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Show A WOMAN, A DOG AftD A WALNUT TREE By Pat O'Cotter, Seward, Alaska. This land is the Orphan Kiddie Of the group with their stars in the Flag, And she's looked on hack home as an alien Where her treatment makes honest man gag. ' ' She's treated the same as the harlot Who barters her body for pelf And carries it home to her master, ' And is told to look after herself. i V Of course we're an orphan adopted, When cast off by the great Russian Bear And our lot's been the lot of an orphan, And we've had a stage orphan's care. " Our coal land was grabbed by our Uncle, Our copper and furs by the Jews, While another gang robbed all the salmon And corrupted our natives with booze. Our Uncle took all of our townsites, Each harbor's a naval reserve, And the water that runs down the hillsides Has been grabbed by statesmen with nerve, Our gold goes to pay off Sam's taxes Till there's damned little left here, you bet, And after the gang get their rake-off, Pray, what does the poor orphan get? Sam gave us an army commission And told it to build us a trail, But all that ho gave was permission, Sam didn't come through with the "kale." Now a trail in Alaska costs money, And when Dick tries to get a bill through, Some jackass from Maine reads his figures And "moves the amount cut in two." Our Uncle Sam owns all the cables, And the prices he gets are a sin. It costs more for a word to Seattle Than it does from Salt Lake to Berlin. Our coast lines are rugged and broken, A menace to each ship that sails, Yet Sam has no money for coast lights, They get the same treatment as trails. And Alaska is some husky orphan, We could reach from the Gulf to B. C. We could stand with one foot in Kansas While the other was washed by the sea. Yet we've only one voice there in Congress, And that one's bereft of a vote, And has to get some one's permission Ere he loose the protest from his throat. Sam gave us a group legislative But barred them the making of laws; They could only "memorialize Congress" And give it the reasons and cause. The cry of the world is for Home Rule, Yet imported fools crowd our bench, And some of their mining decisions Send up to high Heaven, their stench. You made us quit gambling that's all right, But one thing that nobody knows Is why Sam let a bone-head from Georgia Hang the crepe on our own picture shows. We're all hedged about with restrictions, - And Sam, won't you in us confide Why some of your damphool ideas Are not tried out on someone Outside? This land's not the land of the weakling, And the men up here know what wo need, We're sick of your bunch from the Outside. , Whose only incentive is greed. We've stood for Pinchot's Conservation, We've stood for your carpet bag horde, Who have grabbed off the jobs in Alaska As a sort of politic reward. But Sam, take a tip from a roughneck, Go slow now, and don't crowd your hand, Or some day you'll find that the orphan Has quit creeping, and learned how to stand. Don't make us the goat for the thepries Advanced by some government cog, And don't use this land for a station For trying things out on the dog. We gaze o'er the line of the Yukon When we're watching our neighbors at play, And we wonder why our Uncle Sammy Don't treat his Alaskans that way. We look at their broad, graded highways, Then gaze at our own half-blazed trails, And, Sam, it comes damned near to envy When we think of their thrice a "week mails. They don't know the word conservation; Their resources, all theirs to use, - When they ask their Uncle to help them, Their Uncle don't often refuse. Their Uncle has helped them develop, Furnished work for men who were broke, And Sam, when it comes to a coast light They make ours look like a joke. But in spite of it all, Sam, we love you, We love every thread in the Flag, We love every stream in Alaska, We love every cliff, every craig. We're not like the "woman, or dog, Sam, And we're not. like the walnut tree, 'Cause we want to be loved in return, Sam, And Sam, you are blind, or you'd see. |
