The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-11-28

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of territorial progress, Governor Wal
ter E. Clark, ofAlaska, 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 impos-
sible, 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 peo-
pie, and on no account should 1t be
withheld from these uses"
The present impossibility of mining
coal, either under title or lease, he ex-
plains, is in measure responsible for
the suspension of one of the principal
railroads. This has caused a general
feeling of encouragement over the
business situation in those parts of
Alaska, where development and settle
ment ought to be going on most rapid
ly.
Governor Clark says it appeared in
public discussions of the subject that
the opposition to opening the Alaska
coal fields Springs chiefly from two
sources-those persons who fear a
monopoly 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
good one sit certainly lends no hope
to monopolists, but rather is calculated
to discourage the embarkation of capi-
tai"
In declaring his hope for the adop-
tion of the leasing system to develop
these lands, Governor Clark says: 1T
will be found quite feasible, according
to the best authorities, to devise suit
able terms for leases, protecting both
the public and the operators, and in
suring intelligent conservation"
The governor says that the view of
the extremist that all the Alaskan coal
should be kept as a reserve supply has
nothing to command it. A conserva-
tive estimate, he has, made by Alfred
| H. Brooks, of the geological survey,
shows that at the present rate of con-
sumption the marketable Alaska Goals
would last five or six thousand years.
AT the end of that period" he con-
tinues, "posterity may be using solar
energy or some other means other than
coal for light, heat and power"
Little progress has been made in
railroad building in the northwest ter
ritory during the past year, it is as
serted. The officers of the Alaska
Northern railway, which will tap the
Mantanuska coal fields, declare that
the principal factor in preventing a
continuation of construction is the un-
settled state of the coal land question
and the inability of any citizen to OBJ
tain title or lease to these lands.
| Governor Clark recommends govern
ment aid for the railroads in the form
of a 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
carried on in districts which either
could not have opened at all, or would
have offered only a precarious oppor
tunity to the miner
The governor recommends that un
der the present conditions of fuel sup
lply in Alaska and until the territory
lreaches a more advanced stage of de
velopment the government should
make no charge on the cutting of fire
wood.
It 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 ren
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. These are charac
terized to discourage speculation
among nonresident claimants WHIT
give powers of attorney to some per
son in the territory.
Signal corps men who have charg,
of the telegraph system in Alaska ar
commended by the governor The.
endure great hardships in the main
tenance of some of the lines and ar
ito be commended for their brave ei
forts which result in keeping the line
with remarkably few interruptions.
He declares the ocean cable will hav
4 10 he reDlaeed in a feyv >voarS ts,,nIec