THE NENANA NEWS
Application made October 30, 1916, at the Postoffice at Nenana, Alaska, tor
entry as second-class mail matter under the act ot March 2, 1879, by The Ne
nana PrintinK Company.
Published Weekly by The Nenana Printing Company
Day op Publication Saturday Kpited by R. G. Solthworth
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NENANA, ALASKA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1917
EVERY LITTLE blT HELPS.
In the opinion of Delegate Chas.
A. Sulzer, the patriotic response of
Alaskans to the nation’s call for men
and funds is doing the territory a
whole lot of good. “ The country
is seeing Alaska in a new light,”
said the delegate during his recert
visit to the Alaska coast. “Fiom
all parts of Alaska our < itizens have
come forth with a patriotic zeal and
volunteered their services in all
branches of the army and navy.
For the Officers' Reserve corps,” he
continued, “over 500 patriotic Alas
kans clamored to be enrolled under
the allotment of twenty-seven ap
portioned for Alaska. Alaskans
have freely left their occupations
and rushed hundreds of miles to an
swer their country’s call to arms,
and they have given liberally of time
and money to support the noble
work of the Red Cross anti they have
been most liberal in upholding the
hands of the government by pur
chasing Liberty Loan bonds. These
things are the more creditable be
cause Alaska is a long way from the
center of activities. From the open
ing of the special session of congress
to the present moment there has not,
to my knowledge, been a single pro
test or complaint from Alaska1
against any of the various measures
the government has taken to defend
the liberty of the free people of the
world.
“Alaska is loyal to the core and its
loyalty and earnest support has j
been very favorably commented up-.
on in many quarters. It has done
much to give the nation at large j
a true perspective of our citizens,'
and every Alaskan in the military i
forces of the country and every dol
lar contributed from Alaska to the
support of the war. will be so many
missionaries, not only performing
the highest duty a citizen can per
form, but spreading the truth about'
Alaska, its resources, its grandeur j
and its people.” i
OUR TURN NOW.
It is disappointing, but not sur
prising to find, among the men ap
pointed to supervise the work of
preparing our nation for war, indi
viduals notoriously unfit to serve
their country in any capacity. It
was not to be expected that all the
appointees would make good; it was,
not to be expected that our peace
loving nation could be transformed
into an efficient fighting machine
in the course of a few months. The
public was prepared to hear that
mistakes had been made and it was
realized that months of weeding
would be required to eliminate in
competents from responsible posi
tions.
England and France, and even
military Germany, have had similar
problems to deal with, and the col
lapse of Russia is attributable, in
large part, to incompetence, lack of
co-operation and treason.
It is our turn now to learn the
lessons that a war of such magnitude
teaches. But let us hope that our
schooling will have been completed
before the lives of any of our sol
diers are sacrificed needlessly. We
do not want them to be compelled
to meet the enemy with clubs and
empty guns, like the Russians, be
cause of the blunders of men whose '
duty it is to see that our troops
are properly equipped; we do not
want to hear that the boys at the
front are not warmly clad, or that
we lack ships to keep them supplied
with food and ammunition.
The incompetents at home must
be found out before their blunders
can result in injury to our cause.
And we feel confident Americans
will welcome the news that congress
h;.s taken steps to investigate the
v ..-ious departnu. ts which appear
to have failed to do their work ef
ficiently. Disclosures already made
seem to justify investigation, and
while we do ro't attach much im
portance, as a ;. le, to congressional
inquiries, the pubhcity resulting from
the sweeping investigation upon
which our lawmakers have deter
mined, doubtless will have the effect
of correcting many existing evils
and compcdlmg department heads to
hold closer rein upon their work.
We should not believe all that we
read in the telegraphic dispatches
regarding disclosures. Conditions
probably are not so bad as some of
the investigators would have us
think they are. But they are serious
enough to warrant probing and it is
safe to predict that our war prepar
ations will be hastened materially as
the result of the investigation.
IN CASE OF FIRE
It is well for the business men
and property owners of Nenana to
remember at all times, and particu
larly when there is a fire, that our
fire apparatus is hand propelled and
that the members of our fire de
partment are not sufficiently num
erous to drag the equipment through
the streets unaided. It is a heavy
load and its promptness in respond
ing to an alarm of fire depends
upon the number who assist in its
propulsion. In other words, the
first thought of Nenanaites, when
an alarm is sounded, should be of
the chemical apparatus, rather than
the fire itself. Go first to the fire
hall and help haul the chemical to
the point where it is neded. By
doing that you will have rendered
your town a real service in time of
need.
An Anchorage woman recently
accused her husband of trying to
make her drink carbolic acid. In
vestigation developed the fact that
it wras whiskey, and not carbolic acid,
that had been offered the woman.
Whereat, one of the coast papers re
marked that “it takes an expert to
tell the difference between Anchor
age whiskey and carbolic acid."
This is of interest to Interior
Alaskans because it goes far to
prove that our liquor dealers have no
monopoly on that particular brand
of hootch.
According to figures recently made
public by the Alaska bureau of the
Seattle Chamber of commerce, Octo
ber was Alaska’s banner month in
the production of wealth. During
that month the territory shipped to
the States products of the value of
$21,639,545.
CHIMNEY FIRE CALLS
CHEMICAL ENGINE OUT
The Oldsfield home, near the cor
ner of Third and A streets, was
the scene of a small blaze early
Thursday evening, the fire having
been caused by an over-heated
stove pipe. The blaze, which rose
several feet above the top of the
pipe was discovered by William
Rodigkeit, proprietor of the Tavern
cafe, who hastened to the fire hall
to turn in the alarm. The chemical
apparatus arrived on the scene
promptly, but its services were not
required the flames having been
checked by several men who climbed
upon the roof and filled the pipe
with snow.
OPEN HOUSE ANNOUNCED
FOR RED CROSS BENEFIT
Mrs. Hildebrand, assisted by the
ladies of the Nenana Red Cross
Society, will hold open house on
New Year’s Day, at her home on
B. Street.
The feature of entertainment will
be a “musical tea” with a continu
ous program arranged from two
o’clock in the afternoon until five
thirty, and from eight until twelve
in the evening.
A silver offering will be taken
for the benefit of the American
Red Cross fund. All are cordially
invited.
The engagement of Mrs. Ethel
Bennett and Roy Rutherford, both
of Fairbanks, has been announced.
The cold weather of the past
couple of weeks has resulted in a
wood shortage at Fairbanks.
The Roland stage arrived in Ne
nana at noon today with one pas
senger.
Nick Decklich, veteran chef of the
Fairbanks district, arrived in town
Thursday from the upper camp.
ELSEWHERE IN ALASKA
L
C. F. M. Cole and M. M. Cole
have started a weekly ” wspaper at
McCarthy. Its name >s the McCar
thy Weekly News. The first issue
was published November 3. The an
nouncement of policy says: “It is
our intention to print a live paper
every Saturday and we are negoti
ating for a weekly telegram of news
from the States, also all the doings
of the camps adjacent and ail of
Alaska. Our ambition is to have
a clean non-partisan but distincly
patriotic sheet, and we hope for sup
port from the townspeople."
Several hundred dollars was real
ized at the two sales held the other
day at Seward of delinquent taxes.
The first sale was held in the fore
noon and the second in the after
noon. At the end of the sale, when
no further bidding took place, City
Clerk Poehlmann bid in all remain
ing property for the city and closed
the sale.
Sidney D. Terry, formerly in
charge of the commissary depart
ment of the Perseverance mine near
Juneau, was killed recently in
France. He had been in the service
about seven months and had been
promoted to a captaincy of a com
pany in the 67th British Infantry
Battalion.
In a single day recently, there ar
rived at San Francisco more than
§7,000,000 worth of canned salmon
from Alaska, making a record for
receipts in any previous 24 hours.
Seven vessels of the Alaska Packers'
association and three vessels of other
companies arrived during that time
from Bristol Bay, Alaska, all loaded
with salmon.
The verdict of the coroner’s jury
in the inquest at Iditarod over the
remains of Matt Schenthuer, who
was shot and killed on New
York creek in the Kuskokwim coun
try by Louis Huber, was that Huber
acted in self-defense. Schenthuer
and Huber were prospectors and
partners.
The Seward Igloo of Pioneers has
subscribed for $200 worth of the
new issue of Liberty Loan Bonds..
William Cooley, Kirkman creek
operator, recently brought to Daw
son several specimens of nuggets,
one particularly fine one being as
large as a walnut. Cooley reports
that a good many men are preparing
to work on Kirkman this winter, i
Among the most important opera
tions to be continued in the vicinty
of Dawson this winter will be the j
work on the properties of Klondike :
hill and Lovett hill, lying between ^
Lovett gulch and the Klondike val-1
ley, and also between Jackson gulch j
and the Bonanza creek valley.
Two new tractor roads were re- j
cently completed in the Iditarod dis-1
trict. One is the Kilgore road, 13 ,
miles long, which was built at a cost I
of $6,000. The other is the Yukon ,
Gold company’s road, 8 miles long, i
built also at a cost of $6,000.
The Black creek dredge had its |
last cleanup November 7, and sus
pended operations. The gold ship
has been dismantled and will be
moved to one below Otter creek :
during the winter, where it will work
from the lower end of one below
to Discovery claim, which will take
all next sumer. Then the dredge
will be moved to Slate creek.
The Otter creek dredge closed
down November 4, and was dis
mantled. It was working on the
Green fraction when it closed down.
The work on this fraction will be
finished early next spring, after
which operations will begin on two
above bench.
The young women of Anchorage
have organized an athletic club and
are taking an active part in winter
sports.
Jerry Ford arrived at Anchorage
November 19 with a consignment of
$100,000 in gold dust from the Idit
arod district.
There is a gap of only 20 miles
between rail heads on the Seward-.
Anchorage section of the govern
ment railroad.
A fire drill held recently at the
Anchorage public school demon-!
strated that the building could be j
emptied in 65 seconds.
George M Allen, editor of the,
Toppenish Review, is the father of
Merritt Allen; and Merritt Allen is !
the hoy scout who sold a' $50,000
liberty bond to Frank Williams of
Toppenish. This was the largest
bond subscription made by any in
dividual in the Yakima valley on the
second loan campaign.
George Allen was in the Dawson
country in the early days of the
Klondike, where he was one of the
publishers of the Klondike Nugget,
one of Dawson’s pioneer newspapers.
Governor Strong is authority for
the statement that the drafting in
Alaska is not likely to take place
before January 15.
Recent reports from Kataila ad
vise that the Alaska Anthracite Rail
road, which is being constructed to
tap the coal fields at Behring lake,
will be completed this year. Accord
ing to the same source of informa
tion, the port for the railroad will
be built on Controller bay and the
freight for the town of Katalia will
pass through that landing.
It is announced that development
at the coal mines has reached a
possible production of 200 tons per
day, and that this amount will be
available for shipment as soon as
the road is finished. The coal is
declared to equal in grade that of
the best Pennsylvania anthracite.
Eight bowling clubs have been or
ganized among the employees at An
chorage for a winter tournament on
the Y. M. C. A. alleys. The high
bowling scores for October were:
Pavolich 234, Sullivan 220 and Grif
fith 214.
Arrangements are being made by
the Alaskan Engineering commission
to acquire a large amount of addi
tional rolling stock and equipment
for use of Anchorage division. An
order has been placed with the Pan
ama canal for 400 Lidgerwood flat
cars, three 601 class and three 201
class locomotives and one McCann
or Jordon spreader. It is planned
to convert 150 of the Lidgerwoods
into coal cars to care for the traffic
between the coal fields and tide
water.
A charity ball was held at An
chorage on December 8 for the pur
pose of raising funds for needy per
sons in the coast town.
The Black creek dredge, in the
Iditarod district, has been skidded
across country to Discovery, where
it will operate next season.
The ladies of the Iditarod district
are planning the organization of a
Woman’s igloo, of the Pioneers of
Alaska.
Miss Marjorie Brown, formerly of
Skagway, passed the highest civil
service examination in Seattle for a
government position.
Grouse are reported more numer
ous than usual in the Iditarod dis
trict this season.
L. Sappala, winner of the Ruby
derby, made the trip from Nome to
Anchorage this winter, accompanied
by his wife. They are going to spend
the winter in the States.
The women of Anchorage are knit
ting socks for the soldiers in the
trenches, their work being in line
with the campaign started by the
American Red Cross to supply the
American troops with warm foot
wear.
The Anchorage branch of the Boy
Scouts has a present active member
ship of 17. Secretary Kenyon, of
the Railroad Y. M. C. A. has formed
the members into two patrols, and
meetings are held every Friday eve
ning at Anchorage schoolhouse. The
boys are being taught first aid, sig
nalling and other rudimentary cours
es in scout work.
Charles A .Derry, for four years
editor of the Iditarod Pioneer, has
been visiting around the state of
Washington for the last month. Mr.
Derry says that though increased
cost of mining supplies has hit the
operators hard, and in some cases
retarded development seriously, the
Iditarod district still produces about
$2,000,000 in gold annually.
Ten thousand dollars’ worth of
Liberty Bonds were subscribed dur
ing the last Liberty Loan campaign
by passengers on the st' smboat
Spokane.
The Bank of Alaska at Skagway
ha" received permission from the
San Francisco federal reserve bank
to send currency to Canadian points.
An embargo against the shipnn nt of
gold from America to foreign parts
was passed by congress.
a jWcrrj)—j^appg Christmas
By John C. Murphy
The chronicler of history skives to
I Pope Liberius, 353 A. D., the honor
1 of adopting December 25, as the ,
feast of nativity. But historians i
, do not agree as to the exact oirth!
date of Christ. What matter as to 1
time or place? We know the pearl
derives not its value from being
found in a certain sea or bay, but
1 from its own innate lustre and
I purity. What matter, since we know
: that the teachings of the little Child
at Bethlehem have on the whole,
civilized and humanized and made
I the world better by coming.
Reason as we may, doubt who will,
! view from all angles, this Babe of
' Mary’s stands forth incomparable.
History, ancient or modern, can give
us no being like this noble, heroic
1 and tragic figure, this Jesus of
* Nazareth, whose simple life of in
effable tenderness and love, is the
i one everlasting romance in a very
1 prosaic world.
Before the birth of this manger
' child, the world had no conception
of the rights of human liberty. He
j gave new thought and a new trend
1 to human action, by a life of purity
I and sublime teachings. Ignorance
! and slavery pressed and throttled
j the human race. Only two classes,
free citizen and slave. The former
1 knew neither pity nor misfortune.
It knew the reign of might and piti
i less cruelty. Then came this God
man or man-God, call him as one
may, and began teaching a new doc
trine, one of charity, of sympathy
and hope. Of the wonderful great
ness of man and that labor was
honorable.
rassionaieiy pieamng tor tne iid
erties and rights of humanity, plead
! ing with courage sublime, for the
deliverance of mankind from the
tyranny of rulers, kings, autocracy
and hereditary oligarchies; ie nand
ing for all righteousness, justice,
i equality and liberty, so that none
be fettered, whether of mind or
! body, with slavery's chains. Master
! architect. This and more, he did
, for humanity and democracy. See,
; around and about us have arisen a
series of orders and institutions un- (
known before His coming. Hospices
of mercy, orphanages, .Red Cross ,
and asylums for every species of!
human misery, these and more, were
i made possible by the birth and life
' of the Child at Bethlehem. And so,
1 what matter. The spirit of Christ
mas is more important to us than
any historical exactness of birth.
We know that precisely at this date
is the Winter Solstice, which was
the pagan’s Sun Feast.'
We know that the Christian church
sought and finally turned this sun
feast to their Christ, whom they
called the light of life. We know
its the time, when day begins to
lengthen and light triumphs over
darkness. The musty pages of his- j
tory, centuries before the Christian
era, tell us that among the Irish .
Celtic and Germanic tribes the win
ter solstice was the really important
point of the year, and so celebrated
as its chief festival Yule, in lonor
of the return, the rebirth of the
“burning wheel”—the sun—the God
Sol.
Our cherished Christmas tree is
traced to the Romans, Celts, Franks
and Germanic tribes. So too, the
Yule-log, holly, ivy, mistletoe and
wassail bowl, all belong to pagan,
rather than Christianity. Even the
custom, so universal among us, of
making presents, comes down to us
from an ancient heathen usage.
Time has consecrated it and assists
us in making this festival! one of
sweet Christian love.
With us there has grown up a
beautiful custom of friendly and
loving greetings. In the earlier days
of our country this day was relig
iously observed by the Roman Cath
olic, Episcopal and Lutheran church
es, but now there is a strong ten- -
dency to observe the same in all j
churches. Memory is willingly car
ried back tonight to personal re
membrance and history. There is
the yule-log burning brightly in the
old-fashioned fireplace, and upon an
improve ,d mantle over the fire,
stand two lighted Christmas ca-.dl -s.
Here, as in hundreds of homes,
hangs the white-h ried mi tletoe i
me ihe young men, availing them
selves of a long sanctioned privilege j
of kissing the girls and plucking a j
berry for each kiss. When, however,
the mistletoe shoi ed the berries all
picked,—well,-—the privilege ceased. !
Here and there, end ail around, is \
vocal ard instrumental n.usic, with :
peals o,' joyous, whole-souled, care- ;
free happy, 'aughter. Father and j
mother,—childr n, grown-ups and
littl^ tots—all, all here, on this night,
—the night of nights. Every room |
is decorated and wreathed with
nature’s preen,—holly and ivy. There
in the center of the living room is
the loved Christmas tree, decorated
and ablaze with scores of many
colored candles. Would 1 had the
pift to describe the hospitality, so
easily felt, but impossible of por
trayal. Then the presents,—small w
in money value,— little Christmas'
L'ifts only—but they were love’s
tokens, not alone for our loved ones,
but also for friendship and human it",
something for each one—some
loving memento.
And as the clock on the mantle
strikes the midnight hour,—and
Christmas morn ushers in,—how sir,-^
cere and loving the mutual greetings,
—“I wish you a Merry and Happy
Christmas."
How few they are, but carry in
memory on this night, some of the
sweetest and happiest moments of
childhood’s home. How vividly we
recall "the hanging up” of stockings.
?o that dear old Santa Claus would •
not miss them. How weeks before,
ive wrote him—telling what to bring.
As then, so now, Santa still lives,
ind will continue to come and glad
ien our dear children's hearts, as
ong as men and women are moved
)y generosity, human sympathy and
eternal love.
And so this is the night of the
little Babe of Bethlehem,—of sacred
anthems and sweet carols,—of shep
herds watching their flocks,— of
angels’ hosannas to the Highest and
peace and good will to men on I
earth. Oh, blessed, silent and holy
night!
Though cruel and murderous war
cover and rages inhumanly over the
face of the earth,—when it seems
the world is dying around us,—civ
ilization shattered,—creations con
fused and stunned, kings dethroned,
—emperors, autocrats and throne* )
’ailing on every side, as is just and
•ight,—the memory of Mary and her
jabe’s small voice, is still heard far
ibove all the confusion, wreckage
ind carnage,—above the cannons’
chunderous roar,—beseeching and
iraying,—“peace on earth, good will
0 men.”—Bringing hope and con
olation to millions,—rubbing wrink
es from the brow of suffering and
care,—beguiling heavy hearts of
orrow,—penetrating through gath
■ring films of misanthropy and
irompting a God-like benevolence to -y
ill mankind.
Child of the house of David, l\.j
cachings are still all-powerful and
ill-abiding, in this temporary mad
■razed, battle-scarred and heart
cared world. And Oh, me, what
1 cruel cheerless old world this
vould be,—if we had not your
treat and simple words, as those of
10 other man before or since,—had
lot Santa Claus, had not the guiding
tar,—had not Christmas night and
he little Babe at Bethlehem.
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