The Ketchikan miner., 1907-08-24
EXCHANGE GOSSIP.

irving on the Bertha from Valdez last evening claim an order has gone out for six hundred laborers to work on the new promoted citizens electric railway from Valdez to the copper fields. Others arriving laughed at the idea of Valdez trying to build rail- road.
 The effects of the Rodman bay mine are to be sold off, if purchaser or purchasers can be found and the property abandoned. That property was Bent to the breaking point at the start, as have been some others in Alaska similarly hampered at the be- ginning It is possible, even probable, that the mine is worthless, but that is a question which yet remains for in telligent exploration and management to positively determine. One of the very best mines in the Ketchikan district came very near sharing the fate of the Rodman at the hands of identically the same management.
 HI. R. Shepard, once deputy col lector of Customs at Douglas, later connected with the Collectors office at Juneau, and still later inspector at Eagle, has resigned to take position with the Clerk of the U. $. court at Fairbanks.
 The Juneau common council at Q special meeting held on the 10th inst. by unanimous vote adopted a string of ten whereases reciting the reasons, by the members of said council deemed good and sufficient why the Alaska code should be so amended as to give the councils of incorporated towns power to regulate their own affairs 'so far as the same relate to the establishment and collection of the various license fees thereino and so that said councils may be empowered to bond the respective towns for cer tain purposes, and at the same time asking for the cooperation of the other incorporated towns in an effort to secure such legislation. If it will be in order, The Miner would like to submit a motion to amend by striking out all after the "resoluting" clause and inserting in lieu thereof the fol- lowing: That, Whereas, ten times repeated, The people of Alaska, in- cluding those who live outside the incorporated towns, as well as those living and doing business in said in- corporated towns, are as capable of making their own laws and as much entitled to the privilege of making fare, as were those of any district or territory heretofore accorded such privilege by the congress of the United States, therefore resolved that the Hon. Thos. Gale be and he is hereby requested to make every possi- ble effort to secure from Congress the passage of an act providing a terri torial, or some other form of popular home government for Alaska, to the end that the people thereof may be able to enact such legislation of local character as locM conditions and exigencies may from time to time imperatively demand-and to the further end that the Congress may no longer be importuned and pestered concerning details of legislation which can be fully provided for by according to the people of Alaska privilege to which they are justly entitled and of the intelligent exercise of which they are abundantly capable, and your peti- tioners will ever pray until their peti- tion is granted.
 Concerning the whereases and resolutions of the Juneau common council it is the opinion of the Doug las News that they should have care ful consideration before being passed up to Congress. "Alaska towns" says the News, ''receive a high license from saloons, and an occupa- tion tax from almost every business large or small in the towns. Besides this tax levy of two per cent is al- lowed under the law, and, in some cases, that is even exceeded, by the consent of property owners. As the towns grow so will the expenses. The creation of a bonded indebtedness is simple, easy way to raise money, but in the end it must all be paid. We may be wrong, but it is now our opin- ion that the wisest thing congress ever did for Alaska towns was to pro- hibit the creation of bonded indebt- edness of any kind'.' And the News is right. The license and occupation taxes ought to be sufficient, together with tax levy within the limit. to the legitimate requirements of any incorporated town in southeastern Alaska. A bonded indebtedness is only justifiable in cases where perma- nent public Improvements the benefits of which will inure to future as well as present population are undertaken. Under territorial form of govern ment there would undoubtedly be a limit placed upon the amount of bond /, 1al. .t..,1 ( Il. l..