The Alaska citizen., 1912-10-14

! HIS ears. MT MttToWdn then intro duccd the Hartman of the North. ." Falcon Josliu. "I believe that the coming of this commission marks an epoch in our history The members of the commission are pioneers in a much greater sense than are the trail blazers of Alaska for they are the trail blazers in a new departure for the United States government. a government built and government owned railroad MT. Joslin does not want to see the government op- crate the railroad T can't say just why l don't want to see the govern ment operate the railroads, because il is not clear even in my own mind and l certainly could not put it into words He pointed out the meth cd used by the city of New York with it's great system of subways He spoke of the work of that com mittee in the big city of which Mr lnCersoll was the consulting engin- eer and pointed out that the system Of leasing as now in vogue there would be of much greater use to Alaska than railroad operated by the government which politics would corrupt. and which would naturally cost more to operate than one opcr- ated by some private company. Nr IJoslin then spoke of the visit of the commission to the government farm in the afternoon and of the wonderful resources of the country I"0ur tundras. according to capa hle authority on the matter. our Are tie tundras. considered valueless and barren by most of us here. will pro duce more and better beef than the best grazing land of Texas and Mon tana." Mir. JosIin spoke of the tremendous increase in the reindeer herds that fed exclusively on the white moss found on these Arctic tundra.
 The speaker then referred to MT Brooks. and to the trip of that be loved and respected gentleman down the great Panama river fourteen years ago At the name of Mr Brooks. the audience cheered and .applauded for some time Mir Joslin then referred to the countries of Scandinavia as spoken of by MT Wickersham. and of the railroads there There are twelve thousand miles of railroads in those coun- tries" said MT. Jusin of which three-fOurths are government owned and operated MT. Joslin thought that it was regrettable that the government should take its first step in the construction of railroads in Alaska instead of in the States. where the crit, ical press and the muck-rakers could watch more closely the methods employed by Uncle Sam in railway building. He expressed a great hope that congress would sustain and support the report of the commis- sion.
 Mayor Drscoll then extended the hospitality of the town to the com
 missioners, telling them to ask for anything they wanted and it would be given. The mayor was followed by one of the Native Sons of the Golden North" Roden Davis, who sang to the great amusement of all Bottled Up Alaska" As he left the stage. Dr. Brooks rushed over and patted the young man on the head an dthe young fellow became the chum of Major Morrow for the rest of the evening. the major and young Davis closing the evening with 9 duet
 , Mir A. R. Heilig then spoke of the great possibilities in the agricultural line in this territory. We can pro duce finer celery here than in Kala- maZOo, and there are millions of acres of celery land. There are mil lions of acres of land that will pro duce the crops equal to if not greater than the crops of the best land of , the States. We have millions Of acres of coal land that will last for a million years at its present rate of consumption" In so far as Dr
 Brooks was concerned, MT. Heilig was of the opinion that the one man that Delegate Wickersham had to fear when it came to the matter of reelection was Dr. Brooks He had } travelled much in this northern coun- , try and MT. Heilig had heard many } swear by. but none at the great geo. , logist. With all due respect to Mir. Joslin, Mir Heilig said that he } believed that the concensus of opin. } ion among Alaskans was that l the railroad to the interior should , be government built. government owned and government operated. } Then came the speech that meant , more to the interior of this territory } that meant more to the development } of this country, that held out more l hope that Alaska and Alaskans will [ ultimately come into their own than r anything that ever has been said in