The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-11-28
Governor Clark Of Alaska, In Re-
port, Scores Policy Of For
bidding Development Of
Alaskan Fields
COUNTRY'S PROGRESS IMPtDED
Declares View of Extremist That All
Alaskan Coal Should be Kept as
Reserve Has Nothing to
Commend Il.

Washington, Nov. 2s.-Expressing il
as his opinion that the want of cheap
| fuel and the delay i'm opening the
Alaska coal fields are the strongest
adverse factors in the present problem
of territorial progress, Governor Wal
ter +. Clark. OF Alaska, in his annual
report To the Secretary Of the Inter
ior, made public today. declares that
''the ill-advised policy of forbidding
all development of the large coal re-
source of Alaska, or of placing such
restrictions upon development as to
make the embarkation of private cap
while the policy of conservation by
proper use is to be encouraged.
This coal" he says, lis needed for
the industries or the territory and for
the physical comfort of our peopde
and on no account should 1t be with
held from these. uses"
Lack of Coal Diseouraging.
The present impossibility of mining
coal, either under title or lease, he ex-
plains, is in measure responsible
for the suspension of one of the prin-
cipal railroads. This has caused
general feeling of discouragement over
the business situation i'm those parts
where development and settlement
ought to be going on most rapidly.
Governor Clark says it appeared in
ntth1i, 1fcancginnC ~ hA l,ot
the opposition to opening the Alaska
coal fields "spring chiefly from two
sources-those persons who fear a
monopoly and those who would have
this coal held as reserve supply for
the future" He further says that
while the present coal-land law is not
good one lit certainly lends no hope
to monopolists. but rather is calcu-
lated to discourage the embarkation
of capital"
In declaring his hope for the adop-
tion of the leasing system to develop
these lards. Governor Clark says: 1T
will be found quite feasible, accord
ing to the best authorities, to devise
suitable terms for leases, protecting
both the public and the operators, and
insurng intelligent conservation"
Enough to Last 5000 Years.
The governor says that the view of
the extremist that all the Alaskan coal
should be kept as a reserve supply
has nothing to command it. A con-
servative estimate, he says. made by
Alfred II. Brooks, of the Geological
Survey, shows that at the present rate
OF consumption the marketable Alas
ka Goals would last five or six thous-
and years. eat the end of the period"
he continues prosperity may be using
solar energy or some other means 9TH
ei than coal for light. heat and power"
Little progress has been made i'm
railroad building in the Northwest ter
ritory during the past year, 1t is as
serted. The officers of the Alaska
Northern Railway, which will tap the
Mantanuska coal fields, declare that
the principal factor in preventing a
continuation of construction is the
unsettled state of the coal-land ques-
tlon and the inability of any citizen to
obtain title or lease to these lands.
Governor Clark recommends aid for
the railroads in the form or a guar
antee of interest on their bonds. He
declares that the opening of new
wagon roads and trails. with the ac-
companying lower freight rates on sup
plies, has enabled mining to be car
ried on in districts which either could
not have opened at all. or would have
offered only precarious opportunity
to the miner.
Should Enlarge Public Domain.
The governor recommends that un-
der the present condition of fuel sup
ply in Alaska and until the territory
reaches n more advanced stage of
development the government should |
make no charge on the cutting of fire.
wood.
1t is also recommended that large |
portions, II not all, of the Chugach Ma |
tional Forest restored to the public do |
main. as many thousand acres of this |
reservation are almost treeless. and |
the conditions are such as to render
water absurdly unnecessary. Agricul-
turai possibilities in the territory. de-
clares the governor are no longer in
doubt.
Certain changes In the mining law
are recommended. These are charac-
terized to discourage speculation
among resident claimants who
give powers OF attorney to some per-
son in the territory.
Signal corps men who have charge
Of the telegraph system In Alaska