El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-28
Governor in Annual Report
Declares That Develop
ment Is Being Retarded
and Railroad Building De-
layed.

Washington, D. c.. Nov. 2S.-Ex-
pressing 1t 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 pres
ent problem Of territorial progress,
governor Walter F. Clark, of Alaska, in
his annual report to the secretary Of
the interior, made public today, de-
clares that 'the ill-advised policy Of
forbidding all development of the large
coal resources of Alaska, or of Placing
such restrictions upon development as
to make the emharkation OF private
capital impossible. is to be depr ecated.
while the policy Of conservation by
proper use is TO be encouraged.
This COAL" he says, is nee1ed for
the Industries of the territory anc for
the physical comfort of our people. and
on no account should It be withheld
from these uses"
RAILROAD Suspends.
The present impossfbility of mining
coal. either under title or lease, he ez-
plains. is in measure responsible fer
the suspension of one of the principal
railroads. This has caused a general
feeling of discsuragement over the
business situation in those parts Of
Alaska where development ard set
Element ought to Se going on most
rapidly.
Governor Clark says IT appeared in
public discussion OF the subject that
the opposition to opening the Alaska
coal fields springs chiefly from two
sources-"those persons who fear mo-
nopoIy and those who would have this
coal held as a reserve supply for the
future He further says that while
the present coal land law is not a good
- v,Tx 70
nopclists, but rather is calculated to
discourage the embarkation of capt.
tai"
Wants Lands Developed.
In declaring his hope for the adop
tion of the leasing system to develop
these lands, governor Clark says: TT
will be found quite feasible, according
to the best authorities, to devise suita-
BILE terms for leases, protecting both
the public and the operators, and In
surfing istelligent conservation
The governor says that the view Of
the extremist that all the Alaskan
coal should be kept as a reserve sup
ply, has nothing to commend it. A con-
servative estimate. he says, made by
Alfred H. Brooks, of the geological sur
vey, shows that at the present rate Of
consumption the marketable Alaska
Goals would last five or six thousand
years AT the end of that periad," he
continues. "posterity may be using Sc
lar energy or some other means other
than coal for light, heat and power"
Railroad Building.
Little progress has been made in rail-
road building in the northwest terrific
~ during the past year, it is asserted.
The officers of the Alaska Northern
railway, which will tap the Mantanus-
ka coal fields, declare that the princi-
pal factor in preventing a continuation
of construction is the unsettled state
of the coal land question and the ina
bility Of any citizen to obtain title or
lease to these lands.
Governor Clark recommends gov
eminent aid for the railroads in the
form of a guarantee Of interest on
<heir bonds He declares that the open
Eng Of new wagon roads and trails,
with the accompanying lower freight
rates on supplies, has enabled mining
TO be carried on in districts which
either could not have opened at all,