Douglas Island news., 1911-07-19
May Open Coal Mine

Acting on the secretary of the navy's
 recommendation, Secretary of the In. terior Fisher, is considering means whereby the government will open ex-
 tensive mines in Alaska, to furnish coal
 for the navy and revenue cutter ser
 vice, says Washington dispatch to the Post Intelligencer.
 Secretary Fisher said that he had
 several plans underco consideration. One
 of these is for the government to su.
 perintend the direct operation of it's
 own mine. The bureau of mines is now doing this on small scale in Pennsylvania, where it operates mine to try out lescue devices and eXperl-
 meut for causes that lead to explosion. ] In the second place, the government could dig it's own coal indirectly, by
 leasing the mines, the lessee supplying
 the government with coal at so much a
 ton. The third plan is a leasing of the cool lands to operators on straight royalty basis.
 There is no doubt that the popular clamor about the Alaska lands has made itself felt in Washington, and as
 a result, there is a pretty well crystal Iized opinion among officials here that Uncle Sam ought to use some horse
 sense and avail himself of the business opportunities offered by his great northern territory. This feeling re- ] ceived an impetus during the past week when the bureau of fisheries re. ported that government control of the Pribilotf islands during 1910 netted the government an even Sl,000,000 1t is shown that this revenue is S750,OOC
 more than in 1909, when the govern ment did not have this control. Dr. Everman, in discharge of the new bu- reau of Alaska fisheries, boldly asserts today, that in eight or ten years these } industries would net the government S2O,OOO,OOO instead of Sl,000,0O0.
 So it is with the coal fields. The navy has pointed out to the interior depart. meut that 275,OO0 tons of coal were shipped from the Pennsylvania field in 1910 to Seattle, San Francisco, other California points and Honolulu, for the navy aloue, at an average cost of S4.8G
 a ton. In other words, the government paid the railroads and navigation com
 panies S1 ,25O,OO0. This does not include
 the coal shipped west for the revenue cutter service and the public buildings In addition to this economy in money the navy points out that with the gov ernment mines in Alaska the United | States would secure tremendous ad
 vantages in case of war on the Pacific { Again, there is no doubt that the diff
 culty in transporting coal has been one \ reason for keeping such small part of the fleet on the Pacific. With Alaska coal there would be more equal di' vision and this would mean more min. ing activity and more business for the
 Alaska country. With the completion
 of the Panama canal there would be no
 reason why the government could not
 compete with the Pennsylvania fields in supplying the coal for the Atlantic X fleet.
 The first step that the navy took in it's advocacy of government mines in Alaska was to get report from the bureau of mines on the efficiency of
 the Alaska coal. This bureaus expert
 reported that the Alaska coal stands
 up to the Pennsylvania coal in every
 test; it has the same keeping quality in
 storage; the same suitability for force draft; no greater deleterious effect on
 marine boilers and has calorific equal
 to the Eastern coal.
 Secretary Fisher, of course, would
 not say what his recommendation
 would be. He does say, however, that
 something will be done at once to re.
 lieve the troublesome Alaska situation
 "The government has been sitting on
 the Alaskan lid long enough. The
 country is sick and tired of the govern