The Alaska daily empire., 1915-08-27


 contend otherwise There had been a proyiso inserted into lhe law by Representative Shoup that ln case any parts or sections should be void, it did not inyalidate the remainder, and this protected tho Charcoal Point road in any event. Colonel Richard son was met as Ketchikan while on his way North by Mayor Beegle, Rep- resentatiye Heckman and a number of prominent citizens and myself and the facts in the matter were laid be- fore him, nnd laid before him all tho data I had collected during the Legislative session. The Alaska Road Commlssion has agreed to ex- pend S30.000 ln this Division on the various roads and trails this year, and the Charcoal Point Road win be built by the Sll,5oO derived from the one-fourth of the Forest Fund, under the road supervisor appointed by the Legislature. Mir. A. 10. Austin.
 During the past the placer gold miners aad the dog-team men have done all the shouting about Alaska, both iu the Territory and throughout the States and in Washington. D. c. Nine hundred and ninety people in every thousand in the States, # they can tell you anything about Alaska, at an. will describe Alaska as it is in Fairbanks or around Nome There are good politicians and good adyer- tisers in the Second and Fourth Di- visions and a good many of them look with distain upon the Island Empire of the First Division. But the First Division is part of Alaska and very important part. It has afforded most of the permanent pop ulatlon and paid most of the bills of the Territory and the time has ar- rived when 1t must be taken into con sideration. The people of this Di- vision are ready to assert themselves and they must be granted what their commerce and industry and import ance justly entitle them to have
 Respectfully.
 CHARLES A. sULzER.
 Valdez. Alaska, Aug. 10, 1915.
 Hon. Charles A. Sulzer
 Sulzer. Alaska.
 Dear Senator Sulzer:
 have your letter of July 29th, concerning the Forest Reserve Fund and the road situation in the First Division and was very glad indeed to have it already had in mind to write you at the first convenient op- portunity setting forth the reasons for my telegram. from Nome and the necessity for some modification in our plans unless the question of the dis tribution of the Forest Fund should soon be settled. In the first place let me say that my telegram from Nome was sent simply as a statement of fact and not intended in any sense as conveying a threat or imposing a condition. would not like my at titude misunderstood on this point You will recall that at our conference in Ketchikan about the Sth of May stated that ] had always assumed without attempting to aualyze tho law in the matter, that the Forest Re serve Fund would, when 1t should be- come available. be expended in the part of Alaska where collected-thai is for the most part in S. E. Alaska and that our Board had taken this fact into consideration in making al lotments for two or more years past; believing that your section of the Ter ritory, being more favored in certain respects, especially freight rates than remote parts of the Interior would suffer less by the delay. When however the Legislature allotted the Forest Fund in equal parts to the four divisions our Board proceeded Co make allowances of funds at its disposal giving what we thought 9 proper Consideration to the Legisla tive action. These allotments by the road commission cover all the most important projects demanding atten tion in S. E. Alaska. except the Ket chikan road, which was to be taken care of by the Forest Reserve Fund In other Divisions this fund was to take care of certain specified pro jects; local roads at Fairbanks. the road around Cape Nome destroyed by storm and four or five projects in the Third Division When the expendi lures of the Forest Reserve fund was enjoined some of the projects to be taken care of by that fund became an obligation upon our board and 1t was thought best to postpone taking up any new projects in S. E. Alaska for the time being. One or two of them may have to be postponed until next season. Our Board has always considered the different judicial di visions as mere arbitrary divisions of the Territory for the convenience of the Department of Justice and not as having and direct influence upon the application of a general tax fund applied byp law to the construction of roads and trails It has been nee essary however, at times to give heed to a sentiment among the residents of different divisions as to the mer. its of their respective localities and sometimes to use this sentiment as an argument again& the demands that could not be met, without un- fairness to other sections of the Ter ritory. Petitions for aid in road con struction come from all parts of AL aska, far beyond the ability of the tests are made against alleged in- justice in allotments Answering a recent protest of the kind from the citizens of Ruby. l stated for their information that the Fourth Division ,yoa rynffino- lie frIf choro of rood