The Alaska daily empire., 1914-10-26
CENTRAL POWER
 PLANT IMPROVING

The ownership and operation of a central power plant by the govern ment, in connection with the owner. ship and operation of a tidewater-to- Fairbanks railroad by the government would give thousands of men steady employment and would furnish the people of Interior Alaska with trans portation and power at cost. The ac- Qusition of such a railroad and such power plant is within the immed- fate reach of the people of this dis trict. All that is necessary for us to do is to pull together If We make united demand for them, we will get them. We hold the key which will open the door to this most won derful opportunity, and we repeat that it is the patriotic duty of every citi- zen to join in this great fight.
 That there is danger lurking in the way is quite evident All kinds of appeals will be made to divert the attention of the people from this es- sential work, and the Times now, as always heretofore, will lend it's best assistance in furthering the interests of the people of the Panama valley.
 Immediately after the passage of the railroad bill, the Times went on record as favoring the construction of central power plant by the gov ernment, and the Times therefore has not changed it's attitude as charged by the News-Miner. It is simply car rying on consistently the work be. gun long ago.
 This issue for a central power plant, owned and operated by the govern ment, is the only single issue that seriously concerns the people of this valley and the man who stands for such an issue, is in the highest sense of the word, a home man. The man who advocates such power plant for the people of the Panama valley can not be termed a stranger. His main issue is the building of homes and the creation of permanent pros perity in the interior country, of which Fairbanks district is a very important part. Any man who is not on the right side of this issue is not a home man, because he fails to realize the real conditions existing in the valley and what it's producers need to enable them to transform 1t into permanent and prosperous community.
 The Times has no desire to take away any credit that is due to our present delegate, on the contrary, the Times always has shown appreciation for the work done by him in the in- terests of Fairbanks and the territory in general. But Delegate Wickersham is opposed to the principle of govern ment ownership, and the clause in the railroad bill which provides that the President may lease our railroad af- ter it shall have been completed in- dicates very plainly that our delegate also is opposed to the operation of railroads by the government. If he is opposed to the government opera tion of railroads, he must likewise be opposed to government operation of power plants.
 The statement in the evening paper that Delegate Wickersham is in favor of central power plant is very vague statement, and may mean any. thing or nothin. What the people of Interior Alaska demand is a govern ment-built and government-operated power plant. Nothing less will satis- fy them. Nothing less will benefit them.
 Delegate Wickersham favored the construction of a railroad in Alaska by the government, because, as he stated, there was no other way to get it, inasmuch as private capital would not undertake such an enterprise with the coal lands withdrawn from entry. And furthermore, if Delegate Wicker sham does favor the construction and operation of central power plant by the government, he has never said so, and we find nothing in his platform to encourage the hope that he will help us in this matter if he is re- Al s,, .ee