The Alaska citizen., 1910-11-21
TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.

NH ' OHlHI SON H NM N |.
 Since the move 10 petition the
 Democratic congressman and others
 tn advance the cause of territorial
 government for Alaska was made a
 week or SO ago by the leading Dem 0Crats ot the city there has been much discussion of the topic The petitions have been largely signed and many who previously had given the matter little thought are now bringing an intelligent study to bear on it While almost all have inti- mated they are in favor of an cleo tive legislature. some few have ad- vanced the old arguments against it. These stock arguments. matched. most of them, in the corporation in cubators, will not stand in the face of demonstrated facts.
 The most frequently quoted req son why Alaska should not have a government of it's own. and. there. 1 fore, should submit to a military commission rule, is that the popula- tion is not of sufficient number or stability and permanence of resid- ence. l. is claimed that the people are nomadic and have intense local and sectional feelings; that they come to Alaska with no idea of staying
 In regard to the quantity" of Alas ka's population the thirteenth cen- sus returns showed that the white tpOpulatjon had increased during the last decade by 90 per cent and that al present 1t is estimated at between 42.0OO and 45.000. These returns also show that the popula- ton is more or less equally distrib- l Iuted
 As to the intense local and sec tiOnal differences which are said to exist reference to the distribu- tion of the vote for delegate at all of the elections held will show that | a unanimity existed in all of the divisions. That Alaskans could not work together because of the al- leged separation, as measured by distance. know, 4dge and sentiment, is refuted by this demonstration that they have on three occasions got ten sufficiently close together. and accumulated a sufficient understand ing of conditions. to vote consistent
 ly in spite of the fact that the cam paigns were of but short duration. The charge that people coming
 to Alaska do not come to stay" was
 well answered by one of the candi-
 dates for the delegateship two years ago. when ne said
 Tt is said that people coming to
 Alaska do not come to stay People
 came to California to wash the gold
 from the Sacramento and it's tribu- taries and then go back home but
 they stayed secured a state govern
 ment, and erected not only the great
 commonwealth of California, but the
 states of Washington, Oregon. Neva-
 da and Idaho. While many ad-
 venturerS have come to Alaska to
 make fortune and return, they are
 staying sending their children to the schools. supporting the churches
 in winter and summer. building
 homes, and living the orderly ambiti- ous and happ lives characteristic of Americans. There are more churches in our towns in proportion to popu-
 lation than in towns in many of the states. and they are maintained not only in the summer but all the year around, disproving the charge that Alaskans are birds of passage Pic lures of schools in various sections of Alaska show pupils that W ere born within the district who have never been outside of it.
 The stability of the population is indicated n a report of the board of road commissioners for Alaska for 1908, when the chairman of that board officially declared:
 The population of the territory, which may be classed as permanent, has increased slightly. according to my observation. during the past year, A more encouraging feature, how ever. then the mere increase in numbers is the greater number of families. with an improvement of homes, the cultivation of gardens and fields, and other evidences of a fixed habitation.'