The Nenana News
Application made October 30, 1916, at
the Postoffice at Nenana, Alaska, tor
entry as second-class mail matter under
the act ol March 2, 1879, by The Ne
nana Printing Company.
ISSUED SATURDAY AFTERNOONS
The Nenana Printing Company,
Nenana, Alaska.
Edited by R. G. South worth.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Per month; by carrier.$ 1.00
■Six months, in advance ... 5.00
One year, in advance ....... 10.00
Single copies.Two bits
Nenana, Alaska, Feb, 10, 1917.
The action taken this week by
the Standard Oil company and
other large employers of foreign
labor in the United States will
tend strongly, in future years, to
encourage naturalization, providing
equal care is taken in peaceful
times to insure loyalty and patriot
ism among employees. These big
industrial concerns, which are re
sponsible for the presence of many
aliens in our country, realize, now
that the country is on the brink
of war, that un-naturalized em
ployees present a serious risk in
times like the present; and they
have taken steps deemed by them
to offer the greatest security to
their interests under the circum
stances—the dismissmal of many
employees because of their failure
to swear allegiance to the Stars
and Stripes.
The workers who have lost their
positions as the result of this action
have, in most cases at least, only
themselves to blame, for it is safe
to assume that the majority of them
had been in the country long
enough to become citizens had
they chosen to do so. Apparent
unwillingness to become a part of
the country which is supporting
them encouraged the belief that
the land of their nativity had a
stronger claim upon them, which
might be made manifest in war
time in a way unprofitable to Amer
ica and American industries.
The enthusiastic support given
Commissioner Thos Riggs, Jr., in
his effort to organize a company ^
of engineers for service in the
States if needed, reflects much
credit on the citizens of Nenana,
practically all of whom have sig
nified their willingness to join the j
colors, should the need arise.•
Of those who have signed the ros-;
ter of the proposed company, all;
will be required to make sacrifices;
should they be called from Alaska
and the fact that they have prof-j
fered their services in advance of!
a call for volunteers will bring Al-1
aska, and particularly Nenana, to
ilie fore throughout the entire coun
try, Ours is the first town in the!
North to take such action, and it
is no idle boast to predict that the
men who go from here will contin
ue to attract favorable attention,
for it is doubtful if there is anoth
er section of the United States
which can raise a force of volun
teers better qualified to serve
Uncle Sam than those who will go
from Nenana.
Co-operative fire insurance is a
subject which is receiving serious
consideration in several of' the
coast towns of Alaska, and it is
one which should receive the im
mediate consideration of Nenana
property owners. Now is the time
for Nenana to inaugurate a system
of home protection, the only way
open to us to provide the town
with reasonable insurance rates—
a plan which has the additional
advantage of keeping insurance
'premiums at home.
Nenana presents an especially
favorable opportunity for demon
strating the practicability of co-op
erative insurance. The townsite
was laid out with a view to insur
ing the greatest possible natural
protection against general confla
grations. and the temporary reser
vation of numerous lots through
out the business district offers ad
ditional protection.
A further safeguard will be pro
vided during the coming summer
in the way of water mains and a
central pumping station, so that
Nenana will be equipped next
winter with adequate means of
preventing serious loss by fire.
The Danish West Indies, which
were purchased recently by the
United States, cost our government
approximately $275 an acre, or
just twenty-two times as much as
was paid per acre for the territory
of Alaska. And in acquiring the
islands the United States secures
only sovereignty, title to most of
the land having passed into private
hands years ago. When title to
Alaska was transferred by the
Russian government, it covered
practically everything of value in
the territory.
Notwithstanding the fact that
Yukon territory has been hard hit
by the war, as the result of the en
listment of many Northeners, the
mines continue active and the fur
industy continues to yield substan
tial returns. Reports for the past
year show that exports from the
southern portion of the country,
which does not include the rich
Dawson country, amounted to
$1,000,000, of which $906,000
represented copper and other ores
and the remainder raw furs. All
of the fur and about half of the ores
were shipped to the United States.
You cant keep a good man
down. There's Colonel Roosevelt
for instance, one ot the first men
In the country to proffer his serv- j
Ices to Uncle Sam.
Mrs. Thos. Dickinson, wi o formerly
conducted a roadhouse at West Fork, is
tow on I,ivengood creek.
▼
PROGRESS OF THE BIG STRUGGLE IN EUROPE
MONDAY |
Washington: Immediate protection of
government arsenals with anti-aircraft
I guns was ordered this morning.
Washington: The president issued an
j order today prohibiting the sale or lease
of any vessel under the American flag.
Washington: Austria has sent the Uni
ted States a note which is practically
] identical to the German note which re- j
; suited in the present rupture between
j Germany and the United States.
| Berlin: Germany has acceded to the
j demand of the American government, in
' regard to American citizens now held as
j prisoners, and will immediately release
1 all who were captured by raiders in the !
i South Atlantic.
New York: The report ef the sinking i
! of ttie American liner Philadelphia in the !
new war zone last night, which was re- :
ceived early this morning, has not been
confirmed as yet, a late report stating
| that she arrived in Liverpool at ten
; oclock this morning.
New York: A bomb with a lighted;
; fuse was discovered under the customs i
| house during the night, and it was un- i
: questionably placed with the intention of i
| causing the death of Collector of Port
! Dudley Field Malone, the bomb being
\ placed directly under his room.
El Paso: Elation is expressed by both
factions in Mexico over the American
German break, and Villa is said to be
making overtures for an alliance with
Germany. A society known as the So
ciety of the Iron Cross is reported to be
spreading German propaganda through- I
out Mexico.
of Washington sounded a warning to the
administration that the United States is
facing a far graver crisis, in the form of
complications with Japan, than the pres
ent German crisis. Japanese warships
are scattered along the Pacific coast and
are reported o*f the Hawaiian islands,
presumably on the lookout for German
commerce raiders.
Washington: Germany’s answer to
President Wilson’s noticeofthe breaking
off of diplomatic relations between that
government and the United States is ex
pected within twenty-four hours.
Oyster Bay: Teddy Roosevelt, in a
letter to Secretary Baker today, offers
the services of himself and four sons to
the United States in the event of hostil
ities.
Pctrograd: Russian positions in the j
Riga sector are unimpaired as the result :
of recent German attacks, whatever small I
gains they made being repulsed by coun
ter-attacks of the Russian forces.
Berlin: The German government has
altered the blockade zone, moving it 20
miles further northwest from the Dutch !
coast to give the Dutch government a
wider path to the Atlantic.
New York: The Adriatic, the largest
passenger vessel afloat, left this port
yesterday, laden with munitions. She
had twenty-four passengers aboard, one
of them being an American.
New York: Stock exchange traders
are buying heavily in all lines on the as
sumption that war with Germany will
create a demand for products in all lines
of industry, and the stock market has a j
decidedly firm tone.
Philadelphia: The naval authorities
this morning ordered the seizing of the
Kitel I'rederich and Kronprinz Wilhelm,
two German passenger boats which are j
interned here, seized, and their crews
placed in isolation camps for attempting
to destroy the ships.
Washington: Administration officials
are on the qui vive this morning as to
possible developments in Germany’s new ]
naval program, the time limit for neutral
shipping to vacate the new blockade |
zones having expired at midnight last •
night. |
Manila, P. I.: Naval authorities in
this port seized seventeen internet! Ger
man vessels and placed their crew* in an
isolation camp. American crews placed
aboard the boats report that the engines
have all been damaged by tl.eir German
commanders.
*
Galveston; The steamship Argeon ar
rived in this port yesterday with the cap
tain and forty members of the crew of
the Japanese steamship Chinto Maru on
board. The Chinto wax sunk by a Ger
man U-boat Sunday ten miles ofT the
coast of Texas and the rescued members ^
of the crew had been in an open boat 24
hours when picked up.
Washington: Secretary Lansing is in
vestigating the death of Richard Wallace,
colored, an American able-bodied seaman,
who was killed by shell fire from a Ger
man U-lioat which sank the British steam
er Kavestone just outside Fastnet liaibar
this morning. The killing of Wallace
may precipitate hostilities between the
United States and Germany.
WEDNESDAY
London; The admiralty reports the It
loss of twenty vessels, victims of mines
and U-boats, during tile first six days of
February.
Newport News: All German employes
who have not taken out their naturaliza
tion papers are being laid off bv the New -
port News Ship Building company.
Baten Rouge; The Standard Oil com
pany of Louisiana has dismissed all un- <
naturalized German citizens employed in
its refinery here, and has put an armed
guard around its plant.
New York: Latest reports indicate
that the Kroonland, which sailed from
London January 31, and the New York,
which left that port on February 3, have
successfully cleared the new submarine
zone.
Washington: According to figures in
the current issue of the Journal of Com
merce, the destruction of merchantmen
by submarines and mines during January
amounted to 336,997 tons, with a tota’*
of 154 vessels sunk.
Washington: According to information
received by the state department today
from its agents abroad, none of theueut
Washington: The administration is as ■
yet undetermined whether to arm all I
merchant ships sailing to the Mar zone, j
and to furnish them with armed convoys, I
to let them go unattended and unarmed, j
or to hold them in port. Until a definite
decision is made, however, the Mar de
partment advises that all sailings for a
few days be cancelled.
Seattle: Immediate assembling of a
fleet of colliers, transports and despatch 1
boats at this point Mill be ordered in the |
event of a declaration of Mar betM-een the !
United States and Germany, according to
a dispatch received from Washington in
this city today. It also requests the of
ficials of the Seattle steamship lines to
forward a list of all boats they own to
the army and naval authorities at Wash
ington, and to suggest classes of work to !
which each is most suited. This order j
embraces all boats on the Alaska run.
Berlin: According to information se
cured from official sources, the German j
government will not modify its orders to
submarine commanders. Reports of the
diplomatic break with the United States
have caused intense excitement through
out the empire, and it is semi-officiallv
reported that the Imperial government,
to prevent any action which might lead
to an open rupture, has placed guards
around the American embassy and all the
American consulates in the empire, and
is arranging for the transportation of the
four thousand Americans at present in
Germany who are desirous of leaving the
country. Ambassador Gerard is prepar
ing to leave Germany, and will probably
leave via Switzerland.
THE TAVERN CAFE
Open Day and Wight
Bread and Pastry for Sale
CURLEY & DUTCH
STATIONERY
TYPEWRITER PAPER, CARBON PAPER, TYPE
WRITE RRIBBONS, COMPOSITION BOOKS, EN
VELOPES IN ALL SIZES, SCRATCH PADS,
SHIPPING TAGS, TAG ENVELOPES, LETTER
PAPER, VISITING CARDS, MANUSCRIPT COV
ERS, LE<%AL BLANKS, RESTAURANT TABS
PRINTING OF ALL KINDS
The Nenana News
TUESDAY
El Paso: The main column of the
Mexican punitive expedition marched
hack into United States territory today.
The force numbers 11,000 men.
Washington: President Wilson this
morning signed a commission appointing
Theodore Roosevelt a junior infantry
major in the officers reserve corps.
New York: It is reported thatdamage j
amounting to thirty million dollars has
been done to German and Austrian boats
interned 'in this port.
Seattle. Two Japanese cruisers are in
Puget Sound on the lookout for a German
:omnierce raider reported to be operating
n this district.
Washington: In a speech before the
senate this morning Senator Poindexter