El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-12-24
nything that can be called wagon

anything that can be called a wagon
I road"
This unfortunate condition." in sec
! rotary Lanes judgment, is not due to
"the inhospitality of the Alaska eli
/ mate" because some Of the southeast
ern Alaska has q climate more tenn
perate and more eQuable than that OF
J the city of Washington, while much
Of the greater portion Of the north has
a Klndlier climate than Stockholm OF
st. Petersburg. There is more rail-
] road building 500 miles north Of the
/ Canadian border than there is for the
same distance south of it.
why has not this land been devel-
Oped2 The frank answer is that we
did not realize until within a few years
that it was worth developing. As soon
as we discovered its value as a ma
tiOnal asset we became alarmed and
drew back, affrighted at the thought
that we might lose it, or at least that
it would become the property of those
who would exploit it without respect to
the public interest.
Commission for Alaska.
We have Withdrawn Alaska from
the too aggressive and self serving
exploiter. What have we to substitute
as a safer servant Of public interest?
To this question I have given much
thought and my conclusion is that II
We are to bring Alaska into the early
and fun realization of her possibilities
we must create a new piece Of govern
mental machinery for the purpose. We
should undertake the work in the spirit
and after the method of a great cOrpO-
ration wishing to develop large terri
tory. In my judgment the way to deal
with the problem Of Alaskan resources
is to establish a board of directors to
have this work in charge. Into the
hands OF this board or commission
would give all the national assets in
that territory, to be used primarily for
her imprOVement-her lands, fisheries,
indians. EskimOs, seals, forests, mines,
waterways, railroads.&c. that the ma
ton owns, cares for, controls. or regu-
lates. Congress should determine in
broad outline the policies which this
board in a liberal discretion should
elaborate and administer, much as is
done to the Philippines This board
would of course have nothing WhatSO-
ever to do with the internal affairs Of
the organized territory Of Alaska, for
II would exercise no powers save such
as congress granted over the property
Of the United States in Alaska"
Conservation OF Coal Needed.
Vigorous suggestions looking to the
conservative development of the coal
lands Of the west are made by secretary
Lane. 1T is certainly not for the pu b.
lie interest the report says, that cur
coal deposits shall be opened RAPIDLY
and ruthleSsly. I can not feel, how
ever, that we should sacrifice any pres
ent need for fuel or willingly surren-
der ourselves to demand for exOTbi-
tant prices because Of a fear that some
day the coal supply may be exhausted.
We wish cheap coal and at the same
time a minimum of waste. We wish
society to take the lions share of the
profit and yield no more to the opera
tor than viii make his work suffi-
GENTLY attractive to keep him at 1t.
In short we desire competition without
waste, a frank impossibility
Other countries have wrestIed with
this problem. Some have gone into
government operation. But those who
are nearest to US in institutions and
tendencies have found that in a new
country where there must be large de-
velopment and higher rewards for
enterprise, the safest practicable
method is to lease the land, the gov
eminent taking a modest royalty and
retaining some measure of control over
operation"
Similar suggestions are offered as to
the Development of petroleum, phos-
phate and potash. Secretary Lanes
idea is that such deposits ought to be
developed under the leasing system,
as in the case of coal, the government
reserving the necessary supplies.