The Cordova daily times., 1916-02-03


 Territory of Alaska Secretary Lane gave the following Sos gestions for matters to be supervised by said board
 It is proposed and urged that the board should take over such authority now exercised by various departments and bureaus as may necessary to give supevslo over pc cav the entire public domain and all the natural resources of Alaska control of such activities as are closely related and essential the development of the physical resources of the country. :, , ,
 ''The board would do the work done In Alaska by inc general land office forest service the road commsson the bureau of mne the bureau of educaton and the secretary of the interior It should take part o the work ana authority of the of fisheries There good reasons why the control of the seal industry the salmon achereS and the sea fisheries should be left in the hands Of the depart men of commerce. Beginning at the shore me however the development board should have complete control o all gov ermen activities and interests connected with the develop en industries and transportation and the settling o1 the country. ,,.
 hs should include the control of water powers, building and maintenance of roads and trails and operation and rates of the railroads and telegraph lines.
 T should include protection and control of game TUT pear ng animals public lands, mineral deposits coal o gas, not springs timber lands timber The board should also take over work of education the natives ana the super vision of the reindeer industry.
 .sI should control work of the surveyor general office should have authority to either succeed the depart ment of agriculture supervision of the agricultural eXpe ment stations in the territory to supplement these with demonstration farms for the benefit of homeseaders
 A of these activities closely related all form part of the one big Alaskan problem Their direction should all be in the same hands
 he present national do not include all the Alas kan forests yet very large part of the present forest plV'oN' part of the lands in the territory there seems no reason whv they should not all be equally protected
 arge quantities of timber will be needed in the full de velopment of mining other industries in Alaska and the
 oont of the conntrv The timber supply is too great to meet these demands In the face of these facts the forest service planning to sell large amounts o timber to export If general laws prohibiting exporaton ot Alaska timber are wise laws they should apply to all the timber in the territory to be reason for making fish o one tree and flesh of another.
 Saes timber from the national forests in Alaska nave Inc territory It would that the time has when the protection and preservation of the forests the territory might safely left the administration that IS trusted with control of parts of the public domain The forest service might very we'll be left advisory capacity to the development board in matters relating to forestry
 'It is probable that such board as proposed would discover most present separate and overlapping spec ton and police force in the territory to be unnecessary and would greater efficiency by having some o1 these special policemen do general patrol duty.
 The duties of forest game warens, protectors of fur bearing animals reindeer guards bird Wardens etc. would not be of nature requiring such high degree of expert and specialized knowledge and ability that they might not be all performed by the men, and much o the present duplication and multiplication o cost and effort be eliminated with increased effectiveness
 Under the proposed consolidated administration of land and single set of experts and agents would be more efficient than present duplication of field forces Instead of lengthy and involved correspondence between agents Ill the field and several bureaus in Washington to determine ques- tons of law and fact the questions of fact would be decided on the ground in Alaska under the administration o1 the development board and all the papers any land claim would thoroughly prepared before the case comes to This would simplify procedure help to reduce the congestion in the general land office give fuller and more exact mola ton upon which to base decisions and obvlae and eliminate the long delays caused by the present methods
 Under the law natives and other original settlers m Alaska are guaranteed undstubed occupancy o the lands No provision made however for granting titles to those lands and nothing has been done toward solution of ths problem which is certainly becoming more vexatlous
 'Th of the problems which must be worked out on the ground by familiar with conditions, and whose recon mendaton carry with them of complete nfor nation and disinteresedness,'