The Alaska citizen., 1910-11-21

however. and the population has changed in character considerably. It is more stable: people have com fCrtable homes There Is a different kind of freight going n-furniture and the comforts of life There are great many children. the people have schools, and in the small towns they are quite comfortable So the character of the population is diff ferent from what il was two or three. or four years ago when f was nearly all men"
 Public schools for white children are maintained in 3l towns in Alas ka. and the attendance is about 2.ooo. Alaska now has more school children in actual attendance in public schools within her borders than Mississippi Indiana, Michigan or Dakota had white settlers when they were each organized into ter ritory and given an elective legisla- ture
 Alaska is the most law-abiding DOT ton of the great West and has as
 low. or lower. rate of crime as most of the states and far lower than the more exceptional cases
 Alaska does not need exaggeration to prove her trade value present or prospective A comparison of the statistics will demonstrate that she is of greater value. in gross and per capita. than the Philippines. Porto Rico. or any other American terri tory, and for the last decade she has been steadily increasing in trade. population and the develop ment of her unlimited natural re- sources. Her trade is more yalu- able than that of any other uon-con- | tiguous ferritCry for the reason that l f is of such character that the i United States gets the benefit of ! both imports and exports. Alaska now annually buys merchandise to the value of five to six million dol
 lars more from the merchants of
 the United States than do the peo-
 pie of the Philippine Islands. She
 also annually sells s20,0O0 900 more 1 gold and fish) to the United States
 than do the Philippines.
 No territory was ever organized
 by the United States which had at
 its birth the development. resour.
 ces population, schools, churches and general advancement that Alas
 ka has now. Many of the states
 had less when they were given a l constitution and place in the union, with two United States sen ators and member of congress.
 Alaska now has 110 persons resi- dent within her borders to each 1 1,000 square miles therein This means that she has ten times as
 many people to the square mile as l Michigan had at the time of the
 organization of her first territorial legislature; seven times as many as l the territory northwest of the Ohio 1 and Dakota: five and one-half times as many as Indiana; four and one 1 half times as many as Missouri; i; more than three and One-half times as many as Utah and more than l twice as many as Oregon and Min nesota. Therefore congress cannot argue with force that on the score of population Alaska is not entitled ! to an elective territorial legislature 1 In making his plea to congress against the Beveridge bill and for
 an elective legislature the delegate
 at the last session of congress voiced the sentiment of the vast majority of Alaskans when he said
 "Alaska's first great need is that 1 of an elective territorial legislature. with its powers so fairly and care fully limited that 1t may aid in the development and growth of the ter ritory by the passage of ordinary To- cal legislation, which congress will not spare the time to consider. In his message to congress in 1907 President Roosevelt said
 1 reiterate my recommendation of last year as regards Alaska Some form of local self-government should be provided, as simple and inexpen- sive as possible. It is impossible for the congress to devote the neces- sary time to all the little details of necessary Alaskan legislation
 That is the situation in a nut shell. It is as true today as it was in 1907, and the necessity becomes the more imperative the longer it is neglected. Alaska is languishing for the want of necessary legisla- tion; congress will not stop to con- sider it's necessities and it is not permitted to work for itself. Alaska's first great necessity is the passage of a bill by Congress establishing therein an elective legislative as- sembly'
 QUARTZ DEVELOPMENT