, 1877-02-10
A BIG STEAL.

4 BIG STEAL.
The Alaska ship-building bill now
pending before Congrsss. il matte,
that needs looking into. There never
was subsidy bill that proposed to give
any Of the public money or public do
mains 70 poor men. The rich alone are
to be made the recipients Of . nations
bounty. Ship building is to b encour-
aged by subsidy but tho recipients are
to bs San Francisco spectators. instead
Of practical mechanics. In other
words. ITO him who hath much, much
shall be given; but from him who hath
not, shall be taken what he hath"
We favor subsidies only as encourage
ments to experimental. but Pacific coast
ship building is not an experiment. 1t
is fixed fact and the records Of the
Western Shore. Forest Queen, Wild
wood and Caasandra Adams are already
q portion of the commercial history of
the Pacific States. Tho nation must
give William T. Coleman. II. B. Itch
enor and others. (including Henry D.
Bacon. who swindled the depositors Of
his bank in San Francisco out of $780,
600 in 1850 all rich men now. the nice
little douceur of 100. 100 acres of cedar
land in Alaska for nothing; to enable
them to undersell in tho San Francisco
market. men like A. NJ. Simpson. E. B.
Dean. Samuel Perkins. E. J. Gould. A.
& NJ. Cook and others who have to pay
SIS per thousand in cash for logs at the
mill.
Aud what are these gentlemen to dc
a. guarantee of their desire to en-
courage American ship building? Why
they are to build ship of not less than
twelve hundred tons register. And as
their reward for that alarming self sac
rifice, they are to receive an island
worth q quarter of . million dol
lars. If islands covered with valua-
BILE timber are to be given away. as re-
wards for ship building. first give one
to G. A. Meigs, of Port Madison. for
building the Wildwood. Tidal Wa-e and
Northwest; the former of these ships
made the run. with $50 600 feet Of lum.
Der in her. from Burrard Inlet to Mel
bourne in 46 days, dock to dock. Give
another island to Asa and Robert Simp-
son and their partner. Samuel Perkins,
who together built the Western Shore
and Tam o O'Shanter. both of which have
beaten the steamships Ajax and Oil
famine on . square race, between San
Francisco and Astoria. to say nothing
of the Shore having gone from Astoria
to Liverpool in 101 days. Next give
another cedar island to Adams. Taylor
& Co., of SeAbeck, for big bark Cass-
andra Adams, that can walk off with
her million feet of lumber az easily a. a
bear could get away with a ripe water
melon. Finally give Middlsmiss & Boole
of San Francisco, another island worth
5000, 900 for their fine bark Pacific
Slope. and then the claims of Messrs.
Coleman, Hchenor, Bacon, ct al. may
be entitled to some respectful considers
ton.
The idea Of giving away the public
domain to corporations. is what has
really done more to exasperate tue peo-
pie against the Republican party. than
anything else. We are, therefore. sorry
to see Democratic House of Repre-"
sentatives take any cognizance of such
q measure as this Alaska bill. These
lands belong to the people, a. homes
for the settlers of the future. Alaska
has better climate than Maine and
better fishery resources; and we object
to seeing 4 lot of San Francisco grab
bers stealing her territory and black
mailing those who may hereafter seek
homes on her shores.