The daily Alaskan., 1913-01-23

It Is gratifying to Alaska Co noOe tAat the Sound newspapers are De- coming a unit in preaching the doc Urine of commercial and political freedom for this newly created ter ritorv A few months ago, not more than twelve or fifteen, these saue new spapers were convinced, and voiced their confinement, that me Taft appointIve commission was the proper thing for Alaska, that federal control was the one con summation devoutIy tQ be wished. Now all IS changed, and we have almost forgotten the former op- position Ia remembering the kindly and sensible things these newspa- pers are now saving about us. As an example. here is an extract from the Post-IutelIigeucer of Jan. 12th:
 Commenting on the showing in. Gov. .Clark's report. that Alaska has suffered an actual loss Of poPula- uon during the past two years, the Washington Herald remarks.
 "Consldoriug the success Of the. American administration in the Phil ippines. Porto Rico, the Hawaiian islands and other insular possessions the failure in Alaska is all the more inexpIicable. unless the long and to some considered dreadful Alaska winter and its attendant discomforts are taken ( be the main cause O. the aversion to settlement there.
 There is nothing meXphcabIe. about the failure Of Alaska to de velop. If Alaska were given treat ment identical with that accorded the Philippine islands, for example, it would speedily have a population greater than several Of the states in the Union. It is precisely because ft has not been given the treatment accorded every other possession of the United States that it has not developed. It is tied up and it's de veIopmeut deliberately arrested by the action of the federal govern mcDt.
 In the Philippines there is local seIg-goyerumeut. The public lands are administered as the property of the people of the islands and to en- courage their development. The gov ernmeut has lent its credit to the construction Of railroads and has built other highways. Every dollar of the revenues collected in the Phil ippines is devoted to the islands.
 In Alaska the development Of every resource. save the mines Of the precious metals and the fisher les. Is deliberately prevented. With the greatest coal fields in the world, Alaska has to import its fuel. because the laws Of congress for the disposition of coal lands have been aunulIed by executive ac-| tion and all of the coal land placed in reservations, not to be touched until congress repeals its present laws and passes others more in ac- cord with the views oT professional couservatiCuists. Every open har- Dor on the coast Of Alaska and practically the entire coast line has been made into fake forest reserves, osteusibly tor the protection of non existent timber. The door of oppor- tuuity is closed and locked in the. face of every man who goes to Al aska for any purpose other than mining.
 Alaska's dreadful winters" are a myth. Nowhere along the sea coast ot Alaska, outside of Boring sea. has there been as cold weath- CT this winter as has been seen along the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to the Carolinas. As cold weather has been seen in Los An Eeles as in Southeastern Alaska. Alaska has not developed, merely because its development has been deliberately strangled. There isl nothing ineNpicabIe about it. Had the same conditions existed fifty years ago in this state of Washing tou-meaniug the artificial condi- tions created by direct government
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