Alaska sentinel., 1905-08-24
Notes and Comment.
SULZER ON ALASKA.
[Ketchikan Journal.l

l the lllpluOs lildll Ilt upSS Ol -A ican citizens in Alaska" declared Hon. Wm. Sulzer to a reporter Of the Journal.
 q don't know why, but believe 1t is ignorance of Alaska and her re- sources that causes Mr. Taft to take this peculiar view. In the mean while Alaska is paying her debts and accruing wealth, while money is being poured into the Philippines | like sand into a rathole. The gov ernment has spent $S00,000,000 on her Asiatic colonies and in return has trade of some $9,000,000 an nually. Alaska has cost the gov ernment virtually nothing and is putting money into the treasury, yet Taft favors self-government to the Filipinos in preference to Alas kans. 1t is an incomprehensible political blunder and it goes to show the great ignorance and prejudice against Alaska to be overcome by those of us who are fighting for Der rights. But it takes time to edu cate those people down east, and there are some encouraging signs that show a growing recognition of your needs. When I first began to plead in congress for Alaska, l was laughed at, but now l am given | earnest attention.
 The departments, also, are begin ming to recognize your needs, and l have been able to secure help from them for this district lately. have secured a bi-weekly mail service from Ketchikan to the west coast of Prince of Wales Island. Cordoya Bay, where all the navies of the world could maneuver in safety, has been surveyed and charted at my suggestion. A regular sea light house is to be constructed at Cape Muzon at a cost of $100,000. Cape Chacon and Lime Point will also have lights. 1 have secured the first military road in Alaska under the new law and the route across | the portage has been surveyed and ! blazed. This military road will ne- cessitate military or naval station in this part of Alaska as a protec- tion to the people and property, as this is the nest strategic point in Alaska.
 What you people now need is a government cable from Juneau. l am doing my utmost with Wash ington authorities in this matter, and your chamber of commerce should take it up at once. Get out a petition signed by every resident in the district and send it to the secretary of the war department as soon as possible. A cable is now your greatest need 1 will do all l can to help you get it.
 Secretary Taft is a good man, but he doesn't know much about Alas ka. What the people of Alaska want, and want now, is territorial goyernment-the right to make their own laws and govern them selves. They are entitled to this, and it is un-republican, un-demo- cratic and un-American to deprive them of this self-eyident right-the heritage of every true American | who lives under the starry folds of the flag of the Union
 l shall re-introduce my bill to make this district a territory as soon as congress convenes, and 1 shall fight for it u..til it becomes a law, and mark my prediction, soon- CT than you imagine it will become law, and the good citizens of this district will be true citizens of our country, with voice in its affairs, and the inherent right of making their own laws and governing them selves. 1 started this fight in con- gress, and l shall never quit until it is won. 1 am proud of the fact that 1 am the author of the first | blll ever introduced Tn congress to make this district territory in the Union. I know nine tenths of the people in this district are with me in the fight We are right, and we will win, but We must all pull to- gether and bring all the influence We can to bear on an irresponsiYe. congress-unwilling at present to grant your appeal because it is ig-I norant of your glorious land, your intelligent, patriotic people, and your unlimited natural resources rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Alaska is just as much entitled to territorial government as Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma or Hawaii, Joe Cannon to the contrary not withstanding, But then, Uncle Joe is a provincial, and what he doesn't