The Nome daily nugget., 1914-04-15

I4
 but forward. It was urged by a few extremely radical people. Such mod crates as Roosevelt, Pinchot Lane. Fisher, and their like were not yet ready to consider It. while William H Taft was mortified, and the vast ma iority of democrats. especially south ern democrats. in congress could not contemplate such a startling project without shuddering for our institu- tens
 To-day the house is due to pass the bill, already passed by the senate and highly approved by president and cab il.et appropriating $4O,OO0. 900 to build the beginning of a government rail read system in Alaska. The begin nings will mean, inevitably. that in time the system must be greatly ex- tended and improved.
 Almost nobody opposes this legis- 'ation. Almost everybody favors it. | There will be a vastly bigger propor-
 
 ven of opposition in cCrPress than ther, is outside. The ,enete's vJ'" Was about three 70 )ne f"r the men u'e and only foI" vrtns against 1t | were those of demoorsls
 Tt is interesting to observe how our view of Alaska has changed. In 1867 MT. Seward paid Russia $7,2OO.OOO for it. and everybody realized that he had heen frightfully bunkoed! Yet Dele gate Wickersham declares. and gives good statistics to support 1t that since then we have taken $52 100000 of wealth out of Alaska without doing much of anything for it and without scratching the surface of that large domain. Alaska Is about twice as big in area as the thirteen colonies when they became the union. Its vast agricultural areas are in the lati- trde of Sweden. Norway and Finland, Lut enjoy rather milder climate!
 Tt has taken quite a while to awaken to the value of Alaska, but We reed Tt br discouraged over that. Ihon'as H. Benton, when he was b senator from most westerly state then admitted to the union, declared thot our western boundary must be at the summit of the Rockies; we couldn think of reaching out to the Pacific Daniel Webster delivered a philipplc in opposition to taking Oregon-that is the great Pacific and mountain northwest as whole-into the union or any terms. He said 1t was worse than worthless, and we could not pos sibly develop or benefit by 1t!
 Tn fact, if there had been just a modicum of appreciation of the value of the northwest in the right time, our northern boundary would have been 'ffty-four forty instead of the 18th parallel. and British Columbia, AL berta and Manitoba would now be mostly American. But in those days u ere was too llttIe appreciation either of the value of the territory or of the pledge of 'fifty-four forty or fight under which the democrats carried one presidential election. Nobody car co much whether we got the territory or not. The southern leadership was (; the moment vastly more concerned in fact. to get land in the other direc- ton; southwestern expansion, which meant expansion of slave territory, was chiefly in favor. So We forfeited the chance to control the great north- west and left Britain untouched her Canadian empire.
 But Alaska has been saved to tt nation. and with the enlightened and businesslike policy now taridly applied to it's management. it may yet prove the one bright spot in the story of our national management of the public do- main"