The Alaska daily empire., 1915-01-29


 board appointed by the Preaiden. npe confmed by tho sonate
 rho salaries or the members of thia board houid loo sufficient Co onapio men or ability to deHoto themgeivea excluslyeiy Co tho work or tae board Z which should boyo lts headquarters ln Alaska. and the homes of its mem lbefs in tbot Territory it should have lautborlty Co appoint it's own agents. and supervise their work The board should make lts reports and be direct ly responsible for It's actions to sin. leie Cablnet officer-the Secretary Of the Interior
 The board would do the work now done In Alaska by the General Land lOfilce, tho Forest Service, the Road Commission the Bureau of Mines the ] Bureau Of Fisheries the Bureau of Ed ucaaou md the Secretary Of tho in. terlor ]. should take over only Q ! Ipart of the work of the Bureau of Fish cries. because thore are good reasons why the control of the seal industry ! the salmon hatcberiosi and Che sea fisheries should loo left lu ihe hands of tbe Department Of Commerce.. Be- i ginning at the shore llne however | 1 tho development board should have l complete control of all Government activities and interests connected with the development of industries and the ! transportation and the settling of the country including the control Of wa ter powers, building and maintenance of roads and trails. and operation oi the railways and telegraph lines.
 Tho board should likewise supervise tho protection and control of game, furbearing animals public lends, min. erai deposits, coal oil, gas, hot sprlngs timber lands, and timber. together with the work of education among the Natives and the supervision of the reindeer industry
 All of these activities are closely related; all form part of the one 1 big Alaskan problem Their direction
 should an be in tho same hands.
 It IS probable that such board a5 ] proposed would discover most of the ! present separate and overlapping in- spection and police forces in the Ter ritory Co loo unnecessary and would ! secure greater efficiency by having some Of these social policemen do gen, ! 1 eral patrol duty. The duties of ior.l est rangers game wardens, protectors | of furbearing animals, reindeer guards | bird wardens etc. would not seem to be of a nature requiring such Q ! Ihigh degree Of expert and specialized 1 Knowledge and ability chat they might not all be performed by the same mon, and in that case much of the present duplication and multiplication of cost and effort would be eliminated with thae addition Of increased effective ness.
 Under the proposed consolidated ad- ministration of land and resources a single set of experts and agents would be more efficient than tho present du. plication Of field forces. Instead of lengthy and involved correspondence \ between agents in the field and sey eral bureaus in Washington to deter mine questions of law and of fact. the questions Of fact would be determined \ on the ground and all the papers in any land claim would be thoroughly prepared before the case came to Washington
 From time to time new laws and new policies must be adopted by Con gross to enable the fullest iruidon Of the promises of Alaska. Under pres ent conditions we have recommenda- | tions from numerous sources for chang | es in the laws and policies These 4 recommendations have to do, usually \ with only a single phase of the big problem of how the country may best and quickest be developed Each bu. reau of department charged with on- ly certain duties and responsibilities, T recommends changes in the laws of fecting the particular functions 1t per forms There is no place where these \ various changing needs of the country \ are brought together correlated, and \ framed into consistent workable general program or policy which con. sidered in all its aspects the needs of the whole country. Such duty the proposed board would perform.
 Although a statement ofthe receipts and expenditures In Alaaka at pres ont and for past years shows a large discrepancy on the debit side of the ledger, this Is by no means discour- aging There are many items of gov ernmental expediture in the Territory that are not fairly chargoable to Al. aska. Probably one-half or more Of present and past expenditures come under this head. The deficiency re. maining in the revenues Is one that may be easily overcome.
 Alaska can be made seli-supporting within very few years, as soon as conditions are created which will en- able settlement and development and produce revenues So far the Govern ment has done little aside from care of the seal herd to bring returns. It is unreasonable to expect revenue from an undeveloped and unsettled country
 With disbursements and receipts passing through one md the same channel with broad concept ol needs E and conditions on the part of single responsible body and with revenues and expenditures reported to and by this board, there could be presented ! to Congress each year 9 comprehen. siyo Alaskan budget which would make legislation simpler and more intelli- i