FINAL PORT OF. CALL OF THREE
STEAMSHIP COMPANIES
HEADQUARTERS U. S. SIGNAL CORPS AND THE
STANDARD Oil, COMPANY
COAST TERMINAL FOR THE
•ALASKA RAILROAD
Seward Daily Gateway
*
“The Best in the North"
VOLUME XV. NUMBER 212
SEWARD, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1930.
PRICE TEN CENTS
\
EDM.
SENATOR JOHN THOMAS
United States Senator John
Thomas, of Idaho, was born in
Phillips county, Kansas in 1874.
At that time Phillips county was
in the heart of the buffalo coun
try. The animals had been driven
out by hunters or slaughtered by
Indians and bones lay so thick
on the pastures that a man
might walk a mile treading on
buffalo bones at every step.
It was a treeless land, almost
level, with a gentle slope toward
the mountains of Colorado. The
early settlers, homesteaders and
‘‘tree claim” people fought the ele
ments of drouth and blizzard and
grasshoppers. They went miles
to school, in sod buildings, and
still further miles to churches.
The new railroad finally brought
in a rush of people, cultivated
land overcame the effects of
drouth, the hordes of grasshop
pers came no more, and Western
Kansas took its place as a land
of homes and thriving towns.
It was in such surroundings
John Thomas spent his early
years and formed his impressions
and sympathies for a new and
struggling commnwealth. In the
sod school houses he gained the
basis for his later complete edu
cation.
He located in Idaho in 1909,
where he has for many years
been engaged in banking and the
livestock business, being one of
the moving forces in the business
life of his town and State. His
home is at Gooding.
Senator Thomas is a Republican,
and for four years served as State
Chairman for his party. He was
a member of the Republican Nat
ional Committee for two terms,
.serving there with Senator How
ell.
In June, 1928. on the death ot
U. S. Senator Gooding, the Gov
ernor appointed John Thomas to
fiil the vacancy. At the November
election he was selected by the
voters to fill the unexpired term.
Senator Thomas is a man who
understands plain people and far
flung communities. He knows of
the struggles and heartaches that
must precede final success in
building up a country. He is not
city-blinded, and neither has he
the penurious spirit of the soli
tary dweller.
Alaska heartily welcomes such
a man.
!
Alaska has a surplus in its
treasury and has no bonded
debt.
Alaska’s population is esti
mated at 59,000.
Alaska embraces 586,400
square miles.
Exports average $60,000,000
Imports average $30,000,000 j
Gold shipment $6,000,000 i
Land fur exports $4,000,000
Fish exports $45,000,000
Annual administration less
than $1,000,000
ALASKA
(i ■ ■ ----
SENATOR HOWELL OF NEBRASKA
—..
In the search for something about the distinguished
| Senators who are expected in Seward The G a te
way is fortunate in finding here two former Nebras
kans who have known Senator Howell for many years
and are able to tell of his personality and career.
Robert Beecher Howell is a descendant from one of
the oldest New England families, a direct ancestress
having arrived with the Plymouth colony, was accorded
j a right to vote with the rulers of that bleak Massachu
1 setts outpost,—the first woman ever to receive the vot
ing privilege in America.
Beecher Howell, as he is familiarly known, was
born in Adrian, Michigan, was appointed a cadet mid
shipman at Annapolis in 1881 and graduated from the
Naval Academy in 1885. Later he took a course in a
school of law. He located in Omaha, Nebraska, as a civ
il engineer in 1888, served as State Engineer, and City
Engineer for Omaha.On the outbreak of the Spanish
American war he was called back into the Navy, where
he commanded a vessel in Southern waters.
He was elected to the State Senate of Nebraska in
1902, and twTo years later was made one of the directors
of the Board of Utilities of Omaha, and w^as re-elected
several times. He was for twelve -years Republican Nat
ional Committeeman for Nebraska. In the meantime he
had made a fight year after year for city ownership of
l the Omaha water-works system, at that time a grinding
! monopoly. After a ten-year struggle the movement was
successful, and he was made general manager of the
city system.
The success of this movement for public ownership
was immediate. Water rates were reduced fifty per cent,
and the muddy river water was clarified and made real
ly drinkable. Followed then a. struggle to take over the
electric light company and the gas company. This suc
ceeded, and the Howell management was widened to
take them in. The ice monopoly was the next subject of
attack. Failing in an attempt to purchase, Howell es
tablished for the city an ice factory, cut the price of ice
jin half, established “jitney” stations all over the city,
and paid for the factory and turned a good sum into
i the general fund in three years.
During all this time Howell was active in State af
!fairs, joining with the Progressive Republican forces;
! in the fight for lower freight rates, lower passenger;
rates, the direct’ primary, equal suffrage and other pol
! ideal reforms, and an effort for better wages and a bet
! ter chance for working men.
In the World War Senator Howell was called back
into the service and was placed in command of the im
portant station at Portsmouth, N. H., where the. depth
bombs, radio apparatus and other delicate war instru
ments were manufactured. Thus, educated by the Navy,
he was twice called to use his talents in the service of his
country after he had become a private citizen.
He took a leading part in the perfecting of . the ra
dio for land use, was chairman of the first Radio C6m
mission, and delivered a series of lectures on the sub
ject all over the country before there was a single broad
casting system in existence outside the Navy.
He was elected to the United States Senate in 1922
and again in 1928. In the Senate he has made a consis
tent fight for honesty in politics, common sense and jus
tice in Government, and so far as is reasonable and expe
dient, public ownership of utilities, including railroads,
canals and water power. He is a strong debater, a grace
ful speaker, constructive and thorough in his investiga
tions and his marshalling of facts, and firm almost tc
EDITORIAL
WELCOME, THRICE WELCOME!
In extending a welcome to the
'visitors for the next few days the
people of Seward, city officials,
members of the Chamber of Com
merce and private citizens, will be
united with one thought, and that
is that these are people of unusual
important, coming to Alaska on
an important mission, and entitled
to a most hearty greeting.
The Honorable Senators, as we
all know, are here to examine into
our resources and meet our citi
zens, in order that they may make
a report to Congress on the true
conditions. Theirs’ is no perfunc
tory mission. They are not men
to be swayed by silly flattery or
blinded by bunches of buncombe.
To these gentlemen we will all,
of course, strive to appear at our
best. While we of Seward will be
honored by their company, we will
know that they will' be delighted
with the pleasant setting of our
city in its glorious cradle of moun
tain and sea.
j The first stay of the Senatorial
party in Seward will be short but
on their return from the Interior
they will make a real visit. It is
at that time that all our citizens
will meet them, and at that time
they will really see the Seward of
modern times,—the Seward of his
torical lore, the Seward which per
petuates the name of the states
man who preserved Alaska for
America.
In the mean time, there are
others in the great party that
comes to us this week. A part of
Uncle Sam's fleet will be anchored
in Resurrection Bay, and high offi
cers of the Navy will be our guests
for many days. Also will be the
two groups of sailor boys and jolly
tars, seeking for rest and recreation
on the shores of this beautiful
land.
We welcome them all. They will
find here a splendid and a smiling
people- They will be shown the
best fishing ground on the Pacific
coast. They may play golf or base
i ball, basketball or handball. They
may emulate the whiskered men of
the States and take their turn at
horseshoe pitching. They may pick
strawberries in our bosky dells, or
they may sit at ease and gaze upon
our unrivalled scenery.
The town is theirs, with any
share of the land and water there
of. Seward bids them all welcome
and tmice welcome.
EDITORIAL
SEN. JOHN B. KENDRICK
Senator John B. Kendrick, of
Sheridan, Wyoming, a member of
the investigation committee, comes
to Alaska with the equipment of
a man of affairs, unblinded by
the artificialities and prejudices
of metropolitan city life. He under
stands both the machinery that
runs a State and a Nation, and
at the same time is in touch with
the great scheme which rules and
betters country life.
| Kendrick is by birth a Texan
■ and by conviction and birth a
I Democrat. He is a product of the
I country and town public schools.
| He came to Wyoming in 1879,
j when he was twenty-two years of
| age, and engaged in stock-raising,
| which business he has followed
! ever since. And stock-raising in
Wyoming means more than the
mere pasturing of a few cows and
swilling of a few hogs. It means
i thousands of cattle, miles and
miles of range, and a keen exec
utive brain to direct business
| operations and make stock-rais
ing a success.
He was elected State Senator in
1910 and again in 1912. In 1914
be was selected as Governor, and
resigned from that office in 1917
to take his place in the United
States Senate. Since then, altho
not always on the popular side in
'politics. Senator Kendrick has re
tained the confidence of the peo
ple of Wyoming, and is still in
the Seriate. They believe in him
j in that mountain State because
1 of his honesty and ability.
Those who know Senator Ken
; drick,—and there are men in
’ Alaska who knowr him.—say that
I no better man could have been
found to actually look into affairs
, here and to give Alaska a square
i deal. He does not come to pass
la few weeks in the pleasures of a
I political junket. He is the sort of
a man who. will get his feet on
the ground.—not content to view
{'affairs through plate-glass win
! dow’S. He can hold his own with
j the big fellow's, and he can talk
1 the language of the common peo
! pie.
| SENATE COMMITTEE^
The Senate Committees on
which the three visiting Sen
ators serve are as follows:
HOWELL: Claims (Chair
man), Commerce, Interstate
Commerce, Irrigation and
Reclamation, Library.
KENDRICK: Irrigation and
Reclamation, Agriculture and
Forestry, Finance, Mines and
Mining.
THOMAS: Agriculture and
Forestry, A p p r opriations,
Audit Expenses of the Sen
ate, Indian Affairs, Irriga
tion and Reclamation, Pub
lic Lands and Surveys.
stubbomess in his stand for what he believes.
It is fortunate for Alaska that such a man as Sen
ator R. B. Howell is chairman of the investigation com
mittee which has come to study Alaska’s resources and
the Alaska Railroad. Contrary to common prediction,
he and his associates will make a real investigation, and
wdl not be deluded by vested interests or jack-leg poli
ticiSnsI Thet will arrive at the truth, and Alaska can
ask nothing better than just that