XANANA LEADER
Published Every Thursday at Tanana, Alaska.
Vil 2
SAM J. CALLAHAN, EDITOR No. IS
Caa. 1.1. Arbuskla. Manager
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IDITAROD STARTS A NEW ERA
It is too early yet to predict with any degree of cer
tainty how large and productive a camp the Iditarod will
become. Everything points to a great influx of people into
the region, and it is not unreasonable to conclude that at
least a mining center of a good many hundreds of people
will be established and maintained there. It may be also
ta-Ken for granted that the settlement will assume a degree
of permanency, for, oft-repeated assertion to the contrary
notwithstanding, placer camps in this country are not short
lived as we are accustomed to measure the lapse of time and
the march of events.
After the first rush, should the Iditarod settle down to
a camp cf only five hundred people it will still be second
in point of population of all interior Alaska places. It will
have neighboring settlements containing in the aggregate
a good many people: some of them might outgrow in a
month the Iditarod itself; but in the Innoko and at differ
ent nearby points on the Kuskokwim small collections of
people are sure to be found from this time forward. So.
rejecting everything at all visionary in the situation, there
is a new center of population and industry forming in
interior Alaska that will command attention from now on.
It is interesting to speculate on the effect the new de
velopment will have on the interior country at large. In
all reason it should be advantageous in many respects.
Heretofore the wealth and energy of tho country has been
concentrated at Fairbanks, leaving, perhaps, an impression
with our friends at Washington that that city, its environ
ments, and the routes by land and water thereto, constitute
the principal objects of value. It would be no surprise to
see Fairbanks progress to a position of greater wealth than
it has even heretofore enjoyed—it is sure to continue to be
a big producer of gold; but the thought is pleasing that
the various departments of government will not always
feel that city’s pulse and apply plasters to its extremities
in a laudable effort to keep the balance of the country in a
state of health.
Fairbanks is now so easy of access from the Outside
that the men and money which leaves there for the Iditarod
will be easy to replace, if they are needed. The smaller
camps will none of them be deserted. The interior country,
Fairbanks not excepted, was in need of a tonic, and if the
Iditarod can scare up a big lot of good pay it will fit the
ciss very well and The Leader will be glad of it.
BILL INTRODUCED BY WICKERSHAM
A bill introduced in the house of representatives March
8 by Delegate Wickersham provides a tax of 5 cents a 48
pound case for all food fishes canned in Alaska; fish oil, 10
cents per 100 pounds; fertilizer from fish or other sea ani
mal, 50 cents a ton; for all food fishes, not canned, caught
in Alaska waters and carried out of the territory, 10 cents
per 100 pounds; for each fishing boat propelled with oars
or sails, §1, (not to apply to a single boat owned or used by
any bona fide resident); for each launch, tug, steamer or
sailing vessel used in the fishing trade in Alaska waters or
in transporting fishermen, employees, supplies or fish in
the waters of Alaska or to and from Alaska, 81 per gross
ton capacity, (any such vessel owned by a bona fide resi
dent and employed exclusively in the fishing trade to pay
only 50 cents per ton gross capacity); for each stake trap,
floating trap, fish wheel, or other mechanical device for
catching food fish in the tidal waters of Alaska or in any
of the streams emptying into Bristol Bay or the Pacific
Ocean waters $100; for each haul seine, purse seine, or gill
net, 1 cent per yard (to bona fide residents but half a cent
per yard); for all walrus ivory and whalebone taken in the
waters of Alaska, or which shall be landed in Alaska for
any purpose whatever, 1 cent per pound.
The money collected to go into the United States treas
ury and constitute a distinct fund, to be known as the
“Alaska fund—fisheries,” and to be wholly devoted—one
fifth to the establishment and maintenance of salmon fish
hatcheries in Alaska and a cod hatchery on Shumagin
islands; one fifth to be devoted, in equal parts, to defray
ing the expenses of the district courts in the four judicial
divisions of Alaska; two fifths to be expended in building
schoolhouses and maintaining public schools outside of in
corporated towns; and one fifth to be expended in the
establishment and maintenance of a home for aged, dis
abled and pioneer prospectors, and in aid and support of
sick and indigent persons.
The bill also provides that companies engaged in the
fishing trade in Alaska who shall bring merchandise into
the territory to sell to employees, or to any one else, at any
other place than in an established store regularly main
tained during the year, shall pay double the license tax
imposed upon mercantile establishments by the act of June
C, 1900; and for fishery employes, on land or water, except
Alaska Indians, paying a $0 ttoad tax, the money received
therefrom to go into the ‘JJ^Jiska fund” (for school pur
poses, maintenance of schools, care of the insane, etc.) In
addition to present license taxes, the following are provided:
Barber shops, $5 per annum; dredges, one half of 1 per cent,
of gross output; electric light and power plants, in commu
nities of less than 500 population §50, in towns of 500 or
more and less than 1,000 $15QL in towns or communities of
1,000 or more §300 per annuln; lodging and roadhouses,
§15 per annum; coal mines,^1 cent per ton; copper, 10
cents for each ton mined; gold, one half of one per cent, of
gross amount derived from quartz mines; telegraph and
telephone lines, §5 per mile per annum.
The bill provides that persons having heretofore taken
homesteads in other states or territories are not debarred
from homestead entry in Alaska.
POOR ECONOMY
“PI! lake a gun,” the sad man said, “and pour some shot
into my head and then curl up and die; this weary life upon me
palls; I’m tired of prunes and codfish balls, who used to live on
pie. The flour, the hay, the bread, the meat, and everything a
man must eat, would break a plutocrat; my salary’s a nice
amount, but when I pay my grub account you see me busted
flat. And so, my dear and precious wife, the joy and sunshine
of my life, I think it’s up to me to take the shotgun from the
shelf and with it go and hang myself and be from trouble free.”
The wife replied: “My dearest hub! You noble, handsome,
sawed-off dub! You’re talking through your hat; it’s true the
price of bread and meat and cabbages and beans and beets
would break a plutocrat; but if you end the beastly grind and
leave your little wife behind, with grief I’ll soon be gray; the
coffin trust will seek this spot and levy on the house and lot
and garnishee my pay. It's hard to do without your pie, but
then it costs so much to die you can't afford it yet; to slumber
in a graveyard ditch is something for the idle rich—the poor
must live and sweat.—Walt Mason.
REMARKABLE DEATH SENTENCE
Pronounced by Jitdge Benedict on a
Murderer in. New Mexico
Probably the best anecdote of Judge Benedict, of New Mexico,
says the Green Bag. is that told with regard to his sentence ol'
death pronounced upon one Jose Maria Martin, who was convicted
of murder in the district court of Taos county made a state of facts
showing great brutality and with absolutely no mitigating circum
stances. Judge Benedict said:
“Jose Maria Martin, stand up! Jose Maria Martin, you have
been indicted, tried and convicted by a jury of your countrymen of
the crime of murder and the court is now about to pass upon you
the dread sentence of the law. As a usual thing, Jose Marie Mar
tin, it is a painful duty for the judge of a court of justice to pro
nounce upon a human being the sentence of death. There is some
thing horrible about it and the mind of the conrt naturally revolts
from the performance of such a duty. Happily, however, your
case is relieved of all such unpleasant features and the court takes
positive delight in sentencing you to death.
“You are a young man, Jose Marie Martin; apparently of
good physical constitution and robust health. Ordinarily you
might have looked forward to many years of life, and the court has
no doubt you have, and have expected to die at a green old age;
but you are about to be cut off on account of your own act. Jose
Marie Martin, it is now the spring time; in a little while the grass
will be springing up green in these beautiful valleys and on those
broad mesas and mountainsides flowers will be blooming; birds
will be singing their sweet carols and nature will be putting on her
most gorgeous and her most attractive robes, and life will be pleas
ant and men will want to stay; but none of this for you, Jose Marie
Martin; the flowers will not bloom for you, Jose Maria Martin; the
birds will not carol for you, Jose INfnrie Martin; when these things
come to gladden the senses of men you will be occupying a space
about six by two beneath the sod and the green grass and these
beautiful flowers will be growing above your lowly head.
“The sentence of the court is that you be taken from this
place to the county jail; that you be kept there safely and securely
confined, in the custody of the sheriff, until the day appointed for
your execution. Be very careful, Mr. Sheriff, that he have no op
port unity to escape, and that you have him at the appointed place
at the appointed lime. That you be so kept, Jose Marie Martin,
until -Mr. Clerk, on what day of the month does Friday, about
two weeks from this time come?”
“March 22, yonr honor.”
“Very well, until Friday, the 22nd day of March, when you
will be taken by the sheriff from your place of confinement to some
safe and convenient spot within the county—that is in yonr discre
tion, Mr. Sheriff; you are only confined to the limits of the county
—and that you there be hanged by the neck until you are dead,
and—the court was about to add, Jose Marie Martin, ‘may God
have mercy on your soul,’ but the court will not assume the re
sponsibility of asking an all wise Providence to do that which a
jury of your peers has refused to do. The Lord couldn’t have
mercy on your soul.
“However, if your affect any religious belief or are connected
with any religious organization it might be well enough for you to
send for your priest or your minister and get from him—well, such
consolation as you can—but the court advises you to place no reli
ance upon anything of that kind. Mr. Sheriff, remove the pris.
oner.”
• James Fredrickson, the Tanana
carpenter and builder, left last Sun
day for the Iditarod country in an
swer to a letter from his partner,
who has been there since last sum
mer. Mrs. Fredrickson will join
her husband after the opening of
navigation.
See us for Cloth Fosters.
CLEAN AND REFRESHING
BATHS
All Hours Wednesdays and Saturdays
—AT—
Williams' New Barber Shop
Front St., Tanana.
GOLDEN NORTH CAFE
Garrpg the Best Supplies on the Market
OYSTERS, FISH AND GAME
IN SEASON
Centrally Located. In Connection with Grand Hotel.
ED Y. LEE, PROP.
Northern Commercial Co.
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Joe Anlcscft, Prop. Tanana, Alaska
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