SEWARD DAILY GATEWAY
OF SEWARD. ALASKA
Established, August 19, 1904
Published daily except Sunday by
Gateway Publishing Co.
Entered in *he postofiice at Seward,
Alas a ., as second-class mail matter.
GLLBY & HOBEN, Proprietors
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cial dispatches herein are reserved.
THE OLD ORDER WINS.
During the recent diphtheria epi
demic at Nome, considerable friction
about threatened to develop for a
time between Alaskans and govern
ment officials over sending a plane
from Nenana to the far northern camp
with the precious serum.
Fortunately the officials kept their
heads and depended on the old order
of transportation, the dog team, and
the trip was made safely and in more
comfort than by plane. Had Darling
and his mechanic left Fairbanks at the
time the trip was planned, they un
doubtedly would have perished, or
been forced down by the raging bliz
zard which blotted out the visibility
the following day. The mushing was
perilous for the sturdy sourdough and
his reliable team, and bucking the
blizzards with temperatures far below
zero, with the landscape blotted out,
would have been practically impossi
ble for the daring aviators to have
even landed salely.
Too many persons place the air
plane’s achievements ahead of what
the facts reveal. It must be remem
bered that the finest men and ma
chines in the United States flying
corps were several weeks making the
trip through Alaska, with every re
source of the nation behind them.
The trip was made at the best sea
son of the year. To have expected
men unfamiliar with the route to make
the trip safely was trusting more to
luck than to actual conditions. Messrs.
Darling and Mackie have not detract
ed from their splendid record one iota
by their failure to make the flight, as
they would have set out in the face of
every adverse condition, had the epi
demic come to a point where it was
necessary. Their achievement is an
epic in the ballads of Northern dar
ing and resourcefulness.
But the dog mushers, the old timers
of the frozen wastes, won out. The
race was watched with dramatic in
tenseness by the readers of the w-orld,
who in imagination, suffered the vicis
situdes of the journey, the bitter cold,
the sleepless nights, when men and
dogs staggered gamely on, tired from
loss of sleep and exhaustion, ready to
fall in their tracks, hut pointing true
to their destination, with a cargo
more precious than the metal on which
the city of Nome was built.
Through blinding blizzards, with
blackening cheeks cracked and scored
by frostbite, the race was made in
relays over a distance of 650 miles in
five and a half days. One veteran
driver covered 54 miles, 30 of which
were driven in a heavy gale, in seven
hours and forty minutes.
The old sourdough, who has siwash
ed many a cold night of the trail, can
appreciate the glorious race with
death riding behind the handle bars
of the sleds.
Alaskans are familiar with many
deeds of daring which will probably
eclipse those of the relay race to
Nome, where lone prospectors and
trappers have time and again braved
the cold and the elements to save the
life of a friend or acquaintance, but
no deed of late years has taken the
public fancy so thoroughly, mainly on
account of its being well advertised
through the columns of the press.
PRIMARY LAW FOUND WANTING.
The Alaska primary law, without
exception, has proven a failure. It
has been expensive to the candidates
to cover the Territory, and has been
unsatisfactory to both Democrats and
Republicans in that it allows the voter
no more expression of choice than did
the old style convention, and is abused
by the voters of each party, who con
centrate on the weak man at the pri
mary, only to encompass his defeat at
the general election.
In other words, if the Democratic
or Republican parties place the names
of more than one candidate for each
office on the ballot, the party with
but one candidate can refrain from
voting for his candidate in the pri
mary election, and can cast his vote
for the opposing party’s candidates
while at the general election they
vote on party lines. This defeats the
will of the voter and makes a farce
out of the primary.
The primary costs the Territory sev
eral thousands of dollars in expenses,
the election being held at a time when
most of the supplies must be carried
to their destination by dogteam. The
primary also causes a candidate to
travel about the territory at a season
of the year when traveling is most
arduous and expensive.
Take the case of Delegate Suther
land, for instance. He is compelled
to leave Washington in February and
March, making long trips over the
Territory at enormous expense. The
Territory is deprived of his services
at Washington during this period, an
his expense bill reaches probably $2500
or more for the trip. Following his
nomination, he is again compelled to
meet his constituents, going over the
same ground and paying out money i
for a trip which could be eliminated by
holding but one election, in the fall.
In thickly settled districts with
good transportation, a candidate can j
go through his district quickly and at
small expense. In Alaska he must
travel several thousand miles to see
as many voters, and his time is lim
ited by dog team schedule and his du
ties in Washington. Were the dele
gate elected for four years instead of
two, he probably could afford two elec
tion campaigns. As it is now, his ser
vices are seriously handicapped by his
forced electioneering.
■
THE NEED FOR A GAME WARDEN
A year ago the game warden at Sew
ard, Mr. George Cotter, was suspend
ed from offiee on account of a lack
of funds, and has since left the Ter
ritory, leaving this big game section
of Alaska with no game warden. As
the moose country is contiguous to
Seward, and all big game hunters must
clear through here for westward points
Sewardites have never rightly under
stood the proprieties of placing the
warden in charge of tlie Kenai penin
sula at Anchorage. Eight months out
of the year he must come down to
Mile 23 to get down the lake, and his
activiites are confined to a district
within a few miles of Seward. There
i$ no reflection to be cast upon the
efficiency of the present long-range
warden, but his activities should be
confined to the section in which he
lives and a warden appointed from the
ranks of the local hunters and guides.
At a recent meeting of the Sewrard
Chamber of Commerce, Henry Frost,
a local big game hunter and guide,
with an extensive knowledge of the
game and its habits, was unanimously
indorsed for the position. That Mr.
Frost is capable and efficient is a
foregone conclusion. That Seward will
be greatly handicapped by the lack of
a local game warden is also true. It
would appear from statistics presented
to the governor, that Seward is one
THE CHAMPION GOAT OF THE U. S. A.
mmmtmmmsmm
NDFBwnOD A UNnfRWOOO. N V.|
Here’s a champion whose goat we ean’t get, for his aristocratic Angora
is owned by Floyd Earwood, of Comstock, Texas, and is the winner of
all American blue ribbons in 1924, the champion of champions.
place in the Territory which should
have a game warden ready at all times
to advise and assist big game hunters
and check up their bags of game. It
is imperative that we have such offi
cial if we are to retain our place as
the big game hunters’ paradise.
It may be a sign of old age to sit
at home of evenings, with slippers and
pipe, and again it may be just plain,
ornery laziness.
THE HIGH PRICE OF WHEAT
The wheat growers who have wheat
are verly in clover. During the politi
cal campaign in 1924, when wheat be
gan to soar in the world pits, the
charge was made that speculators
were busy for political purposes.
There has been speculation, of course
but the fact is that the pricel of wheat
has skyrocketed since the election to
more dizzy heights than before the
election, and the zenith apparently
has not been reached, although the
price has gone above $2 a bushel. Ac
cording to the United States depart
ment of agricijlture there are four out
standing reasons for the high price
of wheat (1) The acreage planted to
wheat in North America in 1924 was
10 to 12 per cent less than that of
1923; (2) The United States’ 1924
crop was 25„000,000 bushels below the
five-year average, and only 70,000„000
bushels over the small crop of 1923;
(3) Canada’s export surplus in 1923
totaled 375,000,000 bushels, where last
year it declined to 175,000,000 bushels;
(4) From July 1 to December 1, 1923,
the United States exported only 81,
000,000 bushels, while during the same
period last year exports were 197,000,
000 bushels. However, the government
points out that this conjecture of cir
cumstances is one that is likely to oc
cur on an average only once in many
years, and therefore the conclusion
that continued big prices in future
years may be expected is not warrant
ed.
SAILORS OF FLEET TO VISIT
ACTIVE VOLCANO HAWAII
HILO, Feb. 14.—Every sailor of the
Lnitetl States fleet, which is to visit
the territory next spring lor maneu
vers, will be given an opportunity
to visit the volcano of Kilauea, 30
miles up the slopes from Hilo, the
greatest active crater in the world.
Avalanches and earthquakes now
compose Kilaueau’s activities almost
solely, 47 earth shocks haveing been
recorded at the volcano observatory
in the week ending December 17.
Since the volcano’s latest violent
eruption in May, 1924, when the cra
ter claimed its first human victim in
modern times, there has been slight
activity at the fire pit of Halemau
mau. The dimensions of the crater
increased greatly by last May’s ac
tivities, are approximately 3,500 by
3,000 feet, with a depth of about one
thousand three hundred feet.
SEWARD
Under New
MANAGEMENT
OLD AND NEW
FRIENDS INVITED
GUS ANDERSON
ED ERICKSON
I Liberty Theatre i
Tonight Saturday Two Shows 7 and 8:45 M
j The Purple Highway |
jj A compelling story story of the real Greenwich j|
HI Village life. Of artistic Soldiers of Fortune m
m who fail and succeed. j
| MADGE KENNEDY - |
as the girl who inspired the two failures to sue- M
= cess, does the finest works of her career. H
MONTE BLUE AND VINCENT COLMAN
H are great efforts M
AND THE FABLE REEL
THE DARK HORSE
CRUDE AIRPLANE CARRIED
MAIL IN GEORGIA IN 1911
SAVANNAH, Feb. 14.—Claims for
Savannah as having inaugurated the
aerial mail service 14 years ago have
been set forth, by Henry Blun, -who
was postmaster here at that time.
“Aerial loute Number One writh a
Curtis Plane, one of the progenitors
of those now in use, picked up let
ters at a baseball park and carried
them to a wagon less than a mile
away,” Mr. Blun said.
One flight marked the beginning
and the end of the service, the speak
er declared. Owing to the shaky
condition of the machine, preparations
that had been made for Mr. Blun to
accompany Beckwdth Havens, New
York pilot of the plane on the flight
were abandoned, the pilot consider
ing it too much of a risk.
Mr. Blun recalled the machine used
as having bamboo supported wings,
with the aviator occupying a precari
ous perch upon a small box with con
trol levers protruding at many angles
in front of him.
WHEN EAST MEETS WEST
SEATTLE, Wash., Feb. 14.—An ac
count of events connected with the
first Japanese embassy in the United
States in 1860 has been translated
into English by Dr. Herbert Gowen,
professor of oriental languages in the
University of Washington, with the
! assistance of a Japanese student.
Howr embarrassed the Japanese
commissioners were when dining with
women and they nearly drank from
their finger bowls “in the savage
country of America,” are related. The
fact that Lewis Cass, secretary ot
state, failed to serve tea when first
meeting them is mentioned as indi
cating lack of courtesy and refine
ment.
GROWTH OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS
ASTONISHES BRITISH EDUCATOR
LONDON, Feb. 14.—America is a
land of many churches and one creed,
all Americans believe ia education,
according to H. A. L. Fisher, former
British minister of education who has
just returned from a tour of the
United States.
“The popular enthusiasm which
gave Europe its cathedrals,” he said,
is “now sprinkling the North Ameri
can continent with schools and col
leges in lavish profusion. The sums
put into education in America are
staggering and are steadily increas
ing. America’s astonishing liberal
ity has conceived the idea of a free,
full-time secondary education for all
its citizens.”
Join the Chamber of commerce.
METHODIST CHURCH SERVICE
Sunday, February 15, 1925.
Sunday School - 11:00 a m.
Evening Service - - - 7:30 p. m.
Sermon Subject:
“CONFORMED AND TRANSFORMED”
Come and help sing and enjoy the hour
with us.
Yes! no autos
today!
But you auto see our shipment of fresh
Goods that auto satisfy the most auto
cratic appetite in Seward.
EAT YEAST FOR HEALTH
The FLOWERS GROCERY
\ Telephone Main 65