Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-28
ALASKA GOVERNOR
URGES COAL LAND
OPENED At ONCE
Report Shows Fuel viii Last
6000 Years at Present
Rate of Use
WOULD STOP SPECULATION
Leasing System Is Advocated to
Develop Mines of Northern
Territory
WOULD STOP SPECULATION
(Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27.-Expressing
it as his opinion that the want of
cheap fuel and the delay in opening the
Alaska coal fields are the strongest
adverse factors in the present problem
of territorial progress, Governor Wal
ter E. Clark of Alaska, in his annual
report to the secretary of the interior,
made public today, declares that "the
ill-advised policy Of forbidding all de-
velopment of the large coal resources
of Alaska or of placing such restric-
tions upon development as to make the
embarkation of private capital inn
possible is to be deprecated, while the
policy of conservation by proper use
is to be encouraged.
This COAL" he says, lis needed for
the industries of the territory and for
the physical comfort. of our people.
and on no account should it be with
held from these uses"
The present impossibility of mining
coal, either under title or lease, he ex>
plains, is in a measure responsible for
the suspension of one of the principal
railroads. This has caused a general
feeling of disbursement.
Governor Clark says that the opposi-
tion to opening the coal fields Springs
chiefly from those who fear monopoly
and those who would have this coal
held as a reserve supply for the
the present coal-land law is not
good one, "it certainly lends no hope
to monopolists, but rather is calculated
to discourage the embarkation of
capital"
WOULD LEASE COAL LANDS
In declaring his hope for the adop-
ton OF the leasing system to develop
these lands, Governor Clark says: 1T
will be found quite feasible according
90. l.a, -
able terms for leases, protecting both
the public and the operators, and in
suring intelligent conservation"
The governor says tnat the views of
the extremist that all the Alaskan coal
should be kept as a reserve supply has
nothing TO commend it. A conserva-
tive estimate, made by Alfred II.
Brooks of the geological survey, shows
that at the present rate of consumption
the marketable Alacka Goals would last
tiVe or six thousand years. "At the
end of that PERIOD" he continues, pos
terity may be using solar energy or
some other means than coal for light,
heat and power"
Little progress has been made in rail-
road building in the northwest territory
during the past year, it is asserted. The
officers of the Alaska Northern rail
way, 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 question and the inabil-
ity of any citizen to obtain title or
lease to these lands.
Governor Clark recommends govern
ment aid for the railroads in the form
of guarantee of interest on their
bonds He declares that the opening of
new wagon roads and trails, with the
accompanying lower freight rates on
supplies, has enabled mining to be car
ried on in districts which either could
not have opened at all or would have
offered only a precarious opportunity
to the miner.
TO DISCOURAGE SPECULATION
1t is also recommended that large
portions, if not all, Of the Chugach Ma
tional forest be restored to the public
domain, as many thousand acres of
this reservation are almost treeless,
and the conditions are such as to rem
der any measures for the conservation
of water absurdly unnecessary. Agri-
cultural possibilities in the territory,
declares the governor, are no longer in
doubt.
Certain changes in the mining law
are recommended to discourage <specu-
lation among nonresident claimants
who give powers of attorney to persons
in the territory.
Discussing the serious defect" in
the code laws caused by the absence
of legal requirement for the regula-
tion of births, marriages and deaths
in the territory, the governor says that
instances have multiplied in the last
few years illustrating in a striking
way the evils which must surely re-
suit from the absence of vital records.
Domestic coal to the value of $685.
359 was shipped to Aleska from the
United States during the fiscal year
ended June 80 according to tn report.
In addition to this, foreign coal
valued at $356,435 was imported dur
ing the year, bringing the total of
All coal importations for the year up
to 1854, ,794. The increase in the total
value of the domestic coal imported
during the year over 1909 was $3612
The importations of domestic mer-
chandise from the United States in
cluding coal, lumber, hardware and
machinery, provisions, liquors, etc,
showed an increase in 1910 over 1909
of 1886, 202.
Merchandise and precious metals
shipped from Alaska to the United
States during 1910 amounted to $34,-
62S,535, an increase over 1909 of $780,