Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-07-02

holidays. The people of the two coun.
tries are very friendly, and in business
and play they go hand In hand
| In this connection. l am surprised a,
| the ignorance which prevails through
out the United States as to this part
| OF the world. Many of our people evil
IDENTIFY think that the klondille belongs
i to Alaska and that Dawson is one of
IT'S cities. This ignorance even extends
TO some of the government officials at
, Washington. Not long ago one of the
| high officers of our Post Office DEPART
inent sent letter of ccnsure 10 the
postmaster at Dawson. because he had
not been submitting his reports to tho
iHepartmcnt at Washington He told
I him that he must report regularly, and
that IL he did not receive :: letter
from him within few days he would
close up the office. The postmaster re-
pied that Dawson was the capital and
chief city of Yukon territory. and that
It's reports went only to the govern
ment at ottawa. The incident occa-
| stoned great laughter in this part of
the world and the Dawson agent
\ thought so much of il that he had the
! letter framed and hung up in the post
office.
similar ignorance prevails as to
Alaska One of the clerks of our Treas
ury department once wrote to an Of
hcial at Sitka. when that town was
inc capital, that the treasury had very
! rev nianks of certain kind that Sitta
, had asked for, but that the Alaska of
hciai might easily run acros to Nome
ana get some, as Nome had a double
Z ;e
from Sttka as Now York is distant
| from Omaha. The only way there is
by sea. and the voyage is AS long as
from New York to Liverpool, and the
steamers so once a month
Our people cannot appreciate the dis
tances in Alaska BY the ordinary
summer routes. 1t is from /. 500 to . 600
miles from Juneau TO Fairbanks.
nevertheless, merchant of the latter
town told me he had just received a
letter from Boston firm, saying tina,
thcE had drawn upon him through n
banking establishment at Juneau
Another man in the party described
me troubles he had had in the mr.
chase OF well-known dictionary con-
SiS''hE or ten or eleven volumes This
dictionary had been extensively adver-
used in magazines. The man sent Tho
money and asked that the books bo
delivered at Fairbanks 1t wasamoutb
or more before he received q ran,,-
when letter came saying that III.
books had been shipped him from ,bcir
canadian branch, the company CYL
acntiE thinking that Fairbanks was
In canada. The result was that rho
LOOKS were held at the international
BOUNDARY for duty, and they have not
yet been delivered
IGNORANCE REGARDING
COUNTRY IS DISPLAYED
Another amusing story relates to the
time OF the boundary dispute between
the United States and Canada. The sub
Jet came up in Congress, when ono
senator asked for more information
about IN" Lynn Canal. He wanted
to know when II was dug and who
aug IT," When 1t is remembered that
me Lynn Canal is one of the great
"'r"s Of the North American CONT
heht' ana that it was plowed out by
nature III the prehistoric past the fund
OF information of the questioner can he
Appreciated
Along the same line Of ignorance
was a letter received at Junea from o
fhiladelphta merchant in response to
an ORDER Tor certain goods to be sent
{. .. ID. The letter stated that tho
ihlladeiphia firm could not send goods
I. .. ID. TO foreign countries.
among other instances Of this kind
are those which relate to the climate Of
Alaska, which is different in different
sections OF the country. One OF the
chicf merchants of Cordova told me
now nc once ordered some WOODEN
goods from Minnesota mill through
an agent in Seattle. The goods should
nave arrived within thirty days. Upon
their failure TO come, the agent wrote
me minnesota firm and received the
reply that the order had not been fill