'J
■f
In the eloc^ion here in Alaska *n November 25th wo went all
*ut democratic. The only ones elected by the Republicans that we
have heard of are the dog catcher in Chitina and the moderator at
the insuno asylum at Valdez, and neither of these jobs seems to
be very important•
Having everything in the hands of rne party has the advantage
tf mailing it easy to give credit for all the harmony and construct
ive work that will prevail in June come the meetring *f the First
Legislature* The Republicans can’t claim credit for'one damn thing.
Alaska has been saved from fa ling into the hands of Liars, fools
and crooks• '.Ve know, because we read a lot of the paid political
advertisements. ' •
66566660'’
-- t , .
Horo is a bit of dope that could not be of interest to anyOne
except those with an economic stake in the State of Alaska, arid
probao ly not to most of those.
In an editorial in a recent Alaska Sportsman we read this!
"There are two basic reasons why the current rush to the North'
will suporcoed ail previous rushes, linuly to' be the greatest >
Fact*number two, as to why the current rush to the North' will
supercood all other rushes is that thi3 rush, putting it simply ,
is bettor advertised.
Thor ; is television t*day bringing the living stories #f the
now frontier into millions of .Living rooms thousands of miles i
away. Giant nev/spaparos and magazines have nowsga-thoring staffs
far surpassing any tiling in the past."
The Old Cynic is from Missouri a$d he has to be shown,-.and:.•
sometimes he has been shown, but: .v
suito a number of years a go the i»outn auooie jncjpi» • ■
draining the economic life $lood from Europe.for years and almost
destroyed the economy of Europe before the buoolo burst* ^his long
protracted boom was possible because communication was so*slow.
That it took years for reliable information to get back to the,
gullible, hopeful people of Europe that there was no pot of gold
at the end of the rainbow* .No television, no radio fchon, y';
In the following centuries millions of hopefuls left the '; . .
comfort and security of Europe to su^k their fortune in tho New
World" that is now so wonderful and prosperous, but for decades
they mostly ended up in poverty and doapair• ' f *
Now lot's pass over a lot of years and come down to 1849*
Gold was found in California and hundreds of thousands started .
for California to got rich# It took about six months wi thmo xon
and a covered wagon to get to California'from-the Mississippi.
River. Tens of thousands of gold severs ruachod California Ojefore
they met thousands struggling back saying,that axi the * worthwhile
claims ha been staked. Oregon was settled at*that time by-acme
who did not want to go back over that long, hard trail and -turned
aside and landed on the .Vilametta* Communication was slow in. •, ^
those days. There were bbester clubs in those days but not so f
vigorous or blatant as orf now*
Communications w*re bettor and faster in 95- vmen goia ,
was found in the Klondike# ?ut tens of thousands were-on the move
b fo^o they learned enuf about it and began turning back first
from*Dawson City, then from 'Skagway, Ketchikan and Seattle.
The stampede to home and Fairbanks. petered out in a year
dr two. .The same with Iditorod. Jiettor abd faster advertising
gave people the right and discouraging/.dope« „
The stampede to Chisana in 1913 petered put in::a few weeks
and the one to Fish'Whoel in a few days. In earlier times these
starfipedvis might have lasted for many months, but because^pf better
moans of communication people were able to know quickly t^ato..,
Jhefo was nothing to justify ;the stampede. " : -> c +
V/han people1 start for the Stato of •Alaska next
had bettor h&vorsomething for them. Just"-like the stampede to
Fish Wheel they uro going to find out mighty quick ail about our
farming, fishing, mining, oil, hunting, lumbering and-oven our
squaws • To this date all of our talk of 11 vast resources and vast
wealth" is just a lot of ’bluff and ignorance. Unless we find more
than j 3 in sight 'at present this stampodo to the North wixl, die
ju3t -as 1 suddenly and completely as it starts. Blame this -sudden
demise on fast and reliable advertising. Too damned good.mH