fenmriiJaUtjMroatj
Of SEWARD, ALASKA
Established August 19, 1904
1 ub. bed Daily Except Sunday by Gateway Publishing Co.
SELBY & HOBEN, Proprietors
Lue d in the postoffice at Seward, Alaska, as second
class mail matter.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
Daily Gateway, by carrier, per month * * ? 1-25
Daily Gateway, by mail, per month - - - - 100
Daily Gateway, by mail, per year.10.00
Saturday Gateway, by mail, per year * - * 3.00
ADVERTISING RATES
Per single column inch, one to six issues, per inch $ .50
Per single column inch, per month.3.50
Homestead Notices, in Daily or Saturday Gateway 18.00
Legal Notices, per line per issue -l5
Special rates made on all notices over six incaes.
Classified advertisements, per line, per issue - - .10
Help wanted and Employment wanted Notices Free.
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use
for republication of all news credited to it or not other
wise news published herein.
All rights for republication of special dispatches here
in are also reserved.
TAX REPORTS AND PUBLICITY
The.demagogues asumed that only large taxpay
ers, who were supposed to be tax dodgers, would ob
ject to publicity of income tax returns. Experi
ence has shown that the dissatisfaction arises chief
ly among small taxpayers who resent the disclosure
that they haven't as large an income as they wanted
their friends to think they had. On the other
hand, the large taxpayers seem rather proud to have
their names blazoned on the front pages of the pa
pers, with the amount of their contribution to the
public treasury.
But personal pleasure or displeasure ought not
to be the controlling factor in deciding whether the
publicity shall continue. The issue should be de
termined solely on the ground of general public wel
fare.
The fact is that there is not much opportunity
for the large income taxpayer to escape any of his
burden unless lie does so by investing in lion-taxa
ble securities, which he is legally entitled to do. A
few concerns—not very large however—have tried
the expedient of keeping two sets of books, one false
for the inspection of the income tax agents, and the
other for their private information. Some of these
have been caught and duly punished. For obvious
reasons frauds of that kind cannot be very large or
numerous. A concern large enough to employ book
keepers must let the bookkeepers in on the secret,
and the bookkeeper uses the information for re
venge or blackmail. Moreover, transactions con
ducted by a large concern always have two parties
in interest, and the reports of the other party serve
as a check on any person trying to falsify his own
income tax report. Fraud is practically impossible
in the case of a very large taxpayer for the reason
that he does not personally conduct either his busi
ness or his bookkeeping. He must rely upon others
to do this for his, and he could not get all of them
into a fraudulent transaction even if he so desired.
The large taxpayer is certain to be caught in any
attempted fraud in his income tax return.
All this must be perfectly obvious. There pro
bably is not one of the thousand largest taxpayers
in the United States who ever makes an entry in his
books with his own pen or who could tell what his
own income is unless he called in a bookkeeper or
secretary to tell him. If he gave his attention to
keeping his books he would waste so much time he
would have no income to report. Moreover, even
if he were willing and able to commit the fraud, the
danger to his reputation in case of detection would
be so great that he could not and would not take the
chance.
Those are practical considerations in connection
with the honesty of income tax reports. The man
who can get away with a false income report is the
small taxpayer whose transactions are known only
to himself and recorded only in a book kept by him
self or not recorded at all. The considerations
above noted indicate to a large extent why the small
taxpayer dislikes the publicity feature of the law.
All men like to appear prosperous—it help their bus
jness_ailc1 if the income tax returns do not show
as much prosperity as they have been supposed to
enjoy, then their neighbors at once jump at the in
evitable conclusion that they have been pretending
or have lied to the revenue collector. In either
event, the inference is bad. It hurts a man’s pride
if not his reputation.
That’s why so many small taxpayers want the
publicity feature of the tax law repealed.
We know now why civilization quit wrork and
perished. Cross-word puzzles are 2,000 years old.
The test is coming. The women Governors will
have to keep State secrets.
PLEA OP JAPANESE JINGOES
PREPOSTEROUS.
While a Japanese peace society is protesting
against the forthcoming maneuvers of the American
fleet off Hawaii and expressing the hope that they
would be abandoned “out of due regard for inter
national morality and in the cause of world peace,’’
the people of Australia are voicing a feeling of pleas
ure that the fleet is to visit the island continent.
The fact is that the Japanese jingoes—not the gov
ernment—do not relish the idea of our warships vis
iting Australia, for they like Australian immigra
tion policies no whit better than they like that of
the United States. Yet a squadron of Japanese
warships has been visiting ports in the Pacific, and
will visit some of our own. The people of this
country see no menace in this fact. Rather they
welcome the Japanese ships, for their call is regard
ed as a friendly mission. One of the most prepos
terous proposals that may be conceived is that of the
squeamish Japanese who want this country to call
off its maneuvers in a “free” ocean just off one of
its own possessions. It is so absurd that nobody
takes is seriously.
TRAPPING SKINS IN ALASKA IN 1886
From Fur Farm Magazine.
Gordon C. Betties, Jack McQuestion and Alex
ander Harper (the latter two deceased) entered into
an agreement in 1886 to divide the Yukon river dis
trict into three trading zones; Betties to take the
territory to the mouth of the' Tanana River; Mc
Question from the Tanana River to 40 mile; Har
per from there to Fort Selkirk.
They were to build stations and there was to
be delivered to them $100,000 worth of merchandise;
the old Alaska Commercial Co. to take all of their
fur at the following prices: *
Marten .$1.25 pair
Beaver . 4.00 lb. dry*
Bear . 6.00 hide
Lynx . 1.50 pair
(*) They are purchased this way at the present
time by the Hudson Bay Co.
All other small furs were to be taken without
price, being considered quite worthless. *
In the year 1890, their banner year, they trap
ped and sold to the Alaska Commercial Co. 47,000
skins; of that number, Betties bought or trapped 22,
500, in the following proportion:
Forty-five hundred fox pelts, of which 200 were
Blacks and Silvers at a price of from' $50 to $100
per pair; the balance of the foxes being red and)
cross sold at from $1 to $5 per pair; 12,500 marten
skins at $1.25; 15,000 beaver at $4.00 per pair; 3,
000 lynx at $1.50 per pair; 12,000 bear hides at
$6.00. The market for the bear skins was practic
ally all in Russia and were used for making hats for
government officials and army officers.
Mr. Betties carried 4000 native trappers on his
books. They trapped the territory covering all the
water shed to the Yukon from both limits. The ter
ritory has never recovered from that year’s trapping
and Mr. Betties states that there has never been more
than 500 marten per year taken from his old trap
ping ground since that time and there is now about
one fox where formerly there was 100.
There were only three black fox taken in 1890 in
the old Yukon River country which brought high
prices. They sold at $20,000 a pelt.
Mr. Betties states that prior to going to the
Yukon country, he was the Hudsons Bay Company’s
fur grader. One of his best producing stations was
probably Unklukyet, meaning, in the native tongue,
“the ending of the mountain.” Muskrats, when
trapped, were put up in huge bales as were also
ermine, and little or nothing was paid for them.
This story, given to our Alaska representative,
would indicate that the taking of fur bearing ani
mals in the vast territory is no longer profitable and
is an argument for the need of extensive develop
ment of fur farming if the demand for furs is to be
supplied in the future.
If you can keep your head in turmoil, the tur
moil generally ceases. The best blacksmith I ever
knew, always smoked his pipe until until a mule got
through kicking.
The treasury department is conducting a cam
paign for the use of silver dollars, which causes
wonder as to what lias become of the old-time busi
ness man who jingled prosperity by fingering silver
dollars in his pocket while he Was talking.
The history of third parties has not been alter
ed by recent events.
It is not thought that the increased demand for
cod-liver oil is due to prohibition.
Many families might get on their feet again by
selling the auto.
LIBERTY THEATRE
TONIGHT, ONE SHOW
DOROTHY PHILLIPS
IN
THE WHITE FRONTIER
Violent hate and then violent love;
can a woman feel both for one man.
A| powerful story of slander, re
venge, and romance. Gripping
scenes and unexpected climaxes.
And a wonderful 2-reel comedy
“THE CHAMPEEN”
SATURDAY AND MONDAY
Walter Hiers in “Fair Week” and
two one-reel comedies
DANCE SATURDAY NIGHT A. B. HALL
HEREDITY DISCUSSED IN
A SERIES OF LECTURES
SEATTLE, Jan. 8.—If children’s
teeth are set on edge as the result of
eating of sour grapes by their par
ents, is their condition due to actual
inheritance, or to living with parents
whose teeth are set on edge.
This question was discussed by
Prof. George B. Rigg of the botany
department at the University of
Washington, in a popular scien lecture
on “Biological Laws and Human Wel
fare.” The lecture w’as one of a ser
ies which have been given every week
under direction of the college of sci
theset
ence. These lectures will continue
until the first of March.
Heredity and environment are the
two important factors determining
what man or any other living being
may become. The first of these laws
states that every plant and animal
comes into the world endowed with a
considerable range of possibilities as
to what it may become, and what it
actually becomes depends on its sur
roundings. The second law deals with
the nature environment and regards
environment as made up of many fac
tors, each of which has its influence,
but recognizes that there is usually
some one factor that is limiting the
hereditary possibilities.
These two laws give a true picture
of the relation of heredity and envi
ronment. An understanding of these
laws tends to lead away from much
of the pessimism that has character
ized recent biological discussion. Prof.
Rigg says.
A lest of the ruling made by the
state board of education in Mississip
pi that Chinese children are not tu
tilted to attend white schools in that
state is to be made in the courts.
Subscribe for the Seward Gateway
INVENTORY SALE
Bargains in all
Lines
ELLSWORTH'S
i
FREE FREE FREE FREE
TAKE A CHANCE
WE DO NOT GIVE AWAY wash
” ing machine or Ford cars,
but we will continue to give
100 cents worth of value
. \ for one dollar. This will give
you a chance on the Bank to
make a deposit of your sav
ings from each purchase.
NO COUPONS REQUIRED
The FLOWERS GROCERY
Telephone Main 65
CUNBEAM CABINET HEATERS
Look them over and see what they will do for
the Home or Store built without a basement—
PRICED AT $128.00 CASH .
Terms of $30.00 down and the balance in 12
monthly payments will be made to responsible
home owners. The cleanest and most economical
heater on the market; an ornament to th e home
SEWARD MACHINE SHOPS
PLUMBING AND SHEET METAL WORKS