TANANA LEADER
V*l ./
Published Every Thursday at Tanana, Alaska.
SAM J. CALLAHAN, EDITOR
Ceo. M. Arbuckle, Manatjtr
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CENTRALIZATION AS EMBODIED IN COURTS
Following the universal trend toward centralization,
the plan of having sittings of our district court at divers
places convenient to a widely scattered populace was aban
doned in the summer of 1903, after which all litigants, wit
nesses and others having court business in the old Third
division were compelled to go to Fairbanks or Valdez, as
the case might be. In the new Fourth division Fairbanks
is court headquarters for a territory covering practically
the whole drainage system of the American Yukon, in
cluding all the waters of the Tanana, the waters of the
Koyukuk, the waters of the Innoko, and crossing over and
taking in a considerable portion of the Kuskokwim system.
It is an immense territory, and in none of it are men sup
posed to solve their own problems in their own way, with
out the help or hindrance, as the case may be, of judicial
guidance or other constituted authority, as was so largely
the case in the early history of the western portion of the
United States. On the contrary, as the plans of centrali
zation take more definite and far-reaching form, the more
dependent is every little or big undertaking, in remote as
well as in more accessible places, on court sanction and the
fine distinctions of judicial decisions. It is right here that
two opposing conditions meet.
Ot course the transaction ot business by officers ot the
court is facilitated by having it all brought to a common
center, where all the attorneys of the district are assembled
ready to clothe every item of procedure in conventional
legal garb; and, equally of course, persons living several
hundred miles away from lawyers and courts, and highly
desirous of buying the advice of one in order to conform to
the requirements of the other, are in adverse ratio placed
at a disadvantage. It is a delicate matter to comment upon,
for no individual can be pointed to as being responsible for
the state of things—it is simply a well-defined symptom of
a strange growth in American policy.
With the increased output of gold in the Koyukuk and
the rapid and perhaps permanent settlement of the Innoko
V ^ tU OttJ of f Ixo K ivulralrnTlin cai'noo of iiio
vision.and the probability of development in other quarters,
the centralized idea of dealing out justice will apparently
soon fail to meet the requirements even of court expediency.
To attempt to transact the whole business in the future
from a common point like Fairbanks might lead zealous
court officials to wish large numbers of well-meaning far-off
people in jail and an increased number of thousand-mile
away witnesses and other unfortunates to wish all courts
and court appurtenances in -an even more secure environ
ment. Such of us as can maintain a neutral position in the
■days to come ought to be well entertained by the merry
march .of impending events.
One hundred miners in the Koyukuk district in the
season just closed produced §600,000 in gold—an average
of $6,000 apiece. That is a fine showing and it is doubtful
if it could be equaled in any other gold camp whatsoever.
Yet viewed from the standpoint of a modern American
business man there is nothing so wonderful about it. Ev
ery dollar taken out subtracted just that much from the
value of the mining property. The operator of a protected
industry under such circumstances would have no difficulty
in demonstrating to a guileless public that :he was doing
business at an actual loss; for, of course, it is nobody’s
-concern how he acquired his productive increment any,more
than how the Koyukuk operator acquired his ground.
However, we will not grumble, for every mining man that
goes broke in this manner will sally foltli an experienced
prospector- and prospectors, they tell us, are just what
this country needs.
Remember
The Grand Hotel
WHILE STOPPING IN TANANA
UP-TO-PA'IE ROOMS AND BUNKS, AI.SO GOOD DOGHOUSES.
FINE WINES, LIQUORS AND CIGARS,
Pool And Billiard Tables In Connection.
Charley Chanquist Prop.
JACK O’HARA
JACK HUNNEWELL
The Northern
SULLIVAN CITY
Again at the Old Stand in Our Brand-New Building.
We Garin Only the Best Wines, Liqnors and Cigars
Now that the rush to the Iditarod has been checked
by the ending of navigation it is in order to form as correct
an estimate as may be of the futui'e of that camp. It has
one asset the value of which is incalculable: as fine an ag
gregation of pioneer placer miners as any country can boast.
The destiny of the district so far as human effort is con
cerned is largely in the hands of men who transformed a
wilderness of uncertainty and doubt into the modern city
and highly productive district of Fairbanks; and when that
is said the only other thing necessary to assure a new region
of profitable activity is a sufficiency of gold-bearing ground.
To a warm-corner moralist the Iditarod stampeders may not
be an altogether-lovely lot; but they are the kind that do
things, and their confidence in themselves and in the new
field has spread a contagion o| optimism that we sincerely
hope will not lead to disappointment.
THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME
“Tho fascination of poker,” said William Hodge, the actor, to
a New York Press man, “can’t really be defined, but to illustrate:
“A man went to heaven, and after he had been there a few
days, he grew so lonesome that he told St. Peter that he reckoned
that he'd go down and take a look at the other place.
“ ‘But if you go down there you can’t get back,’ said St. Peter.
“‘Well, I only want to go just to look at tho place,’said the
man. So St. Peter agreed to give him a return pass if he promised
to be back along toward night.
“He agreed, took the pass, and started off. When he reached
his destination the first thing he saw wa ; a party of old friends
playing poker, but they wouldn’t let him into the game because he
admitted that he had no money.
“ ‘ Well, I'll fix that all right,’he said, as he left them and wan
dered off through one of the corridors. Pretty soon he come back
and threw a big roll of bills down on the table, and demanded chips.
They all looked in astonishment at the size of his pile and wanted
to know where lie got it, saying that they would not play with him
unless he told them.
“ ‘That’s all right,’ he said. ‘Give me some chips. I sold my
pass. ’ ”
USELESS GRIEFS
A hundred year* rind more men wrung their hands and walked
the floor, and worried over this and that, and thought their
cares would squash them fl it. Where are those worried beings
now? The bearded goat, the festive cow eats grass above their
mouldered bones, and jaybirds cry in strident tones. And where
file ills they woriied o’er? Forgotten, all for evermoie. Gone all
the sorrows and the woe that lived a hundred years ago! The grief
that makes you scream today, like other griefs, will pass away; and
when you’ve cashed your little string, and jaybirds o’er your bosom
sing, the stranger, pausing there to view the marble works that
cover you, will think upon the uselessness of linn an worry and dis
tress. So let die worry business slide; live while you live, and
when you’ve died' the folks will say around your bier: “He made a
hit while he was heie!”—Walt Mason.
GENERAL GRANT
A TEETOTALER
Major Gen. Frederick D. Grant, who led the temperance procession
in Chicago on September 25, was quoted by the Rev. T. F. Dornblazer,
pastor of the Grace Knglish Lutheran church, in addressing a union
rally of tempeiaroe people at Willard hall, as saying:
“Tell young men that Gen. Grant does not drink a drop of liquo.
and has not for 18 years, because he is afraid to drink. I tried to drink
with extreme moderation, because I knew that alcohol is the worst
poison that a man can take into his system, but I found that it was an
absolute impossibility to drink moderately'. Because moderate drink
ing is a practical impossibility I became an absolute teetotaller—a crank,
if you please. I will not allow it even in my house.
“Drink is the gieatest curse because practically ail ctime and all
disaster are the result of it. Ninety five per cent, of desertions and acts
of lawlessness in the army are due to drink.
“If I could by offering my body as a sacrifice free this country trom
the fell cancer—the demon drink— I’d thank the Almighty for the priv
ilege of doing it. If I had the greatest appointive power in the conn
try no man would get even the smallest appointment from me unless he
showed proof of his absolute teetotalism. As it is, of my own appoin
tees, the members of my staff, not one of them touches a drop. They
know better.”
FOOLS NOT
ALL DEAD
Aurora, 111., Sept. 5.—The ri
valry between the tire depart
ments of the towns of Sandwich
and Plano resulted in the death
of Bert Poster, a member of the
Plano brigade. He was the vic
tim of illness brought by a “water
battle” at Plano on the Fourth of
July, when the two departments
picked their champions, and the
two teams attempted to drown
each other out with streams of
water thrown by their engines.
Poster was not the only victim
of the bitter contest, as none of
the five others who took part in
it has recovered their full
strength, and all are threatened
with serious results.
The “water battle” was a fea
ture of the Fourth of July festiv
ities at Plano. The volunteer
fire departments of the two towns
had been bitter rivals for years.
They had met in speed dashes,
ladder climbing and all sorts of
fire-fighting tests, and the cham
pionship still was in doubt, when
some one suggested the battle as
the means of showing which de
partment possessed the “garnest”
men.
• Both towns selected their best
three men for the contest. The
men lined up in pairs, each with
the nozzle of his weapon full in
the face of his opponent. The
umpire gave the starting word
and the streams of water were
turned on in full force.
The force of the water at such
close range staggered all at first,
and it seemed the tilt would
be short-lived. The men rallied
gallantly, however! and finally an
hour passed and still uo one had
yielded. Just as the hour was
passed Foster staggered, re
gained his footing and then col
lapsed and pitched forward un
conscious on his face. The crowd
had tired by this time, and when
Foster fell cried for a halt. Sher
iff Normandin ordered the strug
gle stopped, declaring it a drrw.
•Toll Printing at The Leader office.
TOWER QA
HOTEL OA
Tanana’s Newest Resort
Kevr
Goods.
The r
Place {
To
Meet
Your j
Friends
i
BEST BRANDS OF
WINES, LIQUORS, CIGARS
Joe Anlcich, "6Ulpper.”
Tom Rockwell, “Schooner Pilot."
Stanley House
HOT SPRINGS’ NEWEST HOTEL
First-Class Restaurant Frank . Stanl y, Prop
CHAS. B. ALLEN,
Attorney at Law
Rampakt, Aka.
Legal Papers Carefully Drawn.
Stoclciarcl Kay
THE
! NOR T HyE R N.
BEST WINES
LIGUORS AND
CIGARS.
Pool Tables In Connection.
Stoddard Kay
CAMP GIBBON NO. 25, Arctic Brother
hood, meets every Monday night
in A. 15. Hall, corner Second st.
and Campbell ave. at !) o'clock.
Visiting Arctics cordially invited to at
tend the meetings of the Camp.
Pint, Gali.ahf.r. Arctic Chief.
J. Uusseli. Walle, Arctic Itec.
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