The Nenana daily news., 1918-09-09

CouHtereu Dy PreSldent wilson Tn putting into force the various meas ures for vigorous prosecution of the war such as the draft law, etc, all of the opposition, he said, came from the Democratic members of both houses, and cited as instances the actions of Senators Chamberlain. Kitchen and Vardaman and Speaker Champ Clark.
 MT. Wickersham referred to Gov 1 ernor Riggs as peanut" governor, who seemed to be an intermeddler in politics, and in doing so was ne- glecting his legitimate duties. Mir. Riggs, he said, was a candidate for the governorship four years ago and the effect of it, he said, can be seen in the first twenty-five miles of the railroad out of Nenana. He severely scored the federal "bunch'' at Juneau, who, he said, had stolen the election from him and given it to Sulzer, and characterized the act as one of the vilest this side of Ger many. He was elected, he said. bv thlrty-one votes and the canvassing board, consisting of the governor. surveyor-general and collector of customs, had satisfied itself of this. lie stated that the opposing faction had then filed demurrer with the result that Judge Jennings threw out certain votes cast for Wicker sham as being illegal, and gave the election certificate to Sulzer. Judge Jennings, he said, was a political opponent of his and recalled that he was some time ago badly defeated oy hlm in the race for the delegate ship.
 Regarding the great number of people leaving Alaska to settle else where, he said that this movement of the people was due to the fact
 that living conditions had grown lnsupportable and intolerable. Pros pectors, he said, were no longer able to outfit and go out into the hills Tn search of the paystreak, and the operator could no longer afford to work his ground, even on a small scale, employing few men, The reason for the insupportable condi- tons he said, was to be found in the high freight rates charged bv the transportation companies. which were driving the people away from Alaska. He cited an instance where the cost of transportation on a ton or hardware from Chicago, Ill. to Cordova, Alaska, a distance of ap- proxlmately 385O miles, and in Volvlng haul by rail and ocean steamer, was about ten dollars less than the charge made to haul the same ton of hardware from Cordova to Mccarthy, distance of only 191
 hiies. The crux of the situation. he said, was here; and when cheap transportation rates, with a reason able margin of profit for the tran portatlon people, could be obtained then Alaska will have a population that will stay in the country and urged the people of Alaska to awake to full realization of this and heln him to obtain legislation that would compel the transportation companies to give up their wholly excessive profits and unreasonable rates and give the prospector and miner chance for life in Alaska.
 Concluding, his speech, Judge Wlckersham again severely scored what he called the federal bunch at Juneau, who, he said, were rotten" and who did not hesitate to have recourse to unfair methods at some of which even a Hun would balk. He severely criticized the governors political activities and held up to ridicule his appointment or John Moe to the position of. special agent for the prevention of