George
Mortensen, Peter
Myers, R R.
Moore, Frank B
McDonald, R S.
Martin, G. S.
Morris, R. c.
Mash, Martin
O’Keefe, Larry
Parks, S. E.
Pennington, G. W.
Palfy, Paul
Packer, W. L.
Ryan, W. A.
Rosburg, Herman
Roth, Andy
Rodigkeit, Wm.
Sborgia, William
Shaw, Harry N.
Schmidt, Car!
Schaeffer, M. A.
Slippern, J. A.
Simson, Lipman
Scott, J. H.
Sellander. C. J.
Schmidt, Pete
Smith, George A.
South'vorth, R. G.
Spira, Frank
Taylor, Frank
Tunison, B.
Thompson, Theodore
Toussaint, J G. K
Tyler, M. V.
Taylor. Wm. J.
Verhaeghe, Cyriele
Van Orsdel, J. C.
Woods, Geo. W.
Williams, E. A.
Waechter, R. I.
t
i