The daily Alaskan., 1911-07-10
THE ALASKA COAL LANDS DE-
 CISlON.

The decision of Secretary Fisher of lhe Interior Department, which rejects the Alaska coal land claims known as the Cunningham claims, wiG give great satisfaction to the vast majority of the American peo- pie because Of the general and sound belief that a fraud has been prevent ed. 1t will graufy a smaller but bet ter informed public because of the effect which it will have upon the entire policy of the federal govern men, in dealing with mineral lands which constitute part of the national domain.
 As far as the return to public treas ury goes. or the possible moDopoliz- ing Ot the Alaskan coal supplies, it would have made not the slightest difference to the country whether the Cunningham claims had been patented regardless of the illegal manner in which they were combined in advance, or the same land had been obtained by tbrty-three dH- tereut owners, all acting independent ly and so completely within their leg al rights that there could have been no objection on legal grounds to the final aIienSting of all the land in yoIved in their claims. Then the thiryy-tbree owners Of claims honest ly and lawfully obtained might have combined their land in one oompany's s possession and exploited the coal it contained at their pleasure. The gov ernment would have had the same price to a cent, and the final con trol Of the coal underlying the land would have been just as complete as it could have been if the Cunningham claims had gone through, as a group, for a syndicate
 It will be seen that the big problem lies deeper-except as to the thwart- ing of illegal scheming for personal gain. Nothing is more important than enforcing the laws and doing justice to the nation as well as to its citizens, The great question iDvoN- ed is the broad policy of safeguard ing and still making available for use the vast natural wealth belonging to the United States as a nation. It is the issue of the leasing policy for mineral lands. water power sites and timber lands against the historic pol icy, still governing the statutes, of pardng with all such property of the nation as soon as private citizens were ready to pay the small price asked by the government That is the big question which must be dealt with now in the development of a sound and far-reaChing policy of con servation which, of course, includes reasonable use, with just returns to the Dstiou.-Cleyeland Leader.
 The last paragraph in the above editorial shows the mental attitude of the average citizen of the states to- ward Alaskaus and their struggle for justice. They claim proprietary right in the domain of Alaska. It matters not that we have developed the resources, we must divide the proceeds of our toll with the alien who has dissipated his own birth right
 The Leader is right the problem lies deeper than the first statement Of the case, but the Leader has by no means reached bed rock. The problem will not be solved by leas- ing system nor in withdrawal of the public domain in the interests of the coal monopoly Of the states and foreign producers
 The problem of control lies in the shipping facilities. Let the govern ment regulate the freight tariff and the harbor facilities and the owner ship of the coal itselg will not be of so much consequence so far as re- suits to the masses are concerned,
 10 is e question Of some moment to the people of Alaska whether the