The Chitina Leader I
CHITINA, ALASKA.
Entered 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 O. STEEL
Office: Hotel Chitina Building. Cordova Office: Daily Alaskan
Seattle Office: 551 Colman Building.
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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 23, 1912.
THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM
Party platforms are not as vital now as they formerly
were, chiefly because the laxity of politicians in adhering to
these pledges has caused a lapse of public faith in their strict
performance. But the platform adopted at Chicago is the pro
fession of the Republican party for the future on which it seeks
the votes of the people. As President Taft, more than any other
President of recent years, has developed the idea that these
promises are made to be kept, the instrument is well worth con
sidering.
The platform, besides the usual and not unjustifiable re
counting of Republican achievements in the past, divides it
self into several leading topics. These are changes in Consti
tution or statutes affecting the judicial power, the regulation
of great corporations with regard to their effect on interstate
commerce, the protective tariff, the currency system, civil ser
vice and efficiency in government business and a group of
minor topics which come under the general head of conserva
tion of resources. On all of these, while there may be room
for differences of opinion as to details, the general policy is
sound and sensible.
With regard to those calling for special comment, it is no
ticeable that no reference is made to the initiative and referen
dum, these issues being confined to the states. The duty of the
courts to construe constitutional provisions is regarded as self
evident, and as this may involve a consideration of the recall,
as applied to the federal judiciary, the platform declares for
simplifying the process by which any judge found derelict in
his duty may be removed from office. On the interstate com
merce and trust questions the declaration is for the enforce
ment of the law, with supplementary legislation for the anti
trust act making the prohibitions more specific and a federal!
trade commission. The tariff plank takes clearly the stand .of
the reduction of excessive rates in accordance with the finding
of an expert commission on the differences in wage cost of pro
duction. On the currency question the platform does not dis
tinctly endorse the Aldrich plan, but it leans in that direction,
while it adds the proposition for organizations having for their
purpose the loaning of funds to farmers. It declares for the
maintenance and extenscion of the civil service system and the
improvement of efficiency in the conduct of government bus
iness. It supports the patcels post, with rates graduated by a
zone system; flood preventions, reclamation of public lands by
irrigation, improvement of rivers and harbors and development
of Alaska’s coal lands by the lease system.
AArtft_
?> THE ARTFUL DODGER
i -7
All attempts to make James Wickersliam announce in un
qualified terms that he is an active candidate for delegate to
Congress have proven abortive. The most that can be obtained
from the oily James is that he is “in the hands of his friends.”
Maybe there is some method in the hybrid candidate’s as
sumption of a non-committal attitude. It appears on the one
hand that James', doubtful of the outcome, has cast an anchor
to the windward and is preparing to say that he was not an ac
tive candidate, took no part in the campaign, resting his case
entirely in the hands of friends who proved themselves incapa
ble of managing a winning campaign. James is capable of this,
as he has heretofore been known to show a perfect willingness
to sacrifice his friends in order to save his own hide.
To the man up the tree, however, it looks very much as if
our delegate to Congress crossed a political stream on the backs
of his friends in order to save the luster of his shoes, when he
had them assemble in convention to nominate six delegates to
the Chicago convention instructed for Teddy Roosevelt. It is
quite likely that Mr. Wickersliam, who was not particularly de
sirous of remaining in Congress under adverse conditions, fig
ured that if he could land Alaska to Roosevelt, through a rump
convention, and the latter succeeded in getting the Chicago
nomination, it would eventuate in his landing in the guberna
torial chair with the seven hundred or more federal appoint
ments at his disposal. The local delegates in the Wickersliam
convention, together with the five delegates who attended from
neighboring towns were merely the catspaws of the subtle ma
nipulator back in Washington.
The Honorable James was willing to stultify Alaska and
make monkeys of his supporters in order to satisfy an insatia
ble ambition for office and its concomitant powers. It is equal
ly noticeable that the wiley James is permitting his followers to
foot the campaign bills in the blind hope that some day the
present delegate will land them in comfortable berths at the
public crib.
With his usual thrift, Mr. Wickersliam is using flic gov
ernment telegraph to boom his candidacy, in telling how much
lie is doing by franking his dispatches as official business. And
this, too, from the man who sees so much to condemn in others.
—Valdez Prospector.
-oooo
Valdez’s fourth newspaper made its appearance this week
and it is the second political publication which is issued in that
town and distributed gratuitously. It is known as The Truth,
published in the interests of Martin Harrais’ candidacy and
edited by John Frame, who until recently furnished the copy
for the News Letter, the Wickersliam organ.
ALASKA: A Condition and
a Program
By Governor Walter E. Clark
Public opinion has frequently been
compared to the movement of a pen
dulum. Both swing forth and back,
responsive to an impelling force.
Both, after the force has been ap
plied, soon reach an extreme upward
point whence they inevitably gravi
tate backward and then move up
ward again to an opposite extreme.
The simile is inapt in this particular
among others: the pendulum of a
well ordered clock is regular, answer
ing a mechanical law, while that of
public opinion is often irregular and
subject to spasmodic impulses. The
comparison will answer, however^ for
the present purpose—which is to
show that public opinion concerning
Alaska has just now reached a point
from which it must inevitably re
treat, seeking the perpendicular po
sition of the pendulum while at rest.
The people generally and the law
makers generally do not understand
Alaska. A very few years ago the
people who live in the territory and
a minority of those who live in the
extreme northwest part of the Unit
ed States, at the Alaska gateway,
were almost the only people who be
lieved that this northern possession
of ours would ever be of any great
value to the nation; much less that
it would become largely inhabited or
yield a variety of natural products,
other than gold and furs and fish.
Very recently the territory has been
unwisely and indiscriminately adver
tised; and although it is unquestion
ably a vast treasure house, its great
resources have actually been overes
timated. Unfortunately the later con
dition has been promoted by persons
who, with whatever good intentions
(and their intentions have not been
invariably disinterested), have caus
ed a paralysis of natural develop
ment. Nothing could be further from
the facts than statements that cor
poration greed is threatening the
proper conservation of resources
other than the fisheries. Nothing
could be more disheartening to the
Alaskans than the present state of
inaction which has resulted.
It was not until 1905 that a slow
ly changing public opinion in regard
to Alaska received a still further
awakening by the preparations of
certain capitalists to connect some of
the interior copper fields with the
coast by a railroad nearly 200 miles
long. The building of the railroad
and the staking of many coal claims
under the provisions of a most in
adequate and unjust law governing
the acquisition of coal-bearing lands
marked the beginning of a greater
popular exploitation of Alaska and
its resources. The people of the ter
ritory had deplored the popular ig
norance in the states regarding Alas
ka and its climate, resources and pos
sibilities of development, and had ex
perienced much disappointment at
the reluctance of "eastern capital”
to invest in this distant and little un
derstood part of the world. The ac
tions of coal claimants have direct
ly and indirectly had the result of
involving unjustly one administra
tion of the Interior Department in
scaldal, and the investment of large
funds in railway building by a New
York syndicate has caused the inves
tors to be subjected to vicious at
tacks such as are frequently made up
on large corporate interests else
where. So it has come about that al
though Alaska was suffering until a
few years ago from the popular ig
norance and indifference about the
territory which were so prevalent in
the states there is now no lack of
persons who possess a considerable
knowledge of Alaska conditions—
howbeit that knowledge was diffused
to a large extent by persons who
found it profitable to spread exag
gerated statements and to invent
scandals. For the time being the
latter state seems scarcely better
than the former.
I would not disparage by any state
ment of mine such material progress
as has been made in Alaska by those
who have come here and given the
best years of their lives to a sturdy
work of development; but we must
all decry the fact that greater pro
gress has not been rendered possi
ble. The things that have been done
nave been done despite the want of
adequate fostering care by govern
ment.
Withal, the annual output of gold
ranges from $16,000,000 to $20,000,
000 a year, and the products of the
fisheries (last year) amounted to
about $14,000,000. Copper, timber,
furs and limited agricultural prod
ucts amount to a million or two more.
The annual coastwise commerce be
tween Alaska and tne States, in both
directions^ amounts to about $b0,
000,000 per annum. One can only
surmise how much greater would
have been the value of these products
and the volume of this commerce had
the past congresses devoted more
careful attention to the needs of the
territory.
The extraordinary controversies
over the coal lands and other matters
have had the effect, first, of directing
the attention of the general public
to the great resources of Alaska, and,
second, of bringing the principal
needs of the territory sharply to the
attention of Congress. These needs
are not of a complex nature at all,
but unfortunately the discussion of
the coal land, railroad and harbor
questions has been inspired by so
much selfishness and by such sordid
purposes of demagoglsm that a very
simple situation has been translated
into what is now commonly called
“the Alaska problem.” For my part
1 can not recognize the existence of
an “Alaskan problem” inherent in
any premises which existed prior to
the recent period of false "conserva
tion,” scandal and muckraking. If the
coal land question nad been treated
with wisdom and discernment eight
years ago, when a hopeless law was
enacted, or even four years ago when
a worse law was placed on the stat
ute books the present condition un
der which not an ounce of Alaska’s
rich store of fuel may be mined would
not have arisen at all. If we must
recognize a general Alaska problem
now, as it seems we must, the vari
ous questions of and by which it is
formed would still lend themselves to
solution if intelligence and devotion
and non-partisanship were applied to
the cause. But considerations of po
litical advantage, a good deal of ig
norance, and even a desire for per
sonal revenge have taken the place
of these. Nearly all of the most con
spicuous articles in the newspapers
and the periodical press have been
written by persons who never visited
Alaska, but who are confident, it
would appear, that somebody is try
ing to steal Alaska’s coal and every
tning else of value. They think it
their duty to stoy the thief. Particu
larly on the occasion of the Control
ler Bay fiasco mendacity raa riot,
and forgery succeeded falsehood. It is
not to be doubted that this sort of
publicity has had an unfortunate de
terring effect upon the Congress at
Washington, and this is scarcely to
be wondered at.
Since recent false statements have
contributed to much to the unfortun
ate situation in which Alaska finds it
self at present, it follows tlrat a
spreading of the truth will assist ma
terially in resolving this situation.
The truth is that neither the harbors
tributary to the coal fields, nor any
other harbors in the territory have
been monopolized, or even threaten
ed by any persons seeking excluBive
privileges. The truth is that no
transportation monopoly has been
created. The truth is that no large
aggregations of mineral claims have
been brought under monopolistic con
trol or ownership. The truth is that
while the development of Alaska re
sources calls loudly for large capi
tal, opportunities for poor men have
not been impaired and will not be
impaired, but rather improved by
the activities of capital. To use the
current phrase of demagogues, Alas
ka resources have not been “gobbled
up.” I apprehend that the members
of a syndicate who sHould accom
plish the impossible feat of “gobbling
up” Alaska would speedily suffer
from a severe attack of indigestion.
Greatly as we may deplore the
present conditions, we can not expect
a remedy by merely denouncing them.
A great many Alaskans and the lead
ing members of the national adminis
tration realize this. At the beginning
of the controversies produced oy the
application of a counterfeit policy of
conservation to the coal fields, resi
dents of the territory were far from
being agreed as to the remedies to
be applied. At first, the proposition
to lease the coal lands was a bone of
contention; and the proposal to build
a government railroad was opposed
by many. Very recently there has
been a distinct precipitation of pub
lic sentiment in the territory favor
able to any plan upon which the au
thorities at Washington may agree.
With the majority now the desire is
not to dispute as to just how the fuel
and transportation questions should
be settled but that those questions
be settled somehow and quickly.
A program of legislation to relieve
the present disheartening condition
in Alaska has been pretty thorough
ly worked out by the administration.
I refer first to certain minor meas
ures of proposed legislation. It is
a singular fact, not at all creditable
to the nation, that nearly forty-five
years after the occupation of Alas
ka by the United States, there are
wanting for the government of this
territory several elementary provi
sions of law which are found in every
other part of the civilized world.
There is no means of establishing a
quarantine in Alaska, except by the
means of a somewhat strained con
structions of the laws governing the
marine hospital service^ and no ade
quate means of preventing the spread
of contagious diseases; there is no
law providing for the supervision and
control of banks and banking, al
though there are many banks in the
territory; there is no provision for
the registration of births, marriages
and deaths, although the absence of
such records often causes grave in
justice and human suffering; there
Is no public means of relieving indi
gent persons. It is a part of the pro
gram of the present national admin
istration to fulfil these wants, and it
is hoped that the Congress at Wash
ington will pass the necessary meas
ures, which have been urgently rec
ommended. Through the lack of
such ordinary and usual provisions
of law as these the development of
tne territory is discouraged to a con
siderable extent, although the great
est obstacles to progress are due, of
course, to the failure to provide cer
tain more important measures of leg
islation.
The larger measures—those per
taining to the coal lands and to
transportation—are now, as they
have been for too long—the subject
of much difference of opinion. It is
not necessary to decide which of
these subjects is the more important:
both are vital. The coal is worthless
without railroads to transport it; the
railroads would be far less profitable
without the coal for tonnage as well
as. for engine fuel. If one must
choose, the transportation question is
probably the more vital of the two;
but nobody doubts that the settle
ment of either will lead speedily to
the settlement of the other.
President Taft has endorsed the
proposal of Secretary Fisher tnat at
least one trunk line of railroad, tap
ping one of the principal coal fields
and connecting one of the naviga
ble rivers with tidewater, be built by
the federal government. Within a.
few months after ne took charge of
the Interior Department Mr. Fisher
visited the coast of Alaska and one
of the principal coal fields as well as
the upper navigable waters of the
great Yukon river, and there receiv
ed visual testimony as to the impor
tance of both transportation and the
fuel problems. His conclusions to
recommend that the United States
should construct one arterial line of
railroad in Alaska was not reached
without a very deliberate and pains
taking study of the subject, and not
without consideration of the fact that
many persons doubtless are consti
tutionally opposed to government
ownership of transportation lines.
The conditions in Alaska he regards
as peculiar; and, moreover, he perti
nently cites the fact that the govern
ment owns ands operates the Pana
ma Railroad and will own and oper
ate the Panama Canal. As to the in
strumentality by which the proposed
government railroad" in Alaska shall
be operated the administration has
not expressed an opinion. The ques
tion whether the government shall
operate the railroad or shall lease it
to an operating company may be left
to Congress.
My own opinion Is that many of
those persons who are opposed to
government ownership and operation
of railroads, on general principles,
may look with complacency upon the
building of a government road in
Alaska, in consideration of the spe
cial conditions there, especially if it
be decided that the government shall
leave the operation of the road to
a private company under tne terras i
of a lease acceptable to the govern
ment and calculated to conserve the
interests of the public. Federal aid
for the construction of railroads has
been extended in various forms, nota
bly in the form of land grants and by
a guarantee of interest on bonds of
Indebtedness within a certain maxi
mum limit per mile. If the govern
ment itself should build the main
trunk line in Alaska and then lease
the line to an operating company, the
cost of construction might reasonably
be regarded as another form of fed
eral assistance for such construction,
not differing in the first principle
from a land grant or an interest
guarantee. Unquestionably, the se
lection of a route for the proposed
railroad should be left to a board of
engineers to T5e appointed by the
President; and our treatment of tne
Panama canal question might be fol
lowed further by placing the con
struction of the road in the hands of
tne corps of engineers of the United
States army. The secretary of the
interior, who has recently visited the
Isthmus as well as Alaska, has made
the suggestion that a part of the
equipment used in building the canal
be transferred to the scene of pro
posed railroad building in our north
ern territory.
Views as to the settlement of the
coal land question have been some
what clarified in the last six months,
although Hiese have not yet crystal
lized into action. Described in gen
eral terms, there are but three pos
sible means of opening up the Alaska
coal fields, so that this rich store of
fuel may be made available for the
people of Alaska and the several uses
of the Pacific coast, including the
United States navy. First, private
ownership of the coal bearing areas
in fee simple, under the terms of a
reasonable law of Congress yet to be
enacted; second, continued public
ownership of the lands, and the min
ing of coal under leases by private
persons; third, continued public own
ership and government operation of
the mines. It is pretty generally
recognized that Congress is not like
ly to pass an improved law author
izing the patenting of any more coal
lands—at least, not unless there
should be a decided and unlooked-for
change in the present state of public
opinion. Government operation of
coal mines plus ownership of the
lands is hardly likely to be adopted
as a national policy, in the near fut
ure at least. This leaves the leasing
system as the only practicable means
likely to find favor with the repre
sentatives of the people. At this
writing no bill fully representing the
administration’s views regarding a
leasing system has been introduced
in Congress. Presumably, such a
measure will be introduced as soon as
there is a prospect that it will obtain
consideration. Then the problem
will be to reconcile the views of those
who entertain the fear that a monop
oly will result under any plan which
may be adopted for the mining of
Alaska coal and the wishes of those
who believe that almost any condi
tion would be better than the present
state of stagnation and deprivation.
While the interests of the public
must be regarded as paramount, it is
well to bear in mind that a due re
gard for the rewards which capital
ized enterprise is entitled to obtain
from its operations must be observ
ed in the framing of any coal land
law for this territory.
As I have already indicated, the
sine qua non of early prosperity and
settlement in Alaska i3 a more con
siderate attitude on the part of the
Congress of the United States, and to
some extent on the part of the press
and the people of the United States,
toward the territory. This improved
attitude should consist, among other
things, of a clearer discernment of
the rights of highly capitalized Inter
ests. The main resources of the dis
trict were so securely locked up by
the forces of nature at the beginning
of the world that they never can be
come productive unless expensive
means of operation are provided. To
keep capital out for fear of monopo
lies is not worthy of American cour
age in the first instance, and in the
first and last instances it is to beg
the whole question of territorial de
relopment and progress.
The great territory comprised in
the Seward purchase will In the years
to come be the abiding place of a
people much more numerous than
those who reside there at present, al
though I am not among those who
prophesy a population of several mil
lions. The natural conditions do not
promise great density of population,
ind will never encourage it unless the
circumstances affecting human mi
grations and modes of life shall bo
greatly changed during the progress
of the world in the next century. But
the territory is a healthful place of
residence, whatever may be the pop
ular misconceptions regarding its cli
mate; the mines and the forests and
the fisheries are at the beginning of
their productiveness; the agricultur
al lands invite settlers as hardy and
thrifty as milions of those who in
habit northern Europe; the opportu
nities of the future in many walks
of life will be countless for those to
whom work is gospel. A territory
with such riches and opi>ortunities.
but so sparsely settled as it is at
present, does not need many new
laws; but further neglect to enact
those few primary measures which
alone can cause the proper develop
ment of the natural resources and
bring to the territory a larger num
ber of happy and prosperous people
to enjoy them must be regarded as
discreditable to the nation.
< ->♦♦♦ ♦♦♦♦♦ ♦♦ ¥
Chitina f
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II Pharmacy l
4 ► X
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:: Drugs |
Stationery X
Magazines t
ll Candy ♦
Fruit X
Cigars :
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i: A. G. MOREY, Prop. |
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ii GROCERIES, HARDWARE ii
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ii MEAT MARKET ii
■ > ,,
1 > We have a big line of Sec- ■ ■
■ > ond-Hand Goods, and can ■ ■
. . save you money on your out- ! I
! I fit. Bunk House, with free 1 !
!! Cook House, in connection. [ |
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. _ , ,
CHITINA HEIGHTS
> Conies & Simons ! !
*********twr
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, BRAN, OATS, CHOPS,
ROLLED BARLEY
We can make prompt ship
ments to points on the rail
road. Our feed is the very
best quality.
0. A. Nelson & Co.
CHITINA I
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