The Nome daily nugget., 1916-01-31
8 were required by law would be

received With favor. It was far cheap CT to make a showing" than to put up one hundred dollars in cash, es- pecially as the moral tone of the time made perjury quite permissible where assessment work was involved and 1t was. consequently. an easy matter to secure and number of men who would swear to the performance of one hun dred dollars worth of work. which had been done for fifty or less. How ever, conditions are different in the present day and the majority of claim owners are either performing the ac .ual amount of labor required by law themselves or are paying the cash for such performance, so 1t should make but little difference to them whether he money they are expending is for one purpose or another, as long as they are conforming to the law.
 Indeed. 1t would seem that the ma
 ority of those who are forced by con-
 dition or circumstance to pay out one pr several hundred dollars for the per sormance of annual assessment work which in the majority of cases. Is wholly idle and useless. would look
 with favor on a plan to devote the money to some purpose which would achieve a definite and useful object. t h the intent of the assessment laws n force development and In this. at least. In so far as placer properties ire concerned, It signally falls.
 Observation discloses beyond a doubt hat ninety per cent of all the assess ment work performed on placer claims
 in this and other sections of Alaska 's money and labor wholly thrown away, as it serves no useful purpose
 As a means of promoting development T Q law as applied to other than quartz rroperties. Is really an absurdity and
 |, were a thousand times better that the money and labor should be ex- pended to some practical purpose. By granting claim owners the option of performing the labor or paying the cash equivalent 1t would seem that everyone rich or poor. should be sat isfled and at the same time fund would Ne derived for many other pur- poses which would serve to assist the general development of the district In far greately degree than Is accom- plished under the present system.
 In view of the crying need for the opening of proper highways through out the territory. coupled with the evident disinclination of the federal government toward granting sufficient
 funds for this purpose, 1t would seem
 that moneys derived from this source could not be expended to a better parpose or one that would have a more far reaching effect in furthering the e velopment of the whole territory. It will doubtless not be gainsaid by any one familiar with the territorial needs that roads and trails are by all od6s the matter of greatest importance m the promotion of the opening and development of Alaska Everywhere gre visible the evidences of hindered effort and retarded development due solely to the obsence of proper high ways and channels of easy commun- ication between one section and an- other. All this could be easily ob- viated by a fund, such as the one suggested, which could be devoted to such road construction as would be needed at the time that 1t Is needed. In addition such fund could also be devoted in part to such other purposes ject of developing the territory. There are few practical objections to a plan of this nature and the only one that may be considered of real value Is that under It's operation many would be deprived of the possibility of earning a fair sized grubstake by the perform ance of assessment work when all other opportunitie. for making 0 few dollars are closed. This argument has