TANANA LEADER
Issued every Thursday.
Sam J. Callahan.Publisher
Subscription.—One year, §10; six months.
$5; oue month, §1; single copies, 25 cents.
Advertising.—Rates on application. Right
reserved to reject any advertisement.
Thursday, August 18, 1910.
THE TRIBUNAL
Before the tribunal of self self pleads
Extenuation for all acts, and always
Exculpates self. The briber says: “I had to;
Others were doing it, and out of justice
To my own family and my future prospects,
Seeing that he who stood out never grew
Prominent, I had to do my part.”
The business man who crushes out his rival
Argues: "It is a game, where it is crush
Or be crushed; the baby act is barred;
I had to get him or he would've got me.
I had to.” Even the corruptionist,
Smug in success, with rubicund, round jowls.
Fawned on by panders, says: “I must suc
ceed;
Success is all there is. My family
Demands success; the people honor it.
As for the failures and the plundered peo
ple,
Of course, I pity them, but ’tis the way
Of all the world. ’Tis trying on the turkey
To lose its head, but who for that foregoes
His Christmas feast ?” They all declare, I
had to.
Who can stand out when some are getting it
And meekly see it snatched away from him?
In this world it is only dog eat dog.
That is the morals of the practical life,
And speculative talk amounts to nothing.
—C. L. Phifer (selected).
THE MORAL SIDE
Out of 155 votes polled at
Tanana about 40 were illegal
and fraudulent. If the list
of voters was taken nearlv
*
all of the fraudulent votes
could be detected by any
competent person who would
take the trouble to make an
investigation. So far as the
result of the election is con
cerned the matter is imma
terial; the only thing it now
involves is a moral principle.
The supporters of James
. Wickersham are entitled to
be proud that no fraud here
or elsewhere was perpetrated
or attempted in favor of their
candidate. Thev believe the
fact that fraud was shame
lessly practiced in behalf of
Wickersham’s opponent is of
itself strong presumptive ev
idence that Wickersham rep
resented the highest moral
side of the issues involved in
the campaign; and they
know that representatives of
the federal administration,
high and low, can no longer
plead ignorance of the things
against which the people
protest. The governor of
Alaska was in Tanana on
election day when votes were
accepted from non-resident
steamboat employes on the
strength of an alleged federal
“marine law.” While the
fraud was in progress the
presumption is the governor
was ignorant of it: he may
not have become cognizant
of it at all. But official
CHANNELS ARE OPEN THROUGH
WHICH HE CAN LEARN THE
FACTS. _
An item in this paper last
week touching the proneness
of United States commission
ers to fall into crooked ways
gave offense to former Com
missioner John Bathurst. He
was not in mind when the
item was printed and in his
case it would not apply, for
if he had faults probably the
greatest of them lay in an
effort to enforce the letter of
the law in the minor details
of human frailty. He was
to
unafraid and if he ever did
anything crooked or under
handed we are mistaken in
the man. Commissioner J.
H. Hudgin of Rampart is
another man of irreproacha
ble character; but neither
Bathurst nor Hudgin would
now be allowed to hold office
in a place where the commis
sionership is as important to
the people and the govern
ment as it has grown to be
in the Fort Gibbon precinct.
The Visiting Statesmen
From the Juneau Alaska Dispstch, July SO.
Alaska is being visited, or at least the
coast of Alaska, by two members of
President Taft’s cabinet. The attorney
general and the secretary of commerce
and labor will take the opportunity to
see Alaska for themselves, but according
to press dispatches will not talk person
ally with the citizens, but devote their
time to looking over the resources.
Should they alter this determination
the administration will have an oppor
tunity to learn at first hand the real
conditions here, and the causes of those
conditions. The occasion is a most im
portant one for the people of this terri
tory. Upon the report of these two
BILLIARDS POOL
Fine Liquors and Cigars
THE GRAND
CHARLES CHANQUIST, Prop.
Tanana Alaska
t
cabinet officers depends primarily the
answer to the question whether Alaska
shall be restored to her former vigorous
growth and prosperity, or whether there
shall be a continuance of the rule of the
political gang that has been slowly
blighting her life for some time past.
The task of investigating the situation
by these members of President Taft’s
official family is no light one. It can
hardly be expected that in the short
time they can spare from their other
duties, they will be able to learn much
of the details of the plot all Alaskans
believe to be in existence to rule and
rob their country. But it is hoped and
believed that they will learn enough of
the doing3 of the political clique, enough
of the distrust and hatred the ring has
planted in the hearts and minds of every
honest man and woman in this territory,
enough of the injury it has done the
business of the country, enough of the
unjust and malignant aspersions cast
upon the fair name of Alaska, to cause ;
them to make such a report as will end j
at once and forever the present intolera- .
ble situation.
It should not l>e difficult, we say, to'
find out all in a general way, even in a
few days; although we have no doubt
| the officials holding office by grace of
| the political ring and other paid claquers
will be on hand to insidiously whisper
the smooth lie, to misrepresent this, or
explain away that—to pursue, in short,
i the tactics here they have pursued so
successfully in Washington.
, But it will he found, we believe, much
1 easier to deceive in Washington than it
is in Alaska, regarding Alaskan affairs.
The attorney general and the secretary
of commerce and labor are accustomed
to examining facts and sifting evidence.
In Washington the administration had
some of the political gang ever with it,
ever telling their little story. The many
thousands of the common people, upon
whom they were working to fasten their
rule, had no hearing. They were not in
Washington. The many protests made
against the gang were not organized,
but came in singly and unconnectedly.
So coming, they were easily met by a
skillful lie, or a false and smooth expla
nation. It was like a fight of a small
but closely drilled and compact body of
bandits against a peaceful population
unprepared for resistance.
It is to be regretted that the attorney
general and the secretary of commerce
and labor cannot visit every portion of
the territory. The vast extent of the
country, as well as want of facilities for
travel, makes this obviously impractica
ble. They would find vast differences
existing between different sections of
the country, in climate, soil and indus
tries. But they would find one feature
common to every part, from the shores
of the Pacific to the frozen tundras of
Nome, and the deep gravels of the Yu
kon and Tanana valleys; and that is a
common hatred of the present political
conditions, and a determination that the
rule of the bosses who have by cunning
and chicanery gained the ear of the ad
Stoddard Kay
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G. H. TIFFANY Building
St. James’ Mission
Holy Eucharist the iirst Sunday in euch
month at 11 a. m. Each following ' unday.
Evening Prayer at 8 p. in. Every Wednes
day evening, Evening Prayer and Litany at
8 o’clock. WINTHROP PEARODY,
Priest in Charge.
Catholic Church
Every Sunday, mass and sermon at 10:30
a. m. At 7:30 p. m. special service for the
soldiers. Short instruction and benediction
of the Bl. Sacrament.
AH are cordially invited.
H. FERRON, S.J., PattBr.
Notice to Creditors.
The estate of Frank J. McGraw, deceased.
Notice is hereby given by the undersigned
A. G. Frenzel, administrator of the estate of
Frank J. McGraw, deceased, to the creditors
of and all persons having claims against the
said deceased, to exhibit them with the nee*
essary vouchers, within six months after the
first publication of this notice, to the under
signed administrator in the town of Tanana,
Territory of Alaska, the same being the
place for the transaction of the business of
the said estate.
ADOLF GUSTAV FRENZEL,
Administrator.
Date of first publication, Aug. 4,1910.
ministration in Washington, shall cease.
The people of Alaska, as well as the
Dispatch, extend to the two members of
the cabinet, and their party a most cor
dial welcome and the hope that their
visit may prove most pleasant to them
personally and result in great good to
the country.