Douglas Island news. [volume], March 04, 1914, Image 2

About Douglas Island news. [volume] (Douglas City, Alaska) 1898-1921

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The Douglas Island News
Intered at Douglas Post-office as Second
Cla?? Mail Matter.
TERMS: In Advance.
One Tear ?
olx Months -
Three Months -
Sin trie Copies -
CHARLES A. HOPP
Editor and Proprietor.
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, March 1914
$3.00
- 1.50
- 75
10
Alaska Railway Act
St is just about, four years since the
first proposal of a government railroad
system for Alaska was seriously put
forward. It was urged by a few ex
tremely radical people. Such moder- I
ate- as Roosevelt, Pinchot, Pisber,
Lane and their like were not yet ready
to consider it, wbile William H. Taft
wa? horrified, aud tbe vast majority of
democrats, especially Southern demo*;
crats, in congress could not contem
plate such a startling project without
shuddering for our institutions.
Today tbe House is due to pas> tbe
bill, already passed by tbe Senate, aud
highly approved by president aud cab
inet, appropriating $40,000,000 to build
the beginuiugs of a government rail
road system in Alaska. The beginnings, j
be it *aid once more. The beginnings
will mean, inevitably, that in time the 1
system must be greatly exteuded and
improved.
Almost nobody opposes this legisla
tion. Almost eveiybody favors it.
There will be a vastly bigger proportion
of opposition iu congress iban theie is
outside. The Senate's vote was three
to oue for the measure, aud only four
votes against it were those of demo
crats.
It is interesting to observe how oui
view of Alaska has changed. Iu 1867 \
Mr. Seward paid Russia $7,200,000 for
it, and everybody realized that he had
been frightfully bunkoed! Yet Dele
gate Wickersham declares, and gives
good statistics to support it, that since
then we have taken $525,000,000 of
wealth out of Alaska, without doing
much of anything for itr and without
scratching the surface of that huge
domaiu. Alaska is about twice as big
in area as the thirteen colonies when
tbey became the Union. Its vast agri
cultural areas are in the latitude of
Sweden, Norway aud Finlaud, but eu
joy rather a milder climatel
It has takeu quite a wbile to awaken
to the value of Alaska, but we need not
be discouraged over that. Thomas H.
Benton, when be wa9 a senator from
tbe mo.*t westerly state then admitted
to the Union, declared that our West
am boundary must be at the summit of
the Rockies; we couldnt think of
reaching out to the Pacific. Daniel
Webster delivered a philippic in oppo
sition to taking Oregon ? that is, the j
great Pacific and mountain Northwest
as a whole ? into the Uuion on any
terms. He said it was worse thau
worthless, and we could not possibly
develop or benefit by if f
Id fact, if there bad beeu just a
modicum of appreciation of the value
of theNorthwext in the right time, our
northern boundary would have been
"fifty-four foity" instead of the forty- 1
ninth parallel, aud British Columbia,
Alberta and Manitoba would now be
mostly American. But in those days
there wan too little appreciation either
of the value of the territory or of the
pledge of "fifty-four forty or fight,1 "
under which the democrats carried one
presidential election. Nobody cared
much whether we get the territory or
Dot. The Southern leadership was at
the moment vastly more concerned, in
fact to get land in the other direction;
Southwestern expansion, which meant
expansion of slave territory, was chiefly
in favor. So we forfeited the chauce
to coutrol the great Northwest, and
left Britain, untouched, her Canadian
empire.
Bat Alaska has been saved to the
nation, and with the enlighteued and
businesslike policy now tardily applied
to its management, it may yet prove I
the one bright spot in the story of our
national management of the public
domain. ? Washington (D. C.) Times.
The Haines Chamber of Commerce,
has suddenly discovered that a rail
road is to be built from the coast to
?
the interior and that it would be a good
thing for Haines in particular and for
all of Southeastern Alaska in general
if the Lynn Canal metropolis were to
be chosen as the ocean terminus. All
of Southeastern Alaska is of one mind
on that subject. ,Now all we have to do
is to convince President Wilson. Still,
the case is not hopeless, and who can
tell what a good, long, strong pull all
**M*athar may da
Judge Jennings, of the federal oourt J
at Juneau, ha9 decided that a town
council in Alaska has the right to fire
as well as hire city employes. The
case at issut* was that of W. T. Lucas,
who for a time held the position of city
clerk hi Juneau. Thfe town council
dismissed him and hired a successor;
Lucas refused to quit and was foroibly
ejected from office. He flew to the
oourt for redress, with the result as
stated above, it is very probable that
few oiti2eus realize the exteut of the
powers of r. town council in Alaska.
Very few oouncilmen seem to appre
ciate that their authority comes di*
rectly from the United States congress,
which is as much as the federal officers
can boast of, aud they are not nearly
so badly tied up with red tape.
The Juneau Daily Empire attempts
to defend the actioo of the seven Alaska
senators who injected their own private
opiuiou into the railroad matter, but it
ie a poor attempt. They showed their
haud at a time so critical that they will
not live long euough to get full forgive*
ness from true Alaskans, aud the Em
pire will be doing them a kiudness by
allowing the people of the North to
forget it aud them.
There is food for thought iu the fol
lowing question which we find in an
exchange: "Have you ever noticed
that the average man will turn out of
the way of a go-cart with b baby iu it
and lift his bat to the proud mamma
who wheels it, with never a murmur,
aud then scowl Ht a crowd of 'society'
women, on their way home from a club
meeting, who crowd hiiu off the side
walk?"
The Skagway Daily Alaskau ie sweet
9ixfeen Lts present owner. Dr. Keller,
took chaige on July 1, 1907. It is the
oldest paper iu Alaska aud ^ till very
spry for its age. Here's good luck.
Schooi Notes
Thfr D. H. S. bapket ball team met
the Skagway basket ball team at the
Douglas rink last night. ?Both teams
did splendid work aud the score ended
14 to 8 in iavor of Skag ay.
The High school party given last
B. M. BEHRENDS, BANKER,
JUNEAU, ALASKA
Foreign Exchange Issued Oldest Bank in Alaska
INTEREST PAID ON SAVINGS DEPOSITS
Friday evening whs greatly enjoyed by
every one that atteuded. The rooms
were beautifully decorated with puj-ple
and gold aucl pennants from every
school in the land. At 11 o'clock a de
lightful supper was served in room 5.
The evening w?m spent iu playing cards
aud dancing. Mr. C. A. Popp presided
at the piano.
The Douglas basket ball team of
girls aud the Treadwell basket ball
team of girls met at the Treadwell
Club last evening at 7 o'clock. The
game ended iu a score of 30 to 0 in
favor of Douglas.
Helmi Aalto, Reporter.
Marriage of Almira Loomis
The Centralis (Wash.) Daily Hub, of
Saturday, Feb. 7, says:
Leet David Bowen and Miss Almira
Marguerite Loomis were married at
Chehalis Monday at high noon, Rev.
Baldwin officiating, immediately after
the ceremony linner was served at the
Imperial Cafe; covers were laid for
teu. The couple were accompauied by
Mr. and Mrs. Egbert Loomis, A. M.
Loomis, Lewis Loomis, Mr. and Mrs.
A.*E. Webb. A large uumber of friends
and relatives escorted them to the
depot where they started on their
honeymoon amid shower* of rice and
old shoes. They will be at home to
their friends after March I.
in honor of the above event a shower
was given Mrs. Boweu by a large num
ber 01 her girl friends at the home of
Mr. and Mr*. Egbert Loomis January
29. She received a large number of
u*eful and beautiful presents.
Broken pipes repaired at Keist's
Pool Room. All work guaranteed.?
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TREADWELL MARKET
WHOLESALE and RETAIL
Beef, Pork, Mutton and Poultry
Ham, Bacon and Lard
Fish and game in season
A Dainty Dressing Case
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Second St. DOUGLAS
READ THE NEWS
And send it to a friend.
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