Digital Bob Archive

AUGUST 8, 1884-One of the most puzzling sections of the Organic Act for Alaska, which became law in May, is the final one. This section provides that ?importation, manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors except for medicinal, mechanical and scientific purposes is hereby prohibited.? It is the words ?medicinal, mechanical and scientific purposes? that are causing a lot of head scratching, especially among our saloon owners. What do they mean? We asked our resident lawyer, Mr. Dan H. Murphy, to interpret them for us, but he only shook his head and said, ?Only a Philadelphia lawyer could do that. Praise be that I don?t have the job enforcing a law with as many loopholes as that one.? Only time, and the new U. S. District Court for Alaska, will tell the tale.

Apparently, not all of our citizens are dismayed by the shortcomings of the new Organic Act. On board the mail steamer Ancon when it called here recently was a lady journalist named Scidmore. While the ship was in port she hiked up the Silver Bow Basin trail to see the mines. On the way she met our old friend Edmund Bean and fell into conversation with him about the mines, the town of Juneau, and the new Act.

?Isn?t a shame the Act didn?t include a Delegate so you could be represented in Washington,? she said.

?Young lady,? said Bean, ?I have been an American citizen all my life, but it is nearly 25 years since I have been represented in Washington. Y?see, I?m a Democrat!?

Miss Scidmore opined that perhaps Grover Cleveland and Thomas Hendricks have a chance against James G. Blaine and John A. Logan, but Bean only snorted. ?Cleveland might have had a chance against Arthur, the scissorbill who sent that bunch of carpetbaggers up here to run Alaska, but Blaine?ll get elected, and we?ll be stuck with the Republicans for four more years.? Bean, who blazed the trail over Chilkoot Pass to the Yukon in 1880, then related some of his experiences for Miss Scidmore, who writes articles for the New York Times.

Not all residents agree with him about the outcome of the national election in November. There is much interest in the election in this camp, and although it is nearly three months away, bets are already being placed on the outcome. In the meanwhile, Alaskans are waiting rather impatiently for their new governor and other officials to commence doing their respective duties.