The daily Alaskan., 1913-03-14
JosLiN RATS GOVERNMENT
 ON RAILROAD BUILDING

k
 some pertinent hits in his comDari-
 son of the treatment of this terrl-
 tory with that of the Philippines. Some of his remarks follow:
 In-the Philippines eleven differ
 ent lines were designated for con- struction. The Philippines are not ry white people; they are aliens and they are on the other
 side of the world. The little coun- try is only a hundred and twenty five thousand square miles contained in a thousand islands while Alaska has five hundred and ninety thou sand square miles contained in a continent. Yet Congress saw fit a few years ago to authorize the con- struetion of practically a thousand miles of railroad in the Philippines.
 It didn't attempt to say that this or that shall be the line to con- struct on. A commission in the Philippines selected the routes, selected eleven different lines, and asked for bids for their construc- tion. We want the same thing in Alaska. The Philippine government under the authority of Congress of fered aid to the Philippine lines to the extent of a guarantee Of ( per cent. interest on the cost of the con- struction for a period of 30 years.
 When the Northern Pacific and the Union Pacific were extended d. cross the West here the government did not require them to pay a license or prohibit them from min irg coal along their lines The Pacific came through this town or to the place where this town now stands in about 1872. The government granted to that com lany twelve thousand eight hum dred acres of land, including the coal. for every single mile of road which was built. In the aggregate more than thirty million acres of land was granted to the railroad company for constructing the line from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, p@ssing through this place, less than fifty years ago. Iu Alaska, instead of granting a railroad com pany a free gift of twelve thou sand acres for every mile, they will not permit a railroad or anyone else to buy one single acre at any price whatever. The railroads that are built there must go to> California and import oil or go to British Co., lumbia and import coal 70 burn m their locomotives
 It is hard for the people to he' lieve that Alaska is one Of the rich est lands in the world But from one extremity to the other from the southeast to the northwest and from the northeast to the southwest. 1t is collaborating country It has hardly been touched. You can cross it in the same direction and you will cross coal fields in every part of it l spoke a little while ago Of those European countries which subsist on agriculture and fisheries They have no coal or gold. We have those things in almost unimit- cd abundance in Alaska, and we have copper and tin which they haven't in those northern European countries Our agricultural rosour- eos are as great as theirs and our fisheries fully as extensive. The United States government eXperi- mental farm at Fairbanks last sum mer produced oats that thrashed on hundred and fifteen bushels to the acre. Wheat that produced sixty seven bushels to the acre and pota- toes that produced eight tons 10 the acre. There are millions Of acres of similar ground right around it. I believe 1t is as rich a country, acre for acre, as any land in the world. You know the State Of is a rich State. Puget Sound country has a most famous crop of timber. You have little gold here. You have the finest fruit land in the world, and wheat land that will produce a hundred
 bushels to the acre here in the vi- cinity of Spokane. But we have in
 Alaska land that will produce a hundred bushels to the acre, also.
 A large portion of this state is
 barren mountains and sagebrush country. There is much barren lands. mountains and swamp land in nearly all States. We have the same thing in Alaska We have up there what they call the tundros on
 which trees do not grow, but even
 they are productive. They grow
 reindeer on the tundras. In Seat
 tie yesterday l had a reindeer steak
 that came from our tundra lands in