The Nome daily nugget., 1914-04-04

I territory @9 to coal ana OIL 06veiop' ment was probably duo as much ts the exploiters as to the conservation ists but. had not the conservationists gone to absurd extremes. they could years ago have overcome the exploit evs in Congress and could. by joinins forces with the great majority who oc- cupied middle ground. have procured
 C, actmsut of laws which would have
 combined conservation with develop
 nent and would have guarded against monopoly. The sxpioitsrs who caused pigeonhoiinR of bills for leasing of coal and oil land must share the responsi- bntty for the embargo but that fact does not excuse the Pinchot conserva- tionists for having proposed measures which gave the exploitsrs 70 good ! case that they were able to enlist sup port from opponents Of exploitation.
 In an interview published in the Albuquerque Journal. Mfr. Rodey mini- mizes the effects of the embargo by citing the small population of the Ca madam Yukon since hydraulics and dredges took the place of primitive mining and since the bonansas were worked out. He overlooks the fact that Canada collects . royalty on gold D, oductinp and has restrictive laws akin to those which Mr. Pinchot fa- vors. No great coal and oil fields have been discovered in the Yukon terri tery as in Southwestern Alaska- The proximity to the coast of the coal and t.l in the latter section would under ordinary conditions have prompted de- velopment and consideration of rail- roads years ago. but for the embargo and the restrictive laws which actu- ally penalixe railroad building. The 2t, gnation which has befallen the Ca nadian Yukon does not justify the as- sertion that like stasnation is natural ir a country abounding In the natural products for which there is . crying need in Alaska. It is probably true. as he says. that . through railroad from the coast to the Yukon will not pay for some years. but . reasonable law would have guarded against mo- ropoiy and overchargss. yet would have caused completion long ago of reads to tho coal nelds. accompanied by rapid development of the whole territory.
 Mir. Rodey asserts that. far from being neglected. Alaska is 'the petted child of the nation," which pays out for 1t ss.ooo.ooo . year. with no direct return. He reminds us that the half billion dollars of wealth which Alaska has produced is not revenue. but is the property of the producers. True. but the production of this wealth has enabled its owners to buy commodities or which internal revenue and cus- tt ms taxes are collected. Had the government managed Alaska as a gcod business man would have man aged 90 magnificent an estate. it would have produced enough not only to pay for its own administration and devel- opment, but to sdd largely to the gen. eral revenue. It would also have had many thousand prosperous citizens. who arc . Nations best asset.
 The agricultural possibilities of Alaska are exaggerated, according to Mir. Rodey. There he is contradicted by experts of the Agricultural depart trent and by men who have seen what is actually grown in the vast Tanana Valley. He says that in summer the country is all frozen except under the streams and only a few feet thaws out annually. but in the same sentence he admits that 1t is a paradise of vegeta- tlon. Then what matters 1t if the ground be frozen. when vegetation grows on 1t? Experience has proved that rich crops grow in the shallow. thawed- out space above the frozen earth.
 Mr. Rodey says:
 T do not believe mankind will ever permanently live in great numbers north of 6s degrees north latitude. snl certainly not north of 60 degrees f hs can help it. There isn't . half million people on the face of the earth nowl living north of 60 degrees even if you include the Esquimaux. You can take a map and draw . circle around thel globe and verify this statement. Man doesn't have to live north of that. Transportation is too we'll developer now to necessitats 1t. He can go there and do his business in the short sum-
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