The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-08
Uncle Sans Able Management AaskaBy Frank C. Carpenter

standing the big dividends already paid
 the investment is in it's swaddling clothes
 and IS still sucking the bottle. As to
 it's mineral development, the property
 has hardly been scratched. The gold
 mined has been about S250. .O00, ,000 but the
 prospectors estimate that there is from
 a half billion to a billion dollars worth
 of placer gold yet to be won, and that
 the lode or quartz gold, which is known
 to lie in the rocks, is far more than that
 which will be washed from the streams
 As to the coal it's value is said to run
 high into the billions and in addition,
 there is copper antimony, tin and other
 minerals worth money which is beyond
 the dreams of national avarice.
 The same is true of the fisheries. The
 waters of Alaska are like the streets of paradise. They are paved with gold and every year we hook up gold bricks in the shape of fish products worth more than three times the amount we paid for the territory. We have already re- ceived nine times our original investment out of the furs, and as to the farms, which are yet to be developed, they will cover hundreds of millions of acres and will yield dividends equal to the richest lands of Finland, Sweden and Norway
 So much for the investment. Now for the management and what it is doing with our property. There are many who say that the development is back ward, and that there is no place upon earth where the cost efficiency expert is more needed Others point with pride to the results already obtained. l shall take up these views in giving you the latest news with regard to the prop erty, and to how 1t is handled today.
 In the first place, Alaska is a terri tory It is one-fifth as large as the United States and it has about 10000 About 50,000 of these are whites and the remainder, for the most part, Indians or Eskimos. The govern ment. which I shall call the business consists of territorial and federal officials. Primarily. almost all of the officials are of federal origin, and the territory is practically govern ed from Washington. The governor, or chief executive, is appointed by the President of the United States. His name is J. F. A. Strong. He was once ] man, and he Is an able ex- He has his residence here at Juneau, which is the capital of the territory, and where sits also the ter ritorial legislature. The governor may veto any bill passed by the legislature, but he must do it within three days after such passage, or it becomes a law without his approval.
 The legislature of the territory con- sists of a senate and house elected by the people. There are eight senators and 16 representatives selected from the four judicial divisions. They meet ut Juneau every two years and the length of the session is limited to SO days. They can make certain laws regarding the territory, but all of these acts can be modified by Congress The legisla- ture can make no provisions as to the game. fish and fur products of the territory nor as to the establishment and maintenance of the schools. All of these are under the control of Con- gress, as are many other matters es pecia1ly designated. The territory can not bond itself, nor can any of the towns borrow money as such The taxes for territorial purposes levied in any one year are limited to 1 per cent of the assessed value of the property. and the taxes of municipalities to per cent per annum
 The courts and police of Alaska are appointed from Washington. The coun- try is divided into four judicial districts, each of which has a judge appointed for the term of four years. These judges act in civil criminal and equity cases. They hold courts at certain towns, and they have in addition what is known as a floating court,'' which moves about from island to island among the Aleu- tians, on one of the revenue cutters, and tries such cases as come before it. Upon the boat are the judge, clerk and mar shal, the latter being one of the officers of the ship. When the court stops at an island the civil and criminal cases are brought before it and decided. For in- stance, the law is that if a white man takes a native woman to wife he is ex- pected to marry her, and if he leaves the territory he must take her along with him. A certain man on one of the is- lands who had had such family relations