THE CHITINA LEADER
CHITINA, ALASKA
Entered as second-class matter, November 12, 1910, at the postoffice at
Chitlna, Alaska, under the Act of Conbress of March 1, 1879.
ONLY NEWSPAPER IN CHITINA
Published every Tuesday by
HARRY G. STEEL, Editor and Proprietor.
Offlde: Hotel Chitlna Building. Cordova Office: Dally Times.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
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ADVERTISING RATES
Made known upon application. They will be found reasonable for the service
given. Official publication for legal advertisements pertaining to mineral lands of
the Copper River District.
CHITINA, ALASKA, TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, '1915^
SORRY TIMES IN ALASKA. <
Now-comes the announcement that the builders of the gov
ernment’s railroad in Alaska are actually allowed to cut trees.
Shades of Gifford Pinchot!
The sacred idol of conversational conservation, bounced
from America, is not able to find safe refuge even in Alaska and
Common sense is coming back into its own despite the Washing
ton bureaucrats.
Had the government’s Alaska railroad been constructed
in the good old days of the late (officially) lamented' Giff, its
constructors would have been trussed up with red fape in such
wise that they like enough would have had to contract fri Brit
ish Columbia for all the timber required. Thus the territorial
supply would have been saved for unborn generations, which
probably will follow in the footsteps of Edison and make con
crete do the work of wood.
Some one evidently has emancipated' ordinary good judg
ment from the shackles of Washington theories. The first thing
the country knows, an order will be issued allowing individuals
to mine, ship, sell and bum Alaska coal.—Seattle Times.
-__:0;-.
ANOTRER BLOT ON GEORGIA.
For a state whose motto is “Wisdom, Justice, Mederation”
Georgia has again disgraced itself, in allowing a well organized
mob to storm the prison and drag from its walls Leo Frank,
whose death sentence Governor Slaton recently commuted to life
imprisonment. These law-breakers finally “got” Frank, as
they threatened they would and then hung him to a tree. Thus
is another lynching added to Georgia’s uneviable record in
that direction, for out of twenty-four lynchings in the United
States last year, eight or one-third, occurred in Georgia.
_ *Q • -
CORDOVA FINANCIALLY SOLID.
The general financial condition of a community is usually
indicated by the increase or decrease of the banking deposits.
The statement published today by The First Bank of Cordova
shows a marked increase in its deposits during the past three
months. Its deposits are larger than those of any Southwest
ern Alaska city, all of which indicates that Cordova is a sub
stantial city with a pay roll. Notwithstanding the fact that the
government has done practically nothing to permit of the de
velopment of this part of the territory considerable individual
work is being done and many men are employed' and saving
a part of their earnings.
-:o:-•— ■■
THE JINGOES ARE SUBSIDING.
One Month
Six Months
One Year .
The controversy between the United States and England
has reached the level of an “academic discussion,” and little
will be heard of it hereafter, but after the war there will be a
cash settlement, maybe. The controversy with Germany over
similiar questions likewise is reaching an “academic-discus
scion” basis, with the prospects of a similar cash negotiation
ufter the war. In neither case is there ground for any bellig
erent action. The jingoes are subsiding. One-sided cerebra
tion is on the wane. We got terribly excited for a time, and
we are now beginning to see that it was not without its nonsense,
and certainly we have recognized the futility of declaring war
on anybody.
-:o:
SOUND SLIKE SOMETHING SPLITTING.
Is it trouble we sniff from the high places in the democratic
party? Is there to be a rift in those placid surfaces?
At the last session of congress, Senator Kern, as adminis
tration leader, was in the vanguard, fighting for all the Wilson
measures. And his services were effective.
But now this Hoosier seems to be straying away. The
Wilson administration had announced its loyalty to a program
for army and navy increases. But with a splash that sounds
very much like cold water, Senator Kern says:
“Congress is not going wild on the subject of war prepara
tions; one thing we should avoid in this country is the cultiva
tion of the war spirit.”
Senator Kern once was Mr. Bryan’s running mate on the
democratic national ticket. They have been more than close
political friends; a warm personal friendship has been apparent
for years.
If a few more democratic leaders like Senator Kern follow
him in opposition to a Wilson defense program there’ll be war
aplenty right in Washington, D. C.
MINING SHARES OF NO PAR VALUE.
The Kennecott Copper Corporation, the shares of which
were recently introduced' to the public, is unique in having a
capitalization of shares which have no par value. This is a
good idea to follow in the organization of mining companies.
In former times it used to be the custom to capitalize a mining!
company at $100 per share, let us say, and offer the stock at
$10 per share* the promoters and the public both hoping that
development in the mine might cause the stock to grow up to
its par value. Sometimes it did, but more often it did not,
causing the stock to look rather ridiculous ever afterward.
In the more modern cases of the porphyry coppers the idea
was to capitalize at the real value in the young days of the mine.
Thus, Miami was brought out when it had' about 2,500,000 tons
of ore developed and the shares were made of $5 par value. As
the known ore resources of the mine gradually increased to
about 20,000,000 tons, the value of the stock increased more or
less in proportion thereto, and in fact that company is now pay
ing dividends at the rate of $3 per share per annum, which is
60 per cent on the par value. This experience (that of Utah,
Chino, Ray, and the rest of the porphyry coppers are similar)
causes persons inexperienced in mining to wonder. In fact, the
par values of these securities ceased long ago to have any signi
ficance (except for Federal land state-taxation purposes). It
would have been just as well if they had not been marked with
any par value in the first place.—Engineering and Mining Jour
nal.
- «q ;
WIRE DRAG NEEDED IN ALASKA.
The strong appeal made for use of the wire drag in Alaskan
waters by Dr. E. Lester Jones, superintendent of the United
States Coast and Geodetic Coast Survey, in an address before
the Pacific Fisheries Society will be approved by every shipping
man in Seattle.
“The wire drag,” he declares, “is necessary, if we are to
insure absolute thoroughness and safety in the waters of Alaska
and in the harbors and bays of the Pacific coast.”
The last named waters may be assured of reasonable at
tention in this regard. The adjacent states on the western
slope have votes. Alaska, however, has been and is now being
neglected. It hasn’t sufficient votes to command attention-^as
yet.
Still, it is as certain as anything can be that 1916 will see
an increase in shipping of all kind's to the Northland that will
render even more important than is now the case, the chatting
of every dangerous rock.
Experts have declared, after each accident where a vessel
has been torn by or impaled on some sharp submerged pinnacle
while voyaging in that section, that the wire drag was the only
certain means of safeguarding ships, lives and property.
The danger is recognized, the remedy is apparent. Western
shipping interests have every justification in making a strong
dmand for speedy action.—Seattle Times.
---:o:
WHEN THE WAR SHALL BE OVER.
The great war will close after a while. We wonder if in
the breasts of the rulers of those countries there is not an un
spoken fear of what will come then.
When those who remain make lists of their dead, of those
so maimed that they will he a perpetual tax upon the strong
while their broken frames last; of the debts which they are
mortgaged to pay interest on all their lives, what will the sum
ming up of the unspeakable wrongs which have come to those
people be?
One would' think that evangels would spring up in every
land to paint the picture of those wrongs and to demand a new
deal.
A deal in which never more could kings obsseed by a love
of power, of conquest, of unearned loot and lands, of glory
reeking with blood; of fame red with blood and shadowed by
broken hearts; would be squelched forever.
What a year did the peasant in his shed by the Don hold in
enmity against the peasant in his shed by the Danube?
What enmity did the Frenchman with his little three-acre
vineyard on the Loire or the Italian on the Po hold against the
German peasant with his cows and goats on the Elbe?
What was there in all the contentions that distracted the
rulers of Europe that a commission of business men could not
have settled justly a year ago?
Is it not true that justice was not what was sought?
And’ was not the impelling cause behind all, the belief that
was desired could be won through possessing more and more
effective means of killing the simple dupes who do the fighting
and dying than the other side possessed?
That is a game as old as the world. It started in the stone
age and the principle then invoked was that might made right.
Has that been changed with the rolling centuries? Have
increased' learning and enlightenment done aught except to
teach men the art of scientific war and create new and more ter
midable engines of destruction.
Has Christianity done aught except to give zealots new ex
cuses for wholesale murder that the domains of the Prince of
Peace might be entangled?
We hope it has; we hope that when this war is finally closed,
it will inspire evangels in every land to cry out for a change
of the ancient policy of barbarism and murder and to demand
that a reign of justice shall be ushered in. That under the new
adjustment if thrones remain those who sit upon them shall,
like the humblest peasant, be forced to obey the new dispensa
tion ; they and their counsellors.
When that time comes we hope that our country will come
to the fore in demanding it, and in so potential a way that when
the new code shall be framed and accepted by the nations* those
who have long waited, may feel assured that the reign of peace
on earth may be looked forward to with a hope of fulfillment.
---:o?
Labor day is approaching and as yet no plans have been
formulated for a celebration.
Seattle and all Alaska are to celebrate the purchase of this
territory from Russia, in 1917, the holding of celebrations, ac
cording to present plans. The big show will be held in Seattle
for a couple of days and an excursion will then start north and
every town visited is expected to do the honors for the visitors.
There is every probability of a clam factory being estab
lished at Cordova, as Mr. Sprague, of Oregon, who has made an
investigation of the clam beds in this section is very enthusias
tic over the outlook and as soon as he returns to the states will
take the matter up with his associates and feels confident that in
the near future work will begin on a plant here.
Fairbanks has started a campaign to receive all of its mail
all of the time. The Commercial Club has had printed and is
furnishing free copies of a circular letter to be sent by individu
als to all of the newspapers in the states, setting forth that
during the winter months their publications do■ not reach the
interior regularly and asking them to appeal to the Postmaster
General to order dispatched from the Cordova office, after the
close of navigation, all classes of mail for Fairbanks.
Frank G. Carpenter’s trip through Alaska promises to do
more in the matter of educating the world in regard to the
beautities and resources of the Territory than anything else has
ever done* Mr. Carpenter has already proved himself to be a
booster for Alaska, and he is in position, by means of his
writing, to impress his favorable sentiments upon many thou
sand people. "
Good people generally sympathize with the colored folk
in their efforts to elevate the race and prevent public exhibitions
tha tmight have a tendency to discredit them. There is large
room for argument, however, on their demand for a regulation
that would prevent the presentation of such spectacles as “The
Birth of a Nation.”
The same protests might be made by the white race
against ‘ ‘ Uncle Tom’s Cabin ’ ’ on the ground > that} because it
is a reflection on the entire race.' Down East Yankees if they
were inclined to be finicky, might with equal right, protest
against “Shores Acres,” because it characterizes them as they
were 50 to 100 years ago and not as the Yankee of today. Once
started, there is no felling where the thing would stop.
CUM BEOS RICH
AND PLENTY
OF THEM
*
After spending three days in the
vicinity of Hinchinbrook Island, pros
pecting the clam beds, with a view to
establishing a factory at Cordova, H.
A. Sprague, president of the Light
house Packing Company, of Warren
ton, Oregon, returned to town today
and is much encouraged at the outlook.
He reports having found rich and in
exhaustible beds of clams.
When questioned by representative
of this paper as to what his plans were
Mr. Sprague stated that he would
leave for the states on the steamer
Watson to consult with his associates,
but from the optomistic tone of his
conversation there is no doubt but
that his report will be a favorable one
and result in the erection a clam fac
tory here.
-:o:
WARNS SUTON
NOT RETURN
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 18—Mayor
Woodward, of Atlanta, Georgia, who
has been visiting the fair here, was
the guest of honor at a banquet given
in celebration of Georgia Day at the
exposition last night. The principal
address was delivered by Mayor
Woodward, and the fact that earlier in
the day Leo Frank had been lynched
in the home state of the mayor caused
peculiar interest to be felt in what the
distinguished visitor would have to say
The mayor came up to expectations
and commented freely on the lynching
and the details of the murder trial
in the course of his remarks.
In referring to yesterday's lynching
the speaker asserted with great earn
estness that Frank had met with a
just reward, and that the dead man
fittingly punished for the horrible
crime he committed. The penalty
meted out to Frank by the mob was
indeed poetic justice, and the mayor
said that nobody in Georgia at all
familiar with the facts of the case
could feel the slightest tremors of
regret over the death of the slayer of
Mary Phagan.
Woodward warned Ex-Governor
Slaton not to return to Georgia for at
least a year, and said that perhaps it
would be better if he never came back,
as his act in commuting Frank’s death
sentence to life imprisonment, might
result In violence to the former chief
executive of the state. He said that
the people throughout the United
States had gained a wrong Impression
of the evidence submitted at the trial
of Frank, and that this wrong impres
sion was carefully nurtured and en
couraged by the rich friends of Frank,
who had subsidized the press for that
very purpose.
As to the trial Itself and the details
of the 'evidence submitted by the
prosecution, Mayor Woodward vigor
ously contended that common decency
prohibited the publishing or telling of
the revolting circumstances surround
ing the death of the little factory op
erative. The truth was so repugnant
and'unspeakable that nobody who was
not present in the court room could
realize or believe that anything could
have been so degraded as Mary Pha
gan’s murder. According to Wood
ward every member of the jury, which
convicted Frank, firmly believed the
prisoner to be guilty.
:o:
WILL BUILD TRAIL '
TO TOLdM CAMP
The merchants of Fairbanks have
raised $5,000 for the construction of a
road to the Tolovana district. The
money has been turned over to the
Alaska Road commission as it is re
alized there by the business men that
the commission is better able to do
the work than the merchants them
selves. The work of the commission
in the interior has secured the com
medation and support of the miners
and prospectors benefltted.
The work will start tomorrow and
the route from Olnes has been selected
The Tolovana camp is showing up
well and considerable gold will be
taken out this year. On the Patter
son claim $15,000 has been taken out
With a small outfit.
Discovery, the new town in the
Toldvana, is growing rapidly k
CAPT. EDGERTON WILL
GO TO TEXAS CITY
Army orders Isssued relieve Capt.
Glenn E. Edgerton, corps of engineers,
from duty as member of the board of
road cimmissloners for Alaska, on
Friday, September 14, and assign him
to duty at Texas City, Texas. First
Lieutenant Joseph C. Mehaffey» en
gineers, succeeds him on the commis
sion.
-:o:- -
REPRESENTATIVE OF LANE
E. Z. Bowen did not not come here to
take any position or anything else
with the Government Engineering
Commission. The Gateway yesterday
printed a story taken from the Juneau
Empire In which it was stated that Mr.
Bowen came to conduct the commis
sariat department of the railroad con
struction work. It is also stated that
Mr. Bowen is a personal friend of
Secretary Lane. Mr. Bowen denies
the first allegation but pleads guilty
to the second indictment. He came
on the same boat as Mr. Smoot who
was also accused of being connected
with the government in some respect,
particularly as representative of Sec
reary Lane. Some man came on that
boat to represent the Secretary of the
Interior department and we may yet
discover him if we can only keep up
the guesses. One thing Is certain, and
that is that Mr. Smmot takes an un
usual interest in the railroad subject
and has come well supplied with maps,
charts, etc, of routes and other sus
picious things. It is also known that
he knows Secretary Lane rather inti
mately. On the other hand Commis
sioner Thomas Riggs denies that Mr.
Smoot is here for the Interior depart
ment. Will the man, if there is such
a man, who represents Secretary Lane
here, come forward and confess?—
Seward Gateway.
budcetTnewT
FROM THE WESTWARD
SEWARD, Aug. 16—There was a
rumor around town that the good
steamship Dora would be back on the
westward run for the October trip.
Agent McDonald of the Alaska Steam
ship Company thinks that there is no
foundation for this statement. He
says he has heard nothing about the
contemplated change and believes that
the Dora is too small a boat to handle
the westward run in either the winter
or the summer.
Miss Alma Brooks, sister of Mrs.
Robert Johnston of Mile Six, and Mr.
Thomas B. Drayton were united in the
bonds of holy matrimony by Commis
sioner M. J. Conroy, Mr. Drayton Is a
journalist, and is the gentleman who
started an anti-dance agitation. They
left this morning on the car for a trip
out the line on their honeymoon.
Happy days.
In the office of Deputy Clerk
Weaver, Henry Oliver has filed suit
for divorce from Jessie B. Oliver to
whom he was married at Nome on
August 16, 1903. Charles Polk Davies
is named as co-respondent and the
charge is the obvious one. Mr. and
Mrs. Oliver have been living for some
time in the tent colony near Lowel
creek and have a little girl whom was
borni the year following their marri
age. ^
-:o:
"BUSINESS SUICIDE" 1 .
The man who stops his little ad 13
Is not so very wise, bedad; ';l
Because his advertisments tell j'
The public what he has to sell, I
And if his ad is not on deck.
The people pass him up, by heck; *
And none of them will hesitate
To trade with mercants up-to-date.
To stop your ad, we would remark.
Is just like winking in the dark;
You may know what it means, but gee.
Nobody else can ever see.
So do not for a moment think
That when you cut out printer’s ink
You’re saving money on the side;
‘Tis merely business suicide.
—Off the Reel.
-:o:
ST. LOUIS. Aug. 21—The river Is
rising rapidly and all the suburbs are
flooded, causing the people to flee
into the city to escape the rising wa
ters, and because of the danger from
Are and the inability to secure drink
ing water. There are thousands and
thousands of homeless people and all
the public buildings are being used
to house them, and tent colonies are
arising in the parks. The governor
and the mayor of the city will
take charge of the offering of aid
and food to the sufferers. Over live
inches of rain fell in. the last sixteen
hours,and there is four feet of -water
in the subway. The Union. Station is
flooded and the trains have Stopped
ruuing. The same situation in affect
ing the street car system, many of the
important lines having had to dis
continue. . i 1 , 1
LOCAL GLACIERS
On yesterday's Incoming train was
one passenger whom the Childs and
Miles glaciers did not seem to make
such a deep impression as the con
ductor of the dining car thought that
they should. That man was W. R.
Taylor. Billy lives at the foot of
Mt. McKinley, and Is the first man
who ever saw Alaska from the sum
piit of Mt. McKinley. One spring
just before work began same old
timers gathered in Bill McPhee’s place
were discussing the controversy then
raging as to whether Or. Cook had
really reached the summit of Mt. Mc
Kinley. Billy Taylor and Tom Lloyd,
whose mines lie at the foot of Mc
Kinley, were in the crowd, and they
knew from the description of the climb
and from the point where he said he
had “skelped the rise" that Cook never
climbed McKinley, and finally Tom
Lloyd hazarded the suggestion that
almost any old timer could reach the
summit if he cared to try. Bill Mc
Phee offered to bet the drinks that
Lloyd couldn't do it, and Tom took the
bet. Taylor and Lloyd, and two hus
kies working for them, Anderson and
McOonlgal, made up a pack of a dozen
pounds and started. They made it.
From timber line to the summit of
McKinley, Billy Taylor and Anderson
packed a 30-foot section of a huswy
pine tree on their shoulders, and it
still stands on the summit of McKin
ley as a flag pole. Arcdeacon Stuck,
whom Harry Karstens carried to the
summit of McKinley a year or more
ago, reported the flag pole as still
there. On the trip Billy covered
glaciers that make the Child glacier
look like a mudpuddle, and he named
glaciers larger than the Cordova one.
That is why glaciers have so little
charm for hi.m This was Mr. Taylor’s
first trip in an automobile and his
only trip out in ten years. He will
attend the Panama-Pacific Exposition..
-:o:-■
Ball Games
National League.
NEW YORK, Aug. 20—
New York .7
Cincinnati .0
Pitchers—Tesreau; Lear, Mc
Closkey.
BROOKLYN, Aug. 20—
Brooklyn .6
Chicago .t>
Pitchers—Douglas, Deal, Smith;
Zabel, Lavender.
BOSTON, Aug. 20
Boston •.1
St. Louis .0
Pitchers—Hughes, Medows.
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 20—
Philadelphia .4
Pittsburg .3
Pitchers—Hughes; Medows.
American League.
CLEVELAND. Aug. 20—
Washington .8
Cleveland .
Pitchers—Harper; Drenton, Cal
lamere.
CHICAGO, Aug. 20—
Boston .4
Chicago .1
Pitchers—Rixey; Benz. Russell.
DETROIT, Aug. 20—
Detroit .11
Philadelphia . 1
Pitchers—Janies; Dressier, Pil
lion, Filllnglm.
Standing of League Cluba.
The following is the standing of the
big leagues up today:
National League.
Philadelphia .■. 5G 48 .538
Brooklyn . 60 52 .534
Chicago . 59 53 .527
Pittsburg . 56 56 .500
Boston . 54 55 .495
New York •. 52 64 .490
Cincinnati . 61 69 .477
St. Louis . 51 60 .460
American League.
Boston . 70 36 .660
Detroit t\. 72 39 .649
Chicago .. 65 49 .670
Washington . 66 64 .509
New York . .. 52 51 .605
St. Louis .42 70 .375
Cleveland . 34 67 .336
Philadelphia. 34 67 .336
-:o:
RED DRAGON WANTS
ALL BOOKS RETURNED
Will the patrons of the Red Dragon
Library kindly make an effort to re
turn to the shelves all books which
have been in their possession for more
than two weeks. This will assist the
superintendent materially and give
popular books a wider circulation, and
oblige Rev. H. P. Zeigler.