The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-04-20

| Of the desire in Alaska for a territo- rial form of government the author says: If the population were collected in one reasonably compact district and readily accessible, the demand could not be denied" He advocates two ter ritories; Southern Alaska, with a capi- tai at Juneau, and Northwest Alaska, with Nome for it's capital As to the [ remainder of the Alaskan country, the author thinks nothing need be done at i present. Alaska's great and crying need is transportation facilities. These 1 are wofully insufficient at present. The ! difficulty of transporting supplies and machinery with present facilities is great. As to gold MT. McLain thinks that the business of taking gold out of Alaska has scarcely commenced; that 1t will yet become permanent industry as permanent as coal mining in Penn sylvania-and that it will take genera tions to exhaust the mineral wealth of i those marvelously rich and marvelously extensive gold fields"
 These are only fragmentary glimpses of this valuable work. There are also ninety-two illustrations and map add ing to the value and interest of the book. Price s1.5O; for sale by the Pease-Lewis Co.
 "The vision of Elijah Berl," the new book by our gifted townsman, Frank Lewis Mason, will be eagerly read by all who have had the pleasure of read ing his previous novels of American life, "The Blue Goose" and it's prede- cessor, ITO the End of the Trail ''The Vision of Elijah Berf' was pretty well outlined in Mir. Nason's mind, particu- larly the details of the irrigation scheme, when on one of his engineering l trips he was storm bound in a misera. ble little hut in the wilds of Arkansas. In sheer desperation he began to arnuse himself reading the old newspapers which covered the walls of the hut. The story of the origin of the navel or ange in California caught his attention, and some of the facts which he learned in. this singular way he has incorpora- ted into his novel.
 Elijah Berl, the central character of MT. Nason's story, is a New Englander who en1igrates to California. and there dreams of the time when the barren re- zion in which he has settled shall blossom as the rose" Engineering ambitions, the formation of company for the development of theN orange ir- dustry, the building of an irrigation dam, and the collapse of land boom, Berl's domestic life, and the love affair by Berl's partner furnish the author material for well-constructed plot, in which crooked business methods and a moral straight edge" are finely con- trasted. The book should win immedi- ate success
 l "The Vision of Elijah Berl'' is pub llished by Little, Brown and Company, Boston. Price $1.50.
 l A. word or two concerning the au- thor. MT. Mason was born in New Lon- don, Wis, but while he was still a child his parents moved to Vermont.
 His great ambition was to obtain col ilege education, but his father was killed during the civil war, and the family had very small means. As a young boy he worked in rnachinists shop, and in this way earned money to fit himself for college, and later made his way through college by tutoring and teaching in. the public schools. He 1 was graduated from Amherst college in 1882, and two years later received the degree of M. A. For several years he taught in the Rensselaer, Polytechnic Institute. of Trey, N. Y. Later he held the positions of. assistant, state geolo- gist of New Jersey and Missouri.
 1 He has had wide experience as ri1ir- ing engineer in Honduras British Co., lumbia. and Western United States and , Mexico. He is member of the Ameri- can Institute of Mining Engineers, a fellow of the Geological Society of America and of the American Associa- tion of. Science. He is a well-known writer upon scientific subjects. "To the End of the Trail" was his first novel which was followed a year later by I"The Blue Goose" both books being mining stories. The Mining and Engi- Ineering Journal says of these two books that they are mot only good as fiction 1bllt have the very rare merit of being good from the geologist's standpoint" MT. Mason resides at present in our |neighboring suburb, West Haven Pease, Lewis & Co. report g. lively de- tmand for the book already.
 slaves of Success is another nove
 of note by that successful writer, Fl
 liott Flower. It is another politica novel, and 1t is powerful one. Eigh
 stories of political life in Illinois ar
 given in this volume, with Springfield
 and Chicago as the scenes, and we fin
 the Illinois politicians busy at thei strenuous work. Of course one finds
 as he expects to, that there is corrup
 tion and graft, and these are brough out vividly. The types of character de
 lineated are well delineated-graphicall
 so. These types are well worth study ling and analysing. All make interest ing reading, and in addition a live stor, is woven into the thread of the tale
 and most effectively. The book shoul
 be in the hands of every voter and ev
 cry one who enjoys pretty tale of tru love. Slaves of Success is publish ed by L. c. Paige & Co.,, Boston. It i handsomely illustrated by Jay Ham
 bridge Price, $1.5o; for sale by tn
 E. F. Judd O.