The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1897-07-29

Prof Fillmore and Miss Webster illus.
trated the subject under discussion or
| the piano.
Prof Seymour, who was to have de.
| livered a historical lecture, failed tc
keep his engagement and nobody seemed
to know why. He was last heard of al
Pacific Grove and disappeared some.
where between there and Long Beach
Prof. L. D. Style, assistant in the chair
of English literature at the state uni
vereity, was substituted, in a popular
lecture on Alaska, from where he has
just returned.
The lecture was a repetition of the
oft told tale of the Alaskan journey, with
which most people on this coast are
measurably familiar, now made doubly
so by descriptions in the daily press OF
! the gold excitement in the Klondyke.
The speaker gave brief description
of the discovery of Alaska by the Rus
slams and its purchase by the United
! States as favor to the car who found
1t difficult to govern from St. Peters
| burg, in return for the friendliness shown
this country during the late war
Alaska exports four or five million dol
| lars worth of gold dust, seal, salmon
and lumber every year, consequently it
has proved to be valuable investment
for Uncle Sam.
The speaker described the journey
from Sitka to St. Michaels and told the
story, familiar to many, of Rev. Mr..
Duncan, the missionary of the Protest
ant Episcopal church, who has accom-
plished so much in civilizing the Met
IoG a Of hot. 30
the present reservation on the island
which they call New Metlakatla.
The speaker gave his audience an idea
of the laws of Alaska, or rather the lack
of them, which from accounts need very
sorely the attention of congress. The
government forbids the cutting of tim
Der in the district, yet saw mills are
running there and when the people want
timber for building purposes they just
take it. The government also absolute
ly prohibits the sale of liquor, which is
all right for the Indians, but as the
miners will have it, it is smuggled over
the line with perfect freedom. Such open
defiance and violation of law has a bad
effect upon the people and is infinitely
worse than no law al ALL When the
country came into possession of the
United States congress knew nothing of
the needs of the people and took a short
cut to government by making the laws
in force in Oregon previous to 1884 the
code for Alaska. Oregon is one of the
most backward states in the Union, and
the benefit to its more northerly neigh
Dor of this method of government has
been a hndrance to development instead
of A1oc ,ly Co. Mt
community it cannot do so, as there
were no laws in the early settlement of
oregon to cover such cases.
The city of Juneau, though growing
steadily, cannot adopt system of sew
erage, electric lighting and other mod
ern improvements, because there is no
law to work by. The officials comprise
the government of the city. There are
forty saloons in that enterprising town
and gambling is an open vice, but there
is no law against it. The only title to
the ownership of land is a equatter's
title In the matter of liquor selling
Uncle Sam has sacrificed morals to love
of gain. While liquor selling is prohib
tied by law, it sells permits that enable
men to engage in the traffic without
fear of arrest. There is nothing to keep
Alaska towns orderly and respectable
but the moral responsibility Of the peo-
pie.
The speaker described Fort Wrangel
with it's squalor, filth and totem poles.
Sitka and the glaciers, where vessels
go out and get all the ice they need,
independent of the iceman. Prof. Style
talked with hardy miners returning from
the Clondyke country, and they gave as
their reasons for leaving that the hard
ships were beyond their endurance. The
story of the difficulty in reaching there
every day; indeed, Prof. Style contrib
uted some of the articles published in
the San Francisco papers.
At a meeting of the board of directors
of the association held on Tuesday af-
ternoon the following board of directors
was elected to serve until the year 1900:
c. P. Dorland, president, Monrovia; w.
w. Lowe, Prof. L. B. Lunt, Long Beach;
Miss Frances Freeman and George r.
Grow, Los Angeles.
Prof. Lunt and Miss Freeman are new
the others reflections from
the former board.
At meeting of the board held at the
close of the afternoon exercises the fol-
lowing resolutions were passed:
We, the undersigned committee, ap-
pointed to outline plans and methods