The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-12-16
A Peculiar state OF Affairs.

And yet it is manifestly unjust to the
remainder Of the republic to permit the
present state of affairs to continue. In the
senate the handful of sheep raisers in Ne.
vada count for as much as the z 1000. DOC
people in New York, with all their wealth
and gigantic interests. In the house of
representatives Nevada counts for one.
thirty-fourth as much as New York though
1t has but one-hundred- and seventy
NTH part the population. Comparing Ne
vada with all the remainder of the country.
we lind that in the house of representatives
the Sagebrush State counts for eight times
as much as the remainder of the country,
on the basis of population, while in the
senate the disproportion is 30 to 1.
The vote in Nevada Is now less than one
half that of the state with the next small
est voting population, and the population
or the Sagebrush State Is less than that of
any territory In the Union, with the possi-
bic exception of Alaska, and it Is said that
Alaska, which had only some 33, 900 in
habitants In 1890, now has more than 49,
600, or several thousand in excess of Ne
vada. Yet Nevada Is q sovereign state and
probably always will be one. It is n pe-
culiarity of our system that II we make a
mistake and admit to the Union a COM
monwealth which Is unable to hold its own
and continue to be worthy of retention of
the honor, there Is no way under the consti-
tuition by which 1t can be forced to give I'D
Its rights. Nevada is thorn In the side
OF our body polite, but we shall have to
grin and bear 1t.
Alaska and q Story.
1t Is rather remarkable that Just at this
time, when the whole country Is talking
about the failure of Nevada as a state, SO
much attention should be directed to Alas
ka, the far northern region which we
bought third OF century ago for an in
significant sum, more out of sentiment
than through any idea that the territory
would prove of practical value. Alaska is
rapidly developing as rich mining region
Strange stories Of the value of the gold de-
posts in the Yukon valley float into Wash
ington now and then, and there is a steady
stream of prospectors and investors from
the Pacific coast to the remote repion
where fortunes are TO be won. A high au-
thority says there is gold enough in the
Yukon, IL it can be taken out, to force the
world to give up the gold standard and to
take to some scarcer metal.
This reminds me of an incident which
occurred at the recent international none
tary conference In Brussels. Baron Roths-
child was present A delegate referred to
the report of an expert that in South
Africa there was chain of mountains
nlled with gold-gold In such vast guam
titles that 1t looked as II all the needs of
the world for centuries to come could be
supplied from that one source. The ex-
port was present also, and Baron Roths-
child questioned him.
do you mean to say that those noun
tains have been surveyed and that gold ia
found In them In great ledge hundreds
OF miles long and two or three miles
thickY"
Yes, that Is the fact''
And you are sure the deposits of gold
extend throughout the region In the same
richness that has been found where actual
mining operations have taken place."
There Is not the slightest doubt of it,