Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1904-12-08

ties should logically fall. has nothing spe-
cihc to do except to make annual reports.
issue Thanksgiving day proclamations, and
appoint Indian policemen and notaries pub
lic l believe 1t essential to good govern
ment in Alaska. and therefore recommend,
| that the Congress divest the District Judges
| and clerks OF their courts of the admins
trative or executive functions that they now
exercise and cast them upon the Governor.
This would not be innovation: 1t would
! simply conform the government of Alaska
| to fundamental principles. making the Gov
ernorship a real instead Of a merely nominal
office, and leaving the Judges free to give
their entire attention to their judicial duties
and at the same time removing them from
a great deal of the strife that now en-
| barrasses the judicial ONCE in Alaska.
| also recommend that the salaries Of the
| District Judges and District Attorneys in
| Alaska be increased to make them
! equal to those received by corresponding Of
ficers in the United States after deducting
| the difference in the cost of living; that the
| District Attorneys should be prohibited from
engaging in private practice; that United
States Commissioners be appointed by the
| Governor Of the territory instead OF by the
| District Judges. and that a fixed salary be
provided for them to take the place Of the
| discredited fee system" which should be
| abolished in all offices; that mounted con-
stabulary be created to police the territory
| outside the limits Of incorporated towns-a
vast section now wholly without police pro-
lection; and that some provision be made
to at least lessen the oppressive delays and
costs that now attend the prosecution Of ap-
peals from the District Court of Alaska.
There should be a division of the existing
judicial districts, and an increase in the
number Of judges.
Alaska should have Delegate in the Con-
| gress. Where possible. the Congress should
| aid in the construction Of needed wagon
| roads Additional lighthouses should be pro-
vided In my judgment, 1t Is especially i'm
| portant to aid in such manner as seems just
| and feasible in the construction of a trunk
| line of railway to connect the Gulf Of Alaska
| wi he through American
| ritory. This would be most beneficial to the
development Of the resources Of the territory
| and to the comfort and welfare OF its people
Salmon hatcheries should be established in
| many different streams. to secure the
| preservation Of this valuable food fish. Sal
| mon fisheries and canneries should be pro-
| hibited certain of the rivers where the
mass of those Indians dwell who live almost
| exclusively fish
| The Alaskan natives kindly. intelli-
| gent, anxious to learn, and willing to work
| Those who have come under the influence
| Of civilization. even for limited period,
| have proved their capability of becoming
| selfsupporting, self-respecting citizens, and
ask only for the just enforcement OF law
| and intelligent instruction and supervision.
| Others living in more remote regions. prim-
| tive, simple hunters and fisher folk, who
know only the life Of the woods and the
waters, are daily being confronted with goth
century civilization, with all of its complexi-
ties. Their country is being overrun by
strangers, the game slaughtered and driven
y,
hitherto unknown and fatal diseases brought
to them, all of which combine to produce a
state of abject poverty and want which must
result in their extinction. Action in their
interest is demanded by every consideration
of justice and humanity.
The needs of these people are:
The abolition of the present fee system,
whereby the native is degraded, imposed
upon, and taught the injustice of law.
The establishment of hospitals at central
points. that contagious diseases that are
brought to them continually by incoming
whites may be localized and not allowed to
become epidemic, to spread death and destl-
tuition over great areas.
The development of the educational system
in the form of practical training in such
industries will assure the Indians self
support under the changed conditions in
| which they will have to live.
| The duties of the office Of the Governor
should be extended to include the supervi-
sion of Indian affairs, with necessary assist
ants in different districts. He should be
provided with the means and the power to
protect and advise the native people, to fur
nish medical treatment in time Of epidem-
les and to extend material relief in periods
of famine and extreme destitution.
The Alaskan natives should be given the
right to acquire, hold and dispose OF prop
erty upon the same conditions given other
nhabitants; and the privilege of citizenship
should be given to
,,., 49,, pu.o such may be able
" ~ to meet certain def
' mite requirements. In
H a w a / /, Congress
should give the Governor power to remove
all the officials appointed under him. The
harbor of Honolulu should be dredged. The
Marine Hospital Service should be empow-
cred to study leprosy in the islands. l ask
special consideration for the report and
concentrations of the Governor of Porto Rico.
In treating of our foreign policy and of the
attitude that this great Nation should
sumo in the world at large, it Is absolutely
necessary to consider the Army and the
Navy, and the Congress, through which the
thought of the Nation
Foreign Policy. finds it's expression.
should keep WV
idly in mind the fundamental fact that it is
impossible to treat our foreign policy, wheth-
er this policy takes shape in the effort to
secure justice for others justice for our
selves, save as conditioned upon the attitude
we are willing to take toward our Army, and
especially toward our Navy. 1t Is not merely
unwise, 1t Is contemplate, for Nation, as
for an individual, to use high sounding Ian
guage to proclaim its purposes, to take
positions which are ridiculous If unsupported
by potential force, and then to refuse to
provide this force. If there is no intention
of providing and of keeping the force nee
essary to back up strong attitude, then 1t
is far better not to assume such an attitude
The steady aim of this Nation, of all
enlightened nations should be to strive to
bring ever nearer the day when there shall
prevail throughout the world the peace of
justice. There are kinds of peace which are
highly undesirable. which in the long
run destructive any war. Tyrants and
Oppressors have many times made a wilder
ness and called it peace. Many times peo-
Piles who We're slothful timid or short
sighted, who had been enervated by ease or
by luxury, or mlsled by false teachings, have
shrunk in unmanly fashion from doing duty
that was stern and that needed self-sacrificc,
and have sought to hide from their own
minds their shortcomings. their ignoble mo-
tives by calling them love of peace. The
peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of era
ven weakness, the peace of injustice. all
these should be Stunned as we shun unright-
The goal to set before us as a nation, the
goal which should be set before all mankind,
is the attainment of the peace of justice, of
the peace which comes when each nation is
not merely safeguarded in its own rights but
scrupulously recognizes and performs its duty
toward others. Generally peace tells for
righteousness; but If there is conflict be-
tween the two. then fealty is due first
to the cause of righteousness. Cnrighteous
wars are common. and unrighteous peace is |
rare; but both should be stunned. The right |
of freedom and the responsibility for the /
exercise OF that right cannot be divorced. |
One Of our great poets has well and finely |
said that freedom is not a gift that tarries /
long in the hands of towards Neither does |
it tarry long in the hands of those too sloth-