The Chitina leader., 1910-12-10
prosperity.

prosperity.
 Were we to remain silent would be to acknowledge the assertions and
 statements of the enemies of the
 Copper River way, which have, with out further comment, involved them | all in absurdities. Silence would be
 concession. Therefore, we must re- flute the errors they would seek to l make popular.
 Chiefest among these cavillers, is
 one James Wickersham, delegate to
 Congress from Alaska. Sitting way
 back in the rear of the House of rep
 resentatives, out of harms way, in
 company with a couple of niggers
 from Hawaii, he is held in the scorn,
 derision and contempt of his fellows.
 Devoid of a vote, buried in some un-
 important committee, despised by all
 of his political colleagues, he has be-
 come joke at Washington, a non
 entity. impotent, incapable of doing
 any good for himself or Alaska. In
 his person he has antagonized all the | powerful interests that would favor 1 Alaska by much-needed legislation. Wickersham is the stormy petrel of
 the. North. His sporadic career has been productive of nothing but dis
 sension, silly pickering and unmerit- ed crimination. He has unjustly ma ligned the fair name of the Copper River way. In one of his speeches, wherein he satiated the appetite of the enemies of progress, he sneer- ingly referred to the Copper River X
 Northwestern railway enterprise as
 two strsaks of rust beribboning an
 uninhabitable gorge cut through the mountainous wilderness by some i'm
 memorial glacier. Through this chasm flows muddy stream named
 by some grandiloquent geographer, possessing more eloquence than sense, as the Copper river! Follow ing the course of this stream the Guggenhaims have built their rail- oad to the Bonanza mines. The road does absolutely nothing to develop the country. The Guggenheims have a wealthy copper mine at Bonanza which to them is valueless without means Of connecting it with tide Va. ter. Hence, their railroad. They have not built this road to develop the country. It is one of the means by which they shall exploit it. They
 have now got control of all transpor- | tation facilities, and their avowed object is to create out of Alaska
 Guggenheim barony. They have the
 country throttled. In unalterable op- | position to them, I announce my can | didacy for Congress"
 The poor benighted fool! The ab- surdity of the above statements will | be apparent to the most ignorant. l Granting that they are building the
 railroad for self and pelf can it be | denied that their magnificent enter prise is not developing, or helping to develop, the great North? Are
 not railroads the natural boosters of a new country? The Guggenheims in spite of themselves would have to develop the country. Can the free and open expenditure of millions and millions of capital fail to accomplish any thing in the line of far-reaching development? If it is given to us to question their motives, we shall con- cede that they are carrying on these gigantic enterprises for their own emolument. But can we contend that they have no ulterior effects on Alas
 ka's growth and development? Can the charge that the country is be- ing robbed and the people are being exploited, bear investigation? Can growth, development and prosperity
 being given to and maintained in a country un hot air? Or does it take money to make patent to mankind the limitless resources of the virgin empire of Alaska? Men of great
 wealth have risked their fortunes in Alaska's development. They have turned to this virgin field as thous- ands of others to better their condi- tions. By speculative investmen,
 they have hope to increase their for
 tunes. Selfshness may have been
 their motive at all times, but with ev.