The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-08-21
the Yukon country will be provided for
CONDITIONS IN ALASKA

the Yukon country will be provided for.
CONDITIONS IN ALASKA
In the FIRST place, Of course, Alaska is
not even a territory. There is no dele
gate i'll congress to represent the thou
ands Of people who live in the country
There is no sort of link between the
Yukon people and the seat of govern
ment excepting the commissioner at ST.
MichaeFs, who is an employee of one of
the commercial companies, who doesn't
pretend to know anything of law, and
who is himself one of the worst offenders
against the rights of the real miners
One other exception may be made in
noting the presence Of the federal army
officers. But that isn't court. The
soldiers preserve order, but the highest
officer ever sent up there has no juris-
diction in criminal cases and none in
the myriad civil cases that are bound
to arise among $4,000 people, mostly men.
IF one man kills another the miners can
bury the dead man, and the soldiers can
lock up the criminal and send him down
and around to Sitka when the season
opens. Of course, that is over thousands
of miles, and witnesses would have to
spend a year going, attending the trial
and returning If convicted, it would
be only by miracle, and If acquitted the
culpTit would be half way home.
SOLDIERS ARREST OFFENDERS.
All last winter there was a company of
soldiers under Lieut.. Bell at Rampant
City, and all they had to do in the mat
ter of preserving order was to make
arrests on charges of selling intoxicating
For the matter Of that, the arrests would
have been warranted for simply exposing
the liquor for sale 1t is called "hootch,'
and is a vile concoction, rather more
severe in its operation than the pine
top and sage brush brew with which
the Piute Indians were eXterminated.
Lieut. Bell certainly deserves the great
est credit for his conduct of affairs at
Rampant and in that vicinity. He has
discharged to the full ali duties imposed
upon him, and has not gone beyond them
for a moment.
But if a man owed a bill for goods and
would not pay the soldiers could not ar
rest him. He might get up with a whole
sleigh load Of gold nuggets and nnD
out down the river. No man III all
Alaska would have a right to stop him.
In the thousand disputes that are sure
to arise among miners there is no power
of adjudicature. If the country were
a territory things would be different,
for that would necessitate the establish
ment of a judicial system. But being
no more than a far awy district, which
contributes royalty to the country's
wealth by means of gold, of salmon
fishing and by contributions of fur,
there is no present way out of the diff
ficulty. The government will have to
make its own precedent.
WHERE TROUBLE WILL ARISE.
One feature In mining problems is sure
to provoke trouble very coon. Up to a,
year ago the men who reached Rampant
were substantial. honest men very earnest
in their belief that Alaska was a great
gold field, and perfectly willing to labor
and develop its wonderful resources.
But with 1888 another class began to
come in. Many of them were good men.
Indeed, there were good women with
them. But also there were many not
so good. 1t was one custom of these
newer argonauts that they might locate
a claim by power of attorney. Each man
in the party had in his inside pocket
powers Of attorney from all his friends
back in the states, and he located all the
claims the United States allowed him,
and then located for the others under his
paper authority. The result was that
half a dozen men could locate all the
valuable land on a whole creek Ten
could monopoliZe a mountain side, and
score and a half could tie up valley,
refusing to work, and waiting until the
industry of some other man would make
the property valuable.
Down at st. Michael's this abuse of
mining right has been carried to an ex-