Show ALASKAS WEALTH What n Newspaper Correspondent has to say of it Edward Roberts a San Francisco special spe-cial correspondent has lately returned from an extended trip to Alaska Mr Roberts said that the importance of Alaska Alas-ka was very generally overlooked In fact very few people had any idea as to the value of the timber minerals and fish of that country In 1877 Paid Mr Roberts we paid 7200000 for Alaska The seal islands alone pay a handsome dividend on the investment These islands are leased by the Alaska Commercial Company for 55 000 per year In addition a tax of 2G2 > IS collected on each sealskin shipped from the islands which on 100000 skins the greatest number the company can take in one year amounts to 262500 making alone with the rental a total of 319500 or a dividend of a little more than 4 percent per-cent on tho investment of 7200000 How long will the company have a monopoly of this business The lease will expire in 1887 and at that time the Government will have no difficulty in making a new one which will return double the present rental What is the condition of mining in Alaska The mineral wealth of Alaska is simply sim-ply beyond computation Gold of the nest quality exists in unlimited quantities in the quartz of the mountains in various sections The only question remaining toe > to-e solved is regarding its accessibility Douglas Island 100 miles northeast of Sitka is the centre of mining operations at present It is owned by San Francisco capitalists and a 120stamp mill theo the-o Y rrltf in the world is in operation Labor is cheap and there is no reason aside from distance and the difficulty l of getting at the gold quartz why Alaska should not supply a large percentage of the gold mined in America in the future 41 A Question for the Girls What is it that determines a girls popularity pop-ularity in society asks the Boston Beacon Bea-con and goes on to say This is a ques tion often Jieard in these days of social strife and aggrandizement and is a question ques-tion that no one is quite able to answer in a word It is not because she is rich it is not because she is welldressed or even uretty j it is not that her fairy godmother god-mother bestowed a witty tongue to amuse I the dullards j it is not because she is rarely intelligent or highly educated educat-ed or so ammbleno none of these desirable qualities would render the poplar pop-lar girl more popular than she is though perhaps she is fortunate enough to possess pos-sess one or more of them for her stock in trade The girl everybody likes need have neither money nor beauty which in the worlds estimation constitutes social power but she must have and does have a gracious manner a certain graceful bearing decided intelligence instinctive generosity and above all the 1 greatest gift ever awarded to woman I personal magnetism |