CLUB LETTER URGES
VITAL ALASKA ADS
(Continued from Page Three)
the crowd of big brothers is not
around to make him touchy, just
speak a word for his boys and girls
in Alaska. You know what they
want—sufficient money to enable
our territorial educational system to
do adequate things in adequate
ways.
V. MAIL SERVICE.
To make a long story short, Mr.
McPherson, we regard our Alaskan
mail service as a disgrace to the
National Government, ample evi- j
dence supporting the judgment, i
Please rub that in where it will do j
the most good. There is another'
matter we must now bring up, ;
though we shrink from doing so
because of the feelings of a neigh-!
bor who always has been dear to
as and who is now quite near to us.
But, we feel sure our neighbor will
adjust himself to the change, and
probably at last will like it quite
as well as we. We refer to the
desire to 'have the mail for this
district re-routed via Seward and
Anchorage and Broad Pass. By
next fall there will be but 70 or 75
miles of a gap between steel on
that route. Train service will bo
from fair to good on both ends,
and the gap will be spanned by a
very- passable trail for reasonably
quick hauling of mail. Notwith
standing the additional 36 hours
from Cordova to Seward,—and that
is allowing ample running time for
the steamers,—the mail for all this
region should easily reach its des
tination, that way, at least two days
ahead of the best that is being
done over the Kairbanks-Chitina
route. We await the pleasure of
those who have authority to order
the change.
TRAPPERS, HUNTERS, MINERS I
GET OUR PRICES BEFORE PLACING YOUR
OUTFITTING ORDERS.
We have a targe stock and can save you money if
you deal direct with us.
HIGHEST PRICES PAID FOR FURS.
COGHILL’S
FREE DELIVERY PHONE 32
^
SOCIAL DANCE
UNION MALL
TONIGHT
STARTS AT 1 O
Music by Coliseum Orchestra
Admission $1.50 Ladies Free
BASKETBALL
Sunday, Jan. 18
3:30
UNION MALL
Admission 50 Cents
......... ...
For a Smoke
• A Card Game or I
A Game of Pool 1
i
GO TO |
THE PORTLAND I
STATIONERY CANDY
tmi
VI. THAT FIFTY PERCENT
REFUND.
The citizens of Nen&na were
very much gratified in 1918, when
Congress so kindly refunded 50 per
cent of the net returns from lot
sales in Nenana, to apply in can
celing the townsite'3 obligations to
the Alaskan Engineering commis
sion for development work and im
provements made by said commis
sion, approximately $30,615 being
thus refunded. But, the shrinkage
in available resources since that
time seems to make imperative an
other such relief measure. We be
lieve that the appeal that was made
last year, to Congress, was entirely ,
in order and should have received ]
a prompt and favorable response,!
instead of apparently being ignored.
If Congress could again muster up ]
courage to set over, from the land i
office receipts, 50 percent of the
net receipts from payments on lots
in this townsite since their first
refund, it would reimburse the A.!
E. C. to the extent of approximately 1
twelve thousand dollars, which •
j would make the towsite’s present>
jobligations, of approximately $50,-i
;0U0, look very different. We hope ]
|you will find this matter of suffi-1
jcient interest to warrant your best;
jefforts to bring about such action, j
jWe believe that such action by]
] Congress would be in line with sim- '
! pie justice, only.
VII. WAGES IN INTERIOR |
ALASKA.
In raising this question we fully i
realize that we are treading on holy!
! ground—the Government we love j
and cherish above all others seems]
jto be under fire, now. However, I
] the truth is always of prime im- j
iportance, and the hour has struck ]
(when it is useless longer to try to;
■ escape certain amply supported con-1
! elusions. It is not by ignoring con-•
ditions created by the late war, but I
rather by taking them all into ac
count, that we are led to agree;
that the disastrous slump in Interior !
Alaskan population has been greatly ]
accelerated by a Government wage'
scale which is inadequate and in- ]
creasin;,.i difficult of application. :
Leaving entirely out of the count
jail the fancy tales afloat about
• “greater wages Outside,” we are
(still left helpless to escape from
'the same concusion. The cost of
! living has steadily increased, and
;the wages have almost as steadily
remained stationary, except in a
comparatively few instances where
increased work was required and a
natural increase of pay followed.
Scores of ablebodied men have been
; tempted to the States by the fancy
! wages offered there, and doubtless
:many of those very men have faced
galling disappointments in the
change thus made. Others have
• gone, and still others are planning
to go as soon as possible, for no
tother reason than that they cannot
make out on present wages—wages
(fixed and paid by the Government
, itself. The wages scales are doubt
less as well known in Washington
as they are here, and it would be
■but a waste of time to set rows of'
I
figures before you. We set it forth ,
as a fact, that Interior Alaska is j
losing much of its most-needed male ;
population because of the low wages j
(and intermittent employment. At;
j present it is impossible, for the'
'majority at least, to do prospect- •
ing or engage actively in mining;
it is equally impossible for willing
agricuturists to locate and develop
'farm lands; there is now nothing
Ibut the Government work to offer
(wages to the man who would stay
jin the country till conditions cre
mated by war have subsided to nor
jmal. The single man has an ad
vantage in the wage matter, but
leven he is not to be envied. The
•man who has a family to keep and
• who resides in town, and especially
: if he is trying tQ make payments
on property for a home, is strictly
jin hard lines, all commissary privi
leges to the contrary notwithstand
ing. The unfeigned expression, “I
jwish I could manage to get enough
| ahead to take my family Outside in
■the spring,” is significant, especially
jwhen coming from the lips of men
who have been in Alaska long
enough to love the country and who
vould stay if they could atay. We
lo not believe it was the intention
)f the Government to impoverish
the laborer while introducing and
establishing a nobly-conceived de
velopment scheme, a scheme that
was designed to make the Alaskan
empire accessible, and a region of
profitable industry. Can you speaK
a word or wield an influence in '
line of waking those in power to |
act in this matter? At the present ■
rate, by the time the road shall 1]
have been completed, there will not j
be as many men in all Interior j
Alaska as there are members in our .
national Congress. Then it will re
quire more than an act of Congress j
to extract profit from four hun- j
dred miles of railroad, even though ^
it be the best road in the world.
VIII. LOSING DOLLARS TO
SAVE DIMES.
So far as we can learn, it seems
to be part of the policy of the im- i
mediate future to let permanent '
bridge construction await the com- j
plction of the road to the coast.
Now, .Mr. McPherson, we know' that 1
steel bridges cannot he bought
ready-made in a department store, j
We know that to have a perma-j
nent bridge ordered now for the
Nenana river, and have it brought
in via the river route, would cost
more than to have it wait and come |
up over the railroad. But, the 1
temporary bridge, which is of piling !
and must be driven each summer,
will be a constant occasion of both- I
er and expense till it is replaced !
by a permanent structure. If the j
powers that be could but be per- j
i
suaded to order that permanent!
structure now, and install it at the i
earliest possible date, that trouble J
and annual expense would be soon- !
er at an end, to say nothing of
making the shipment of coal to the \
docks in Nenana an all-the-year-;
round matter. Fairbanks and N’e-:
nana, and the country adjacent to
these towns, would then be steady
users of the coal; development work;
that cannot risk uncertainty in fuel
supply would be made possible. Anil ;
if the further step should be taken, i
a step which would complete the
original big idea for the Interior,
of now ordering, and as soon as
possible installing, the big bridge
across the Tanana, then by the time
the steel is all laid and ready to
| carry traffic, the Congress that fos
iters the road would find a busy and
Jexpectant population. The placing
of the bridges named would net
only hold all available able workers
in the country, in some line, but
woud bring to the region consider
able business that would tend t >
induce new people to come and get
to work before, or by the time the
steel is all laid. The outlook is ;
not a cheerful one, when one con- :
. I
templates two or three years of •
waiting till steel is laid, then a ;
probable two or three more years.
till bridges are in.
We most cheerfully anil heartily
commend ail good work that has!
been done by the Government's j
commission, and we are just as
ARCTIC BATH HOUSE
stands alone in par-excellence of
service and sanita-y convenience.
Turkish, Steam, Shower
or Plain Baths, at
MODERATE RATES.
Rooms for Dressing and Resting
in Connection. Also Rooms for
Rent, Transient or Permanent.
Mr. and Mrs. Heimburger
Proprietors.
MOOBtXSXXXSSKSSSSXSSXSSXSS
Rust
House
Warm, Comfortable
ROOMS
DOG KENNELS
MRS. CLAUSEN
PROPRIETRESS.
SXXXSXXXXXXSXXXX3QOCXXXXX3&
We Now Find We Are Overstocked on the
Following Fruits, So Will Place on Sale,
BEGINNING
SATURDAY, JAN. 17
COOKING and EATING APPLES
Jonathan Apples, Boxes of 150s,
Per Box
$7.00 r
ORANGES FOR THE TABLE
SUN KIST ORANGES, BOXES OF 176s
$1.00 Doz. $12.50 Case
Golden State Lemon Juice, Pint Bottles, 75c
Northern Commercial Go.
FRESH STOCK
GROCERIES, MEN’S WINTER WEAR
GENERAL OUTFITTING
JOHNSON’S STORE Front Street
COONEY HOTEL
MR. AND MRS. M. J. COONEY
Owners and Managers.
DOG KENNELS IN CONNECTION
Heated Electric Lighted Bedded Stalls
S3tXSS3S36SS3SX3SSCSSiSi3S5S3S363£SSSSJt3tStSS383tS6SS363tSS3SSC3SSt
ready and willing as ever to support'
to the limit any program of prog
ress than may be set forth.
With cordial greetings and best
wishes,
Very truly,
NENANA COMMERCIAL CLUB.
»
See J. A. Slippern for new rates '
on subscription! and renewals of all '•
leading magazines and periodicals.
Club rates on application.
FOR SALE.
I have fof sale 160 acres dry
land, subject to irrigation, in the
Horse-Heaven country, in Eastern
Washington, for $1,250. The man
who can buy and hold on for a few
years can make a large profit. For
full information see J. H. SCOTT.
Kenana. Whirs Balia agd Rivers Meat
If Comfort, Economy and the § ■
Environments of Home ;j
Appeal to You,
STOP AT THE
MONTANA
SPECIAL RATES BY WEEK
OR MONTH.
MRS. BERT JOHNSON
Proprietress.
MOLESKINS POPULAR;
COMMAND BIG PRICE
LONDON.—Moleskins are in suclr
demand for coats and furs that
mole-trappers are already eomplet
in(t contracts to dealers at £5 per
hundred, airainst a pre-war price
of 25 shillings per hundred.
Dog Harness and Shoe Findings |
Fowler & Morris.
See J. A. Slippeife for new rates
on subscriptions and 'enewals of all
leading magazines and periodicals
Club rates on application.
•x-x~X"X“X~x*<kk“X~x~x-x~x--:
NEW
CENTRAL CAFE
FIRST CLASS
in Every Respect
PRIVATE BOXES
JOHN KETOOROKY
Proprietor.
v
£
I
•xxx-xk-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-:
Tft
WE CARRY A VERY COMPLETE
LINE OF
Stationery Confections
Smokers’ Supplies
SOFT DRINKS POOL PAN
THE TERMINAL
JOE O’CONNOR
HARRY DAVIS