The Alaska daily empire., 1914-02-10
TO BRING
 S2OO,OOO,OOO NORTH

SEATTLE, Feb. 4.-There has been much quiet talk among bankers the past week as to just what the govern. ment railway propect and the opening of Alaska will mean in financial way.
 The $4O,OOO,OOO, which it is esti. mated the road will cost is by com mon consent, considered but small part of the total capital that will so into the development of the natural resources of the North.
 James F. Lane, cashier of the Scan dinavian American bank, says he has heard the predictions range all the way up to a billion, but thinks $2OO,- 100000 a conservative estimate, figur- ing ahead for a period of five years, and that corporate and private inter- ests will spend five dollars to the gov. ernments one, as the governments ac- tivities are predicated on the building of a railroad alone, while outside funds will find profitable employment in scores of directions.
 Wealth Will Come Out, Too.
 These estimates concern only the amount of new money that will go into Alaska development. The amount that will come back as result of this de- velopment cannot even be guessed. Mineral wealth has already come out, according to government figures, to the enormous extent of S,SOO,OOO.
 The source from which this devel. opment money will come are as varied as the ways in which it will be used. A great deal of Seattle money will go back to where it originally came from when conditions are right. The men who are now interested in Alaska in big way in corporate form will widen the scope of their activities.
 Morgan and eussenhelm interests. As showing how wide these rafifl- cations are 1t is said that popular belief as to the size of the Morgan and Gug- genheim interests which financed the development of the Bonanza mine of Alaska and the Copper River & North western railroad Is erroneous. Though the voting power of the syndicate is equally divided between these inter- ests, it is contended that at the request of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.,, the Guggenheim interests parted with one-third of their half interest to the bankers and their friends abroad. It is very probable that J. P. Morgan & Co. have also al lotted a participation in their 50 per cent. to their clients.
 The building of the Alaskan railroad for a distance of 1000 miles into the interior will, in its way, be almost as great an engineering feat as the build ing of the Panama canal. Railroad men variously say from three to five years will be required to complete the undertaking, from the time the bill' which has already passed the Senate becomes a law until the road is in op' eration in its entirety.
 : Pioneer Will Follow the Steel. { In the meantime, with every stretch of line that is thrown open to traffic, will come the pioneer of commerce, in- dustry and agriculture, but he will diff fer from the pioneer of early days-he will be backed by unlimited cash and the most modern methods and machin- cry.
 All of this means tremendous addl' tion to the total volume of Seattle's banking business, and a wonderful ex' hpansion in wholesaling, jobbing and re- tailing-for Seattle is the base from which Alaska by reason of its geo. graphical position will always operate no matter to what extent it may grow