The daily Alaskan., 1904-09-06
NOT WELL TAKEN

In announcing Us pOltllCa4 pEetSA- eaces, the Seward Gateway says.
 Situated as we are, in possession of the United States, having not even territorial representative in congress, it is natural that some interest should be taken In federal affairs Taking a selfish view, and considering the needs of Alaska, and realizing that the pres ent executive at Washington has a mind broad enough Co cover all the country of which he is the head, the Gateway would prefer Co see NIT. NooSe- welt succeed himself and serve the couD- try for the next four years beginning next March.
 The point of the Resurrection bay newspaper is not well taken, It has given, as its reason for preterring the election Of President Roosevelt, the strongest point that can be made in ta- vor Of the election of his opponent. If Mir. Roosevelt has @ weakness it is his desire to exercise power. His attitude toward Alaska has been that of kind parent who is we'll disposed toward a helpless child, but who is not well in- formed as to its needs. That is no, the treatment AlsSkaus desire. The men and women Of this district are as capa- ble of taking care of themselves as are the inhabitants of Oyster bay, where the president makes his home. They do not require the kindly care or the patronage of President Roosevelt or anyone else. All they ask is the oppor- tunity Go hoe their own TOW. They want to govern themselves as becomes self-respecting Americans.
 The democrats oi Skagway made .he most of the case for the candidacy of Judge Parker when they urged his election because of the very thing upon which the Seward publication bases its advocacy oi the aspirations ot Mir. Roosevelt. The strongest point that can be made in favor of the success of the democratic party this year is the disposition of those men who are just now at the fore in the republican party, in the very foremost ranks of whom Is Mir Roosevelt, Co disregard those prin- ciples and theories Of government which caused the birth of the American ua- ton. which were written into the con- stitution of the country and which have become cherished traditions Of this people, a disposition which would vest iu the fedora. government the same autOcratic powers that character ize the South American republics, so- called This disposition is particularly exempIfed iu the spirit which refuses Alaska the privilege of exercising it's right to seIi-governmeut and which is urging that the presi- dent name a delegate to represent it at the national capital. I- is 8 case either of an unius,iiiabe mistrus, Of the capacity of the people for self government or it is an unworthy greed for power, and it is made all the more marked in Alaska by the declaration ot the national democratic party ju favor of territorial government and home rule for this district
 There may be very good reasons for the election of President Roosevelt and the continuation oi the republican party in power and in all probability these reasons will control the action Of the American people next November but if so they are in spite Of and no. be cause of the conditions that exist iE Alaska and the attitude of the chief executive toward them.