The Alaska citizen., 1911-05-22
ALASKA AND CONSERVATION

ALASKA ANU CONSehVR lON.
 No people are more strongly op- posed 10 monopoly than are the citi- zens of the Northwest, and nowhere is there a stronger sentiment against permitting trusts or large Combina- tiOns of capital to get such unquali- fled possession of the natural re sources of the country as to enable them 10 oppress the masses. We will go further. the sentiment in the Northwest is against waste and in favor of true conservation.
 But ii is not necessary to place a country under lock and key to pro tect the people against monopoly or to prevent waste. Restrictions suffi- cient to safeguard the government and the people can accompany the disposal of the public lands or other natural resources. In fact. so far as Alaskas coal lands are concerned, congress already has provided law which will prevent more than 2,560 acres from becoming the property of anyone or any combination
 But il is urged by the lock-and-key conservationists that we must fix things so that the next generation cannot undo what we have done. Isn't that asking too much? If, through our governmental machinery. eration against monopoly and lay a sound and reasonable foundation to work from. cannot We depend upon the next generation to protect itself? Certainly We are not so fastidiouS in our day as the lock and-key crowd seem to expect our grandchildren to be in theirs. Many problems un- dreamed of by our revolutionary sireS have been taken care of by the
 generations that have followed them, yet our literature contains no word of complaint because Washington, Jefferson and the others did not solve the slavery question, the right of secession and the multitude of other questions that have provided, each in its day, the burning issue. Then there is the other side of the pcture-the side of the true conser- yatiOnist, the one who believes in use The resources of a country that
 is under lock and key are idle, and l it's potential opportunities are denied to those who are seeking to better their condition. Every ounce of
 gold, every pound of copper, every
 ton of iron or tin that is freed from
 mother earth, every acre of land
 that is prepared for the blow and every mountain stream that is har- messed instantly begins an eternity
 of toll for the human family. For every man or woman that is given
 an opportunity to live better or hap pier or to produce more there is
 added an undefinable quantity to the sum total of the happiness and wealth of the world,-and it is an addition that does not cease with one gen eration.
 With Alaska's coal fields, quartz lodges. placer grounds. fisheries, tim
 Der lands, agricultural areas and opportunities developed, there will come profitable employment for mil lions of American citizens; there
 will come busy mining, commercial and industrial cities and thriving az ricultural fishing and numbering communities; there will come one or more populous American common wealths, inhabited by prosperous and contened people who will have been enabled to add to the sum of Ameri- can happiness and wealth. These
 will not come with Alaska locked up, and every years delay in the open ing of the territory is a year wasted to every man or woman who could live more prosperously or happier if the opportunity were offered.-Alas- ka-YukOn Magazine