The Alaska daily empire., 1917-11-02
lCnlumhuS. O.. Dispatch

Columbus O., Dispatch)
 In 1S67 William H. Seward insisted that the United States government buy Alaska The price paid was $7,2OOOOO. People scoffed and railed and jeered at Stewards Ice Box
 Last year the Territory exported twice her pur- chase price in gold alone, six times her purchase price in copper three times her purchase price in fish Her total commerce for the year approached s12o.ooO,Ooo.
 And still Alaska is a land of thrills She has prosperity that will be hers the half billion of dollars she has given these United States during the close of the last half century will be doubled many times before the century is closed.
 An invincibe frontier spirit forded the mighty Mississippi, overcame obstructing mountain barriers and penetrated to the broad Pacific. That nvinci- ble frontier spirit the spirit of the pioneer American and it is with still The plains of Kansas and the placers of California played their part in the steady westward march of American civ ization Then the rush to the Kondike That brought the first great throng of Alaska pioneers. Many of them struck and returned to the States More of them have struck something better and rich CT than pay; they have struck homes The farfamed lure of the North has caught them and they can wish for better
 Montana famous mining country and a great cattle region. So Arizona. Now they are farming both States with rich results. The rush to California in '49 for gold Since the California has become one of the great agricultural States of
 And they tell that the farming alone of Alaska is as large as the combined total area of Pennsylvania, Maryland Delaware, New Jersey Con necticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hamp- shire. We told that Matanuska potatoes weigh pound and half are shown turnips and ruta- bagas that weigh from 12 to IA pounds apiece. We are fed lettuce and strawberries that might have been grown in Virginia.
 Is this Stewards ice box" Stewards Folly Stewards Arctic Polar Bear Preserve?" Alaska is no longer formidable wilderness Thoughtful and women realize that though it is cold in winter it is warm in summer. Reports of actaul weather condi- tons show that it was milder at Seward last winter than it at New York Boston,
 We cannot speak of Alaska whole any more than we can speak of the Pacific slope whole. It is just as misleading to speak of the Matanuska Valley and Point Barrow in the breath it is to infer that pomengranates will mature in Van couver just because that island happens to be en- circed by the that laps the beach at Coro- nado
 map of Alaska superimposed upon a chart of the United States shows spread of Territory tending from the Atlantic at Charleston to the Superior to the State of Sonora in Mexico Her 5S6- large the United States and quite as varied both in climate and in resources.
 Why then did Alaska lie long Undiscovered" ?" Lack of concrete knowledge and prejudice born of ignorance have retarded the development the Ter ritory up to very recent date The effect on the country has been psychological rather than interna- tonal but the results have been the Until the present administration assumed control Washing ton it very difficult to get the Federal Govern ment to do anything for its great Northern country Since March, 1913, Alaska has begun into her Government surveys have disclosed vast riches the government railroad is fast opening the country. Her coal is declared to equal the worlds best. her soil is fertile and her people industrious
 What better foundation could candidate for Statehood have in its race for future prosperity?