The Alaska citizen., 1911-09-25
ANSWER TO JoSLIN'S PLAN.
tContinued from Last Week.

as proprietor. It simply holds the title in trust for the people. and it's duty is 10 distribute the land to the people as fast as they call for and desire il" In the first place. rhe statement that the government does not own the coal lands of Alaska is not true. The statement is wrong from every standpoint. The govern ment has a perfect title both legal and equitable. A perfect legal title to all land in Alaska was acquired by the government from Russia in 1867. the consideration being s7.200.- oo0. and the title deed being in the form of a written treaty. The pos session of the property was delivered by Russia to the United States gov ernment i'll that same year. and neither the legal title nor the equt- able title of the government of the United States has ever been ques- toned since that time.
 But. perhaps Mir. Joslin meant that the government held this prop erty in trust for the people in the same sense that it holds the capital buildings al Washington-in trust course. there could be no ground for dispute. for as matter of fact, everything that the government holds of any kind or nature il holds in trust for the people. It might be looked al in just little different manner for the sake of simplicity and clealneSs: The government con sists of an aggregation of all of the individual citizens. all of which make a public corporation; and like a private corporation. while the prop erty really belongs to the stock holders. the corporation holds the title, and holds it in trust for the StoCkhOldefs. This should make it clear The people own all public property; title of which is in the government however. Mr. Joslin says: That it is the duty of the government 10 distribute this coal land to the people as fast as they call for il, and desire to use it." but he does not show any reason why the government should turn over these valuable coal lands to all who ask for them and desire to use them. We simply deny that the property that belongs to the people i; but We will not rest our position upon a mere denial; We will en- deavOr to give good and sufficient reasons why We hold this position The government now owns this coal; {; as Mir. Joslin would say, holds il in trust for the people. In ei;he: case tne people are the real owners of the coal. IL follows as an inevitable conclusion, that the government has no right to give away to an indi- yidual what belongs to all of the peo- pie. The people own this coal now. and the people need the coal for their own use. and it is the duty of their trustee, the government, to permit the people 10 use their own coal. It would be almost crim- inal for the officers of the govern ment to pass title to this coal out of the people. and let the individuals get it, as it would surely get into the hands of the coal and railroad trusts, and the people who now own the coal, would have 10 pay the trusts just whatever price the trusts would see fit to charge for the sensible man would argue that the people should part with this coal that is now theirs. It is the first duty of the government to safeguard the consumer of necessaries agains. any and all kinds of monopoly, and coal being one of the most import ant of all necessaries, and the peo- pie having now an abundance, II must be given to them in the cheap est possible way. Certainly the los ing of their ownership of the coal cannot appeal to the intelligent as a wise thing, and more especi- ally in the light of the experiences Of the people with the coal barons during the past a years. It would almost seem that MT. Joslin is plead ing the cause of the coal barons and the railway magnateS who carry coal to the various markets. If the Nor ganheim syndicate should send 9 man into Alaska to plead their cause for the acquisition of this coal it would be hard for them to find more able advocate than is Mir Joslin in his coal land argument. We do not wish to challenge the sincerity of MT. Joslin in the position he takes in this matter, for every man is en- titled to his own opinion, but We do say that his views upon the question of the dis tribution of the coal lands in Alaska is opposed to every right of the people in this coal, and to those people who must use it.
 Tho naxt noint Monld indiGato th at