CONDITIONS BAD IN MANY
STATES, ALASKAN LEARNS
(Anchorage Times.)
The unemployment situation in the
States is worse at present than it has
been for a great many years, accord
ing to G. A. Hollander, well known
resident .of the Anchorage district
who returned to the city this week
following an absence of eight months
in the South. He obtained his.infor
mation first hand, being himself one
. of the great army of workers in
- search o. femployment, and his advice
.to Alaskans is to keep away from the
States until conditions get back to
j normal Just when that will be, no
, one. seems able to predict with any
degree of certainty.
Mr. Hollander went Outside with
the expectation of finding it easy to
i get work in the mining districts, but
he found that the plants were either
closing down entirely or going on a
, .nart time basis, with the result that
_ a. great many miners Were on the idle
. list. ; Conditions are particularly bad
in copper mining regions as the result
„jot .the..dror> in copper prices. In one
- locality there were three cuts in
■ wages while he was Outside, the total
, cut amounting to 75 cents per day.
The companies are trying to keep
their, forces intact,, pending a return
_ to better conditions, but dividing the
n work among the men on the.r pay
rolls,, a number of the plants having
. adopted a half-time policy; but that
has not prevented the necessary lay
ino* nflF nf a n-reat, manv workers in
some sections. , ;
Down close to the Mexican border,
Mexican labor is making it very hard
for an American to find work. On
the Mexican side the companies are
compelled by law to limit American
workers to about 15 per cent, and on
. the American side the American com
panies import Mexican labor to the
extent of about 85 per cent, so that
the Mexican have all the best of it
. on both sides of the line.
But the hard times are not con
fined to the mining industry, Mr. Hoi- j
lander found.- It was estimated that
..there.were about 300,000 unemployed
in Los Angeles when he left the south
and there seemed to be many idle |
men in the other localities visited b
him along the coast, in the mountain
section and in the south.
One of the things learned by the
Alaskan wasthat men over 45 are not
wanted in the mining industry or,in
. any other line. This rule is being ad
hered to very rigidly now that work
is scarce and the outlook is not very
promising for those workers who are
past, or close to the age limit.
There, is a lot of building under
way in. Beattie, but the unemploy
menet situation is bad there as well
as elsewhere. At all of the jobs un
f
Blacksmith,
Machine and
all kinds of
Sheet Metal
Work
iSafetys
'Stoves
ROBERT LOWR1E
Proprietor
der way there are signs announcing
the fact that no help is wanted.
A visit to the “skidway” in Seattle,
which serves as sort of a clearing
house for workers, the Alaskan saw
pnly one help wanted notice and that
was fpr a milking jo bin Alaska at
$110 per month.
There is a lot of dangerous talk
going on among the unemployed, Mr.
Hollander observed, and he says it
is not confined by any means to the
so-called reds. There is a feeling
abroad that some of the great wealth
of the nation should be utilized to re
lieve the distress of the.millions who
are now on the idle list. It is not a
healthy environment for an Alaskan,
and Mr. Hollander was glad to get
away fro mit and back to Alaska.
THE FUTURE OF ALASK AS
VIEWED BY CH alLI F LORY,
IN ADDRESS AT COLLEGE
(Continued from Page 2.)
Alaska with her historic back
ground of bonanza gold camps, has
too often been overrated in the same
way. Too many in the past have
come to Alaska with a desire to get
rich quickly, expecting, after a brief
temporary sojourn, to return to the
States. They have found that in
Alaska the making of a fortune is
usually a lifetime job, requiring ex
perience, initiative and industry. To
most of these individuals disillusion
ment has followed and in their dis
courageme ntthey have seen nothing:
in the future of Alaska and many
have gone away, forever embittered.
Happily, this condition of affairs is
_* ji-. __: v
erant seeker after easy fortune
find more and more permanent towns
with families and children, who in
tend to make Alaska their future
home. Those who have become en
lightened have settled into the har
ness and are proceeding to help de
velop the country. Prosperity, after
all, is only relative, not a positive
state, and much depends on the point
of view.
But in the very establishment of a
reasonably permanent population, as
now seems definitely assured, I want
to point out a possible source of
weakness or danger that we may not
always work in the closest unity of
thought in the progress of our Ter
ritory.
The Territory of Alaska is far
flung in extent; its settled sections
are far removed from each other; its
climate, topography, means of trans.
portation and local conditions ary'
widely. Consequently the resident of
one section may easily become en
compassed by the circumstances sur
rounding him and overlook or fail to
appreciate the aims and desires of his
fellow citizens in pther parts of the
Territory. In other words, we are apt
to develop sectionalism which, al
though good and necessary up to a
certain point, may, if carried too far,
hinder through lack of understanding
the progressive and legitimate devel
opment of the Territor yas a whole.
nvnwinln IrtO-ri'ftW 1 Vt TrtV .
ests of Southeastern Alaska may
view with little or no interest the ac
tivities of the Alaska Railroad, when
as a matter of fact the railroad pur
chases mot of its tie and part of its
lumber from the mills of that section,
which in turn buy their logs from the
local loggers.
Again, the farmer in the interior
valley may see little or nothing in tte
pulp and paper manufacturing possi*
bilities of the panhandle, or the coast
fisherman may have little sympathy
with the reindeer herde rof Norton
Sound. Some, I am sorry to say, may
not as yet see need for this college
and its earnest ecorth to establish an
educational center for the Territory.
Please understand I a mnot citing
these things as specific instances, but
merely using them as illustrations to
point a moral. It is only by the con
certed and intelligently directed ef
forts, sympathetically coordinated, of
all agencies—Federal, Territorial and
private—that a real permanent and
legitimate development may be
brought about. It must not be over
looked that progress in any section
of this vast Territory directly or af
fects every other part.
The rational development of our
natural resources and a permanent
prosperity cannot become a reality
merely by the National Congress
opening wide the doors of the na
tional treasury o rby means of some
magic law which it may enact. We
cannot develop this great northern
empire by hotjioouse methods. Nei
ther can complaints nor .criticism,>un
less constrdctive in nature, help solve
our problems. The National Conyress
and the Territory can indeed assist
us by appropriating the necessary
funds to carry on the legitimate func
tions of government and by enacting
wise laws that will encourage sound
development, but we must not expect
development to be rapid or bonanza
in character. In the future the man
who expects to come to Alaska in
order to get ricli quick had better
stay away. A slow progress and mod
est return must be the appeal. This
is the third of our fundamental ele
ments which we must recognize.
So far I have perhaps been guilty
of too many admonitions and have
said too little about the natural re
sources which are the foundation
stones for our industrial structure.
Fortunately, before this audience it.
is not necessary for me to describe at
any great length or in glowing terms
their vast extent and tremendous pos
sibilities. We all know that Alaska
surpasses any other equal area in the
world in its variety, extent and value
of its mineral resources. In South
eastern Alaska alone the timber and
water power resources of the Tongass
national forest, wThen fully developed,
are sufficient to manufacture one
fourth of tfie newsprint paper con
sumed annually in the United States
and continue this production in perpe
tuity. The vast quantities of timber
in the Interior have also a great po
tentiality for future commercial use
and should not be destroyed by fire.
(To be continued Next Issue.)
SIR HENRY SEAGRAVE MADE
NEW SPEEDBOAT RECORD
LONDON.—Sir Henry O. D. Sea
grave, holder of the worldSs automo
boat, died yesterday of injuries re
ceived wnen his speedboat, Miss Eng
land II,' capsized "^nile going at a
speed of 100 miles an hour, and
tossed him and his two companions
violently into LakeWindermere.
Just prior to the fatal accident he
had made a ne wworld’s speedboat
mark by obtaining thb official veloc
ity of 06.4 miles per hour over two
runs. The accident on the third run.
Seagrave sent the boat off at a fine
start, and Miss England II boomed
across the lake at a terrific speed.
The boat suddenly swerved and part
Dorbandt
and
Cope
Fly in comfort to all points in
Alaska in our four-passenger
cabin plane. Large baggage
compartment separate from the
cabin. Equipment for water
landings.
Sight-seeing trips any time,
$5.00 per passenger.
For Rates to Alaska Points
SEE
F. C. H. Spencer
Takotna, Alaska
of its engines and its three occupants
were pitched out in a cloud of flames,
.moke and foam.
Seagrave was picked up with
broken arms, broken thighs, broken
ribs and a punctured lung. His me
chanic was drowned, and the engineer
wa . take nashore seriousl yinjured.
“So I said to her: ‘Do you remem
ber the boy who used to pull your
pigtails at school'.'’ and then she said,
vDh, is that who you are?’ And 1
said, 'No. that was my lather.’ ”
I
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Send Nulato, 7:45 a. m.
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