The Chitina Leader
CHITIXA, ALASKA.
Enterrd as second-class matter, November 12, 1910, at the postoffice at
Chitina, Alaska, under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879.
ONLY NEWSPAPER IN CHITINA
Published every Saturday by
WILL A. STEEL—Editors, Managers and Proprietors—HARRY G. STEEL
Office: Hotel Chitina Building. Cordova Office: Daily Alaskan
Seattle Office: 551 Colman Building.
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
One Month .* 'no
One Y'ear .
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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, JULY 30, 1912,
ALASKA BEFORE THE FOOTLIGHTS
Who dares intimate that Alaska is not getting into the
spotlight? On the first ballot in the Democratic national con
vention in Baltimore the lion. “Bill” Sulzer, of Sulzer, Alaska,
received two votes. These votes were stampeded in the second
ballot, but nevertheless our Bill got mentioned in the press dis
patches, hut he was so little known that he was credited to New
York. And yet Sulzer owns mines and things down Ketchikan
wav and is taking a lively personal interest in the railroad
bill.
And speaking of publicity, George Baldwin, of Valdez, ap
pears in the Public Forum of Leslie’s Weekly with his state
ment about the urgent needs for Alaska. The article is accom
panied by an excellent likeness.
Secretary Fisher advocates the rebuilding of the Alaska
Northern and its purchase by the government in an article in
the Independent. The whole article is unfair to the Alaska sit
uation, but then, it is putting the question into the public eye,
so some good can come of it, especially as his article is being
answered.
The Railway & Marine News of Seattle copies an editorial
from the Railway Record of Chicago in which the Chicago pa
per takes up the fight in behalf of fair play for Alaska in this
new railroad deal. It is a fine article.
The Buffalo Courier has three full pages devoted to the
Copper River region. Cordova is given a splendid showing.
In the studio of II. L. A. Culmer, the artist who painted
. this region last summer, is hung a fine collection of small paint
ings of Eyak Lake, Cordova harbor and the Copper River.
The London Times, in its issue of June 28th. has a special
article on the railroads of Alaska, written by E. II. Thomas, who
visited the territory last summer.
Ivleinschmidt’s moving picture films of Alaska were sold
recently in New York for $50,000. They have been on Broad
way for weeks at $1 per ticket and have attracted great atten
tion. Every theatrical column in New York carried splendid
notices. At the same time B. B. Dobbs is making hay with his
movies showing all over the Northwest.
George Sliiras, 3rd, has a very lengthy article in the cur
rent number of the National Geographic Magazine on the game
of Alaska. It is illustrated by photos taken by the author last
summer.
And not omitting Kazis Krauczunas of Ketchikan, who is
going the rounds of the Eastern press.
These few samples of what is going on in the work of get
ting the big Alaska show over the footlights, together with the
important fact that both national conventions tried very hard
to include some sort of a jfiank into the platforms and succeed
ed to a degree, tend to show what a change is taking place and
liow the territory is slowly coming into her own.
NEEDED MEASURE OF RELIEF
Seattle will join with Alaska in hoping that the visit to the
Northern territory ot' the cruiser Maryland will be a signal for
speedy opening of its coal fields.
Incidentally, The Times would witness, in the development
of these mighty fuel measures, a successful culmination to a
tight which it has lent its best efforts to those who realize that
only in this way can Alaska be opened up to settlement.
The commerce that will result from the mining of the
Alaska coal or the steel industry that will be built up on Puget
Sound as a result of the development of the iron and coal re
sources of the Western Slope, will be merely incidental to the
other business that will be assured Seattle when Alaska is open
ed up to settlement.
While the territory, in due time, will have local manufac
tures commensurate to its population, for many years, it will
be dependent for all such products on the United States, and for
all times it will be dependent for some of these articles.
This trade will flow through Seattle. This is the logical
shipping point. It is closest not only to Alaska, but to the man
ufacturing centers of the country, as well. Moreover, the trade
already flows through the channels of this city to a marked ex
tent and accessions would come, beyond question of doubt, in
proportion.
But the development of Alaska presupposes the existence
of transportation. Thus was the West developed. Thus is Can
ada being developed now. So will Alaska be opened up, in due
time.
The first requisite for successful operation of railroads is
cheap fuel. Alaska has it in abundance. The problem merely
is to open it up to use.
Once this latter work has been accomplished, there will be
no difficulty in inteersting railroads—and witli the building of
these lines, immigration and development certainly will fol
low.—Seattle Times.
--oooo--—
ALASKA’S ELECTION FOR DELEGATE
Johnny Canuck’s close neighbor, Uncle Sam, just now is
having quite the fussiest family affair to settle that has fallen
to his lot in many years. ITe has to choose from among many
factions and numerous aspirants the right man to guide the
ship of state for the next four years. Each day seems to add
to the complexity of the plot. Dawson is taking singular in
terest in the fight because of being so situated as to be able to
view the go without prejudice. And in this burg this week an
added interest is given to American politics because of the
presence here of two candidates for the House of Representa
tives which is to sit during the incumbency of the next Presi
dent. A third Alaskan delegate will be here in a few days. A
fourth, who passed through here several days ago, is now some
where in the lower Yukon country. The Alaskan contest is sure
to draw the attention of all parties in the States. Alaska has
been the bone of contention during the Taft administration, and
one of the big factors is the split of the Republican national co
horts. Alaska will choose her delegate August 13, three
months before the general election. She will name her choice
so soon after the holding of the several national conventions
that the people throughout America will look anxiously to the
returns of the northern territory to see just what the Alaskans
themselves have to say as to their affairs—the affairs which
have been the subject of so much national controversy and
which are yet to be threshed out to a vast extent on the plat
form of every state.
Able men are before the electors of Alaska, and their pro
grams are well defined. The chaotic condition in the national
campaign leaves Alaska just now more or less alone in her fight.
Local issues and the personalities of the men will go far in de
ciding the contest, but at the same time that does not mean
there will not be conclusions reached as to the beliefs of the
people of the territory as Jo policies that should be pursued in
respect to government of the territory and the handling of hei
resources.
One strong fight which Alaska has been making on her own
behalf is that for home rule. Yukon territory, the Canadian
Yukon, has enjoyed home rule ever since erection into a terri
tory fourteen years ago. It is singular that this British terri
tory should so long have this advantage of representative gov
ernment while the neighboring territory, under the government
which broke away from the English 136 years ago because ol
a grievance over non-representation and taxation is so long
without tiie boon so coveted in the American traditions. The
point serves to show how progressive have become the British
under constitutional monarchy during the last several genera
tions, and iiow the new republic will have to sprint in order to
keep up with the procession in colonization. Americans have
devoted themselves chiefly to home and internal affairs while
the British have developed on a world-wide scale. The sent!
meat in Alaska is, and long has been, strong respecting repre
sentative government and the privilege of home legislation ol
affairs of pure local concern, but the central government has
been slow in recognizing the great advantage of the home ruh
privilege for a new and struggling region so far removed from
the national center.
It is plainly evident that Alaska will get on far better ii
permitted to adjust affairs of local nature at home. Legislator.
.it Washington, no matter how wise, cannot be adequately in
formed on the peculiar conditions and local wants and nevei
will take sufficient interest to give satisfactory laws.
It is to be hoped that Alaska will make the wisest choice as
to a delegate to Washington, one who will so work that the ter
ritory will soon see an end to the difficulties which now beset
it.—Dawson News.
--oooo-——
ALASKAN ARCADIA
Kodiak Island, our land of Angeline, was settled by the
early Russian colonists, simultaneously, with Sitka, the capital
ef the Russian occupation. Those who came from the land oi
I he great White Czar mated with the Aleuts, and from them
sprang a race of fair men and women, who in the years inter
vening, taking advantage of the moderate climate of the island,
cleared the land and built homes until the place became a ver
itable garden spot. Considerable lields covered with a thick
carpet of grass, dotted with cattle and sheep, brought to mind
..lie title of this article.
It was a fair sight tor the eye to dwell upon. Peace and con
tentment reigned in the little community. Besides their pastoral
duties the settlement was eng’aged in fishing, there being a can
aery, a saltery and a refrigerating plant to give employment to
all whose desiring to work. True, no great fortunes were made,
and yet, poverty and want were unknown. At the salmon tan
nery, a model in Alaska, no Chinaman, no son of Nippon, no
foreigner was employed. When the boats came in loaded viib
tisli the cannery hell pealed out its musical call, summoning the
matrons and maids to the cannery to pack the fruits of a pro
lific sea. The task completed, the hell again bid them repaii
to their homes. These women and girls were paid a fair rcmun
eration for their work, thus adding to the up-keep of the home.
Captain Blodgett, the master mind, thus encompassed a
three-fold purpose. The product of his industry was clean; the
money paid out for labor remained at home, and, greater than
all, he inculcated a spirit of industry, teaching the simple pen
pie the true lesson of liberty—an ability and a willingness to
become self-supporting. Following the traditions of their an
cestors, the native born are communicants of the Greek church
and took to “papa’ for spiritual as Avell as wordly guidauce.
When Katmai covered the land with ash and pumice an attempt
AATas made to have I lie people remoA'ed to a place where the\’
would be at the mercy of a great corporation. It was then that
( aptain Blodgett and the Russian priest interposed an emphatic
“No! We will stay by our homes, again clear our land and in
time what lias appeared as a curse will proA’e our blessing. If
AA?e have to iiioap, we will go ay hero there is work; where we can
be free instead oi the shues of an institution Avhose oiiIa* inter
est in our welfare is our capacity to Avork. ”
And thus Kodiak is to lie redeemed; she will rise from the
ashes, and again the cattle will bellow and the sheep bleat. Our
gOA eminent could well earn a lesson from the inhabitants of
Kodiak. lor Avithin themselves they liaA’e learned the lesson
ot life as other natiA’e peoples should be gh’en an opportunitA'
to do, by placing over them a Captain Blodgett and a sincere
spiritual advisor.
Kodiak Avill again blossom as the rose; prosperity will not
desert a brave people.—Valdez Prospector.
-oooo---—
The Prohibitionist proposition to take the name of Pro
gressive party looks as if it might he based on the logic of the
fox who ran off Avitli the bone AA'hile the dog and wolf were
fighting over its ownership.
THE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH
Misrepresentation to secure votes will not avail James
Wickersham this year, as the people of Alaska are too wide
awake over the real needs of the territory to be longer misled.
They demand results; they want to see the coal opened; they
want to see railroads built; they want to see smelters and other
local industries established and the resources of Alaska util
ized in a way that will reward the pioneers for their years of
efforts and give thousands of people steady employment.
It must be apparent by this time to every fair-minded per
son that Mr. Wickersham has been and is still opposed to any
and every policy or plan looking to this end. He is fighting and
opposing the efforts of the government road commission to se
cure funds for roads, without having worked out any other
plan for answering the same purpose, solely because of per
sonal differences with Major Richardson. He is again endeav
oring, as he has succeeded in doing in the past, to make Alaska
the battleground, or the chopping block, as it were, for his per
sonal and private animosities. His attack yesterday charging
Representative Booher with being in a conspiracy to hand the
coal mines of Alaska over to the railroad interests, because of
a leasing bill the latter introduced, is on a par with his former
tactics and those of John E. Lathrop, the discredited newspaper
correspondent, and Gifford Pinchot, in clouding the real issues
in Alaska through misrepresentation.
Mr Wickersham worked the “Guggenheim bogy man”
scare so effectively the last campaign that he evidently believes
he can do so again. He forgets that the people outside, as well
as in Alaska, have thoroughly analyzed the mass of lies, exag
gerations and false deductions which served the purpose of
muekrakers for a time, and have reached the point where they
demand hard, cold facts instead of falsehoods cunningly woven
around half-truths and far-fetched surmises. Alaska has now
reached the point where it demands straight forward dealing
and it will no longer tolerate a continuance of demagogic tac
tics. The people have suffered enough from such.
Another indication of the subtle method used by the pres
ent delegate in the hopes of catching votes is by giving himself
credit for legislative measures carried forward by others. For
iustance, he sent telegrams to Alaska, over the government
wire, giving the impression that “his home rule bill” had
passed. In a Valdez paper published in his interest and sent
free to Alaskans, is a copy of what is purported to be “the
Wickersham home rule bill in its amended form.” As a matter
of fact, this bill has hardly any semblance to the home rule bill
introduced by Wickersham. The Alaskan has a copy of the
bill showing where whole sections were stricken. Mr. Wicker
sham’s bill has not been seriously considered by either the Re
publicans or Democrats, and entirely new bills were presented
and amended and constitute the present home rule bill, and yet
Mr. Wickersham would create the impression that it was his
home rule bill which finally passed the Senate. Whatever leg
islation may be enacted for Alaska is due to the efforts of
friends of Alaska and Alaskans themselves to dislodge from
the public mind the false impressions created by Wickersham
and his muckraking companions.
-oooo
Senator Dillingham admits that there is not one paper in
Vermont that agrees with him on his stand in the Lorimer mat
ter, but says he would rather be right than hold a seat iu the
Senate. In which respect he possibly differs from Mr. Lorimer.
And now the Prohibitionists claim to be progressives dso.
not to be sure to a “scorching” extent, however.
“It was Hearst’s master mind that planned the downfall
of William Jennings Bryan,” says the Washington Post. Per
haps Bryan may feel disposed to have the master mind to plan
a few more downfalls for him.
The promoters of the Johnson-Flynn fight mournfully as
sert that they lost $20,000 on the enterprise. A few more such
returns will do more to abolish prize fighting than several
tomes of legislation.
The Caomorrists have appealed, but Italian procedure is not
nearly as elastic as ours, and there is little danger of their es
caping sentence on a technicality.
If there is one variety of the human kind with which the
world has little patience, it is the person, who, when looking for
trouble, finds it and then squeals. The man with a chip on his
shoulder rarely receives much sympathy when somebody comes
along and not only knocks off the little piece of wood but most
of the shoulder carrying it.
Just to prove how harmonious the Democracy is, the New
York World continues to lambaste Murphy and Tammany, and
Mr. Ilearst to wallop Mr. Bryan.
“This is one Presidential year in which almost any reform^
er can pick out a ticket to support that fairly represents his
ideas.” Probably since every ticket claims to represent all the
reform ideas. But if the particular reformer does not find him
self suited he has ample precedent for running on his own ac
count.
One of the uniqnie bits of aftermath of the Republican con
vention is the movement in Oregon to prevent Coe and Acker
man, delegates, from drawing the $200 allowed by the state for
compensation as delegates. They were elected to vote for the
nomination of Roosevelt and Borah, and when the time came to
fulfill their instructions they had flown the tracks. Out in Ore
gon, when delegates are paid to vote according to instruction,
there are people who claim that the goods should be delivered.
Kansas farmers are now putting forth their annual cry for
help to save the wheat crop. The Kansas fanners always start
this petition too late. It comes at the season when the hoboes
have decided that it is hot enough to take a vacation.
A lot of wear and tear on gray matter will, however, be
avoided by waiting until the electoral college is elected before
figuring on its composition.
r\VO MAILS ARE DUE
TO ARRIVE MONDAY
The steamer Bertha will roach port
■arly Monday morning and the steatn
;r Alameda later in the day. Each
vessel carries four days’ accumula
:lon of mail from Seattle, which will
mean a busy day at the local post
jffice.
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0. ADRIAN NELSON |
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• U. S. Mineral Surveyor j
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: CHITINA - - - ALASKA ! ’
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Chitina [
Pharmacy \
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Drugs t
Stationery ♦
Magazines :
Candy l
Fruit x
Cigars ♦
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A. G. MOREY, Prop. |
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| GROCERIES, HARDWARE i j
• and—-—--— ::
! MEAT MARKET I!
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; We have a big line of Sec- < «
• ond-Hand Goods, and can • •
> save you money on your out- , .
! fit. Bunk House, with free ] !
\ Cook House, in connection. \ \
CHITINA HEIGHTS
• Cordes & Simons • >
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PUBLIC LAND AND MINING
CASES.
If you are interested in any contest
or any matter before the Interior De
partment, write to Clark & Wright,
registered land lawyers, 902 F Street
N. W. (opposite Gen’l Land Office),
Washington, D. C. Free information
about contests and where to obtain
scrip, locatable upon public lands,
without residence or cultivation.
Feed, Fuel
and
Lumber
*
HAY, 11RAN', OATS, CHOPS,
ROLLED HARLEY
We can make prompt ship
ment* to points on the rail
road. Our feed la the very
best quality.
0. A. Nelson & Co.
CHITINA