The Alaska citizen., 1911-09-25
Roosevelt Wallops Taft's
 Coal Land Policy in Alaska

NEW YORK - Former President Roosevelt defends rinchot and Gar field in carrying out my policies in Alaska; takes an indirect slap al President Taft by coudemnine the withdrawal of the Controller bay lands from the forest reserves. which action Taft approved in his message. and advocates a goyernmcnt-OWnod railroad from the coal lands rn the Alaskan seaport, in an article cu- titled Alaska Again" iu the current issue of The Outlook.
 After taking issue with a ncwspa- per statement that during the Eoos,- welt administration the same course has been pursued later in ,onneC- ton with Controller bay, R o,cycIt discusses some of the general phas- es of Alaskan development.
 The government must itself con trol the development of Alaska, and adopt as the guiding principle the 1 idea of shaping that development in the interest primarily of the people | as whole. the syndicate or other developing agencies thus receiving
 benefit only as an incident to confer 1 ring it.
 ! T do not think the task is very ! difficult one. if only We the people. personally and through our reptesen- i tatives. approach il with this purpose 1 clearly in mind. and il We insist that i the agents of the government act i of the people and resOlule purpose 1 to see those needs accomplished, i even though it be nee, sSary to over l Tide the representatives of the great
 interests who wish to prevent Alas i kan development unless il is shaped primarily to benefit those interests | Roosevelt begins his article with reference to an article from the 1 Washington correspondent If the New l York Tribune of July 2S. jus'ifying 1 the withdrawal of the Controller bay i lands from the forest reserves on the
 ground that similar action had been
 taken by Garfield and pinchot in l eliminating certain areas al F,yak and Valdez Arm from tho forest re-
 serves. Roosevelt continues: The article assumes that was
 deceived by Mcssrs Garfield and Pm
 chot. It is hardly necessary 10 say
 that any such assumption may be made either with intent 10 he hum
 orous CT with a full knoWlrdg" of is | falsehood | was in a peculiar sense | responsible for every act of Mir. Pin i chot and Mir Garfield when they i held office under me. They repr nj 1 ed to a very especial degree inc ' Ii l cies and principles which l had esz ! pecially at heart. and. while of course l there were necessarily many acti ns
 I took on their recommendation. with 1 the details Cf which it was mpOSsi-
 ble for me to be acquainted, l was i absolutely cogniZant Of the prir-
 ciples in accordance with which each | one of these acts was taken. and
 each act faithfully represented the
 putting into effect of the principles
 in which l believed and which l had
 laid down for the guidance of my
 administration.
 Tn every part of the country ir l has been found and will in the future l be found necessary 10 make elimina- i tions for townsites. for agricultural l purposes, for manufacturing pur-
 poses and the like. Each such case
 stands on it's own merits; each such
 case depends for its juslificati n upon
 the condition existing at the time it
 is made, and is in no sense a prece- dent for any other case. arising un- i der new conditions, or when facts hitherto undiscovered have been
 made known.
 Tt may not be only proper to eliminate a given tract of land, but highly improper not to eliminate il; and yet if the elimination of another | tract of land will give monopoly to a mining company. or a transporta- | tiOn COmDanV or any other com
 pany. it may be to the last deg ee improper.
 At the time the eliminatiOns at Eyak and Valdez Arm We're made | no suggestion had been made to me from any source, nor was there any public knowledge that there was the slightest danger of the Guggen- helm syndicate, or any other syndi cate. obtaining control of Alaska as the developments during the past three years have shown 10 be the case. and has been a matter If pub lie notoriety for at least two years.
 Months after the date of rhfss eliminations Cunningham made affi davit that he knew of no entrymen in the Cunningham group that had any contract with the Guggenheim syndicate; the elminations being made in July and September. 1901. and the Cunningham affidavit in Sep