The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-11-06
Is No Peace Between Fisher
 and Pinchot
MIR. FISHER EXPLORES
And Soon After MT. Pinchot Makes Similar Trip to .Alaska-Princi- pal Difficulty Is Ignorance
 of Alaskan Conditions
By JONATHAN WINFIELD


 tary of the interior, and Clifford Pinchot'
 leader of the republican radical conserva- l tives, are striving to bring the two to- gether for quick and amiable soiutioh | of Alaskan problems that mean much 10 I the people of the United States ana ot l Alaska, and consequently also to the Tatt administration.
 I The same persons have already sought | to create a widespread impression that all danger of an altercation between Fish CT and Pinchot over these matters Is past, that when the proper time arrives | they will be found working shoulder 10 shoulder. Their mutual friends would | have them sitting before an open fire grate in Washington some cool evening | this fall settling Alaskan affairs by friendly discussion of the issues involv- l ed"
 l Despite this, to many observant gov l ernment officials in close touch with the l real situation, war clouds are still nov ering over the northwestern territory, | with the secretary of the interior and | Tinchot peparing for uncompromising Eat l tie.
 1 The long controversy between MT. Pin | ohot and Richard A. Ballinger, MT. Fish 1 CTS predecessor in the interior depart
 ment, over the Cunningham coal claims, government policy relative to water pow er sites, and the subsequent break be- I tween MT Pinchot and the Taft admin istration over the opening of the Chusacn rational forest reserve in Alaska, where I by Richard 8. Ryan secured harbor rite | on Controller Bay In connection with pl opposed railroad from the Guggenheim copper and coal property. has caused con siderable speculation in the national capi- | tai as to the future relations of Pinchot l and the new secretary of the interior in l 1egard to Alaska. Interest Is heightened
 by the fact that they were fellow officers l in Pinchots personally conducted conser- vation organization prior to Fishers cle- vation to the secretaryship of the inter- l for department.
 1 According to the optimistic view of the I Alaskan situation the problems Of that l territory rest fundamentally upon ques- ticns of fact. and although the opinion Is advanced that MT. Pinchot and MT. Fish l ec will not differ materially as to facts, | they appear to have been unwilling to l take each others word for anything bear
 ing upon the Issues. This is strongly In-
 dicated, it is believed, by the personal visits of the two at different times to | that country, in which both are said to
 have rislxed their lives in an effort to l "get at the facts"
 1 MT. Fisher was the first to venture Into l the wild frozen country. The whole "arty | suffered great hardships, on the Behring l river especially, and even imperilled their l lives, it is reported in the quest of truth. l This stream is of glacial origin and iIs
 current swift and treacherous. The con
 stant shifting of the glacial silt on It's bottom causes shallowness in spots so | that even an Indian canoe cannot nav.- gate it safely. The Fisher party, we'll
 knowing all this Ca tip from the guides), ventured 15 miles up the river, and It's l members frequently found themselves l standing waist deep in mud and water. Leaving the stream they tramped about l five miles in the dark and forded four streams, each with a pack on his back. l They did not reach their final destination
 until toward 2 o'clock in the morning | Just to "get at the truth" when MT. Pinchot might have supplied it without d 1 bit of risk or expense.
 | Not long afterwards Mir. Pinchot ac-
 companied by United States Senator Miles Poindexter of Washington, radical ie- 1 publican progressive, journeyed to the 1 same territory on an independent hunt
 for the facts about Alaska. To many l these two incidents alone indicated that
 any agreement between the two men, | both still we'll to the front in the politi-
 cal limelight. regarding the Alaskan ques- 1 tions in issue, is hopeless.
 l Tt was supposed that MT. Pinchot was aware of MT. Fishers trip, and many wonder why he was not willing to accept | MT. Fishers report as containing the real
 truth about the territory and its affairs. l Hence the significance attached to his | following the secretary there. The pos
 s'tility that the two might arrive at 1 wholly different conclusions excited con- 1 siderable uneasiness among their friends | and others, and as the result many then expected, and still expect, a clash be- l tween them eventually.
 The Pinchot party are reported to have l followed the trail of the Fisher party from beginning to end in se,rch sf facts | which might have been obtained from the 1 other party by awaiting Its return. l Both parties took trip on Controller 1 Bay the waterway to Katalla, where the Guggenheim interests expended s2,000,000 l for a breakwater and other terminal fa- cilities for railroad from the copper and l coal districts, which since has been swept away by storm. They found the bay very shallow, so much so that a slight wind almost made the port impossible l of entry. The fact hunters were lanied at Strawberry Point, and conveyed through inland sloughs in Indian canoes
 to Katalla. They risked life among the | numerous sandbars, on any one of which
 they might have been wrecked and left | to perish
 Persons familiar with Alaska as the re- suit of personal visits there say both l.Irisher and Pinchot ought to have been l sobered in thought and action by heir experiences in the great territory. It | has been pointed out that one of the prin- cipal difficulties with Alaskan affairs, so | far as Washington is concerned, is that | few of the leading men who have taken | a turn at the subject have ever seen the I country. The Ballinger Plnchot episode
 awoke national interest in the country, l it's people and its affairs, and it is re- | garded as extremely unfortunate that at | this time especially, when serious effort 1 should be under way toward well de- | fined policy for the development of the
 territory's resources there is likelihood l of break between the two men who are | looked to to work out just and cquit-
 able arrangement that would benefit not | only the people of Alaska but also those | of the United States.
 If the facts of the case -are really all
 that the situation requires for proper set | clement, 1t has been said there ought 10 | be little difficulty. Both men have been l! on the gronnd and are believed to have bro ught back great deal of reliable data How far the two reports agree or dis | agree is not known, except, perhaps 70 a | few members of the administration and l a few close personal friends of the sec retary and the conservative leader With 1 the facts once established. and a gen.
 eral policy founded upon them, questions | Of detail, 1t is feared by some, may cause | differences of troublesome nature If | the friends of the two men succeed in | their pacific movement, it is agreed that the administration would owe them grat- | itude, for the President Is said to be ,In-
 easy over the situation.