The Alaska citizen., 1911-09-04

shipped that port for their 1t was an I'M
lawful act, yet the men who did it were respect
able people and law-abding citizens. We should
consider carefully the that prompted them.
and if We find that they justified and right
in principle should support and sustain them.
Not only that. but should go farther and do
all in our power to correct the wrongs that caused
their action 1t is eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty" When people have borne long
and patiently with injustice, when the rightng of
wrongs lies in the discretion of the executive
and the courts open them. when their
lawful appeals have failed and every other means
despaired Of then it is their duty strike.
1t has happened in this republic that the
of Alaska have been brought to this despera-
ton. Their act was an appeal from the officers
of this government to the people of the country.
| am persuaded that their appeal for justice will
not fail of fair consideration by the people of the
United States. however outrageous their officers
have misbehaved. You assembled here a part
of the ninety million people of the United States,
hear the appeal of these few pioneers of Alaska
that have dared to strike blow for their rights
and for justice. If, when you have heard their
story. you say that they are right | shall believe
that any similar meeting of people in any other
community of the United States will decide you
will do, and support and sustain them and condemn
the officials of the government who Cypress
ing them.
The material subject of their action was coal,
but the real essence of the movement was the
defense of the law. Their act has been compared
thar other historic event when the citizens of
Boston. one hundred and forty years ago committed
an unlawful act in destroying tea that had been
shipped into their port for their use. When you
heard the story that lay behind this action at
Cordova. | believe YOU will say that it was an act
defense liberty n han that
other unlawful act when the in Boston harbor
destroyed.
Alaska is a cold country. For six months in the
year its vast and silent landscapes wrapped in
a mantle of snow In summer its skies blue
and its crags picturesque those of any land
that borders the Mediterranean; but the winters are
savage. The daring that have gone to that
country and proved that it is habable must guard
themselves carefully from the dangerous cold Fuel
is necessary in every country, but in sub-arctic
country like Alaska it is more necessary than in
any other land. Men cannot live there without it.
II is as important water is in the desert.
AS if Nature understood this need. most
abundant supply of fuel is provided in every part
of that great territory. You may cross the country
from north to south, and from east west, and
will find coal fields of vast extent in every
quarter.
The United States Geological Survey, which has
examined and mapped only portion of the terri
tory reports that there than seven mil
lion acres of known coal fields, and probably many
times much unknown.
1t would be supposed that. with such vast stores
of fuel there would never have been any hesitancy
about making use of it. that the first thing men
would have done entering that country would
be to open the mines for fuel supply. So they
would have done had they not been prevented
More than ten years ago the people of Alaska
requested congress to pass laws permitting the use
of coal lands, and congress answered the request
and passed an act declaring that the coal lands in
Alaska should be opened for purchase in the same
manner as the coal lands in the Western states
The act proved useless, for the law in the Western
states provided only for the sale coal lands that
had been surveyed, and lands in Alaska had
been surveyed. When this was brought to the
attention of congress, it amended the law and
carefully provided a whereby citizen
could purchase coal lands in Alaska on unsurveyed
land, provided however that the citizen himself
survey it at his expense, but under the