The Alaskan., 1928-01-20
NEITHER CUTS, GUMPTION
 NOR GRACE

Do you believe in signs? We do sometime. When street kid sticks his thumb to his nose and wiggles his fingers, it's a sign. It means something. When the pee pee (petersburg press) explodes it. self on a nest fouling blast, we have a hunch that it's sign. We are taking up~ the article in last weeks whirl of the pee-pee on the strength of a sign. By inuendo and yelled, roundabout assertion we opine that the screed is meant for THE AL ASKAN. The shoe doesn't fit us at all. In fact we can't imagine that it would fit anybody, but since we feel that there is an allusion to us we'll go ahead. However, we'll play fairer, we won't leave anything to the imagination. If we mean the pee-pee we'll say so. It is ev- ident that the pee-pee didn't have the sand, gumption, guts or some thing to come out openly and above board in it's harangue. Since it is too cowardly to do that, it is too cowardly to have confidence in.
 Still, we have feeling that the pee-pee shouldn't be too strongly censured, maybe, for the "foulng nest" drivel savers more of OIL than of wisdom.
 In forming our reply and going on with the controversy, we didn't really know whether the readers are interested or not, but as an eff fort has been made to make it plain that the welfare of the town hinges on what is good of it, and not what is derogatory we deem it the better policy to proceed.
 We have no apologies to make. Not single one. The pee-pee puts us down as "poor sports.'' Maybe the pee-pee has it's own definition of the word. To us the pee-pee is not even poor sport. We'll make a guess that the screed has scratch ed the word out of it's dictionary. It has forgotten the meaning of the word, anyway. However, in it's stead it has gone down in the wide sewers of it's narrow mind and dug a mess of foul adjectives, and smear ed them over the pages of it's clique bound publication and is bloated in the feeling that it has made interest. in reading.
 Thank goodness, THE ALASKAN isn't responsible for the ills of tho city. The reputation of the place was broadcast long before there was an issue of this publication. The pee-pee, in it's holfer than thou at titude only has added to the con, fusion. It has made no attempt to better anything, but goes along snug in the security of the clique who subsidized it, playing into it's hands. covering up it's shoddy spots. hand and glove with the under street pullers of the social and political wires and a regular dare devil when it comes to saying nothing.
 Cancer is a dangerous disease, to even attempt cure a surgeon has to gouge and cut deep and wide. Naturally, there is more or less of smell in the operation. A scratch
  las been made and already there is some odor. That there will be moro 'r less of nose irritant as the operation proceeds is quite likely.
 The town of Petersburg deserves lot of credit. Despite reputa ion that is more or less unsavory rom Florida to the Arctic, it has leld to a pace. Larger and more lonored it should be, and will be. 'nce 1t is known, generally, that here are a whole lot of fine neon,e lere. Too bad it is that so few vhen the population of the town is qk0n into copr;Io,,4:1~