The Alaska citizen., 1917-03-12

fhe Alaska rates case. the table Of comparative rates printed in The y.uzen of March should be con suited
 Now. there ;s no- an item in .1at l4sr anes the SIP rebate to the ..og,hen Commercial Co. is paid. s aich does not carry much higher late than the same commodity pays from Boston Mass, to Prince Rupert. E. C.. within sight of Alaska And most Of the items are still rom loo 10 Boo per cent higher than the transcontnental Prince Rupert rate. Take beans and peas for instance; after the \ (. SIP rebate is sub tracted the rate still remains $29 per ton. or almost two hundred per cent greater than the Grand Trunk rate, bicycles are 300 per cent high ,., boots and shoes l.. (. l.. are more than loo Der cent, canned L,oGs are POO Der cent, rugs and carpets 200 per cent; cash registers goo per cent. flour more than 200 fer cent. cereals many of them nee e-sary articles in the trade .th the interior of Alaska are still 200 per cen. greater than the longest trans continental rate; wire rope, nails, stoves and ranges, picks. spades and shoyeIs all fall within this class.
 There certainly can be no ju-t end reasonable excuse for the main ,ou4nte of these high rates. The nave iong been maintained by the Northern Navigation Co. and it's mer- can,ile twin. the Northern Conner yfaI co. and their effect on the de selopment of Alaska has been ire qu,uty officially noted
 In his report upon the Mining industry in 1909, in Bulletin 4t2, United States Geological Survey, 1910. pages 23-31, Alfred Brooks pre- sauls study of transportation in that ree.on al that time. With re gard to the transp portation of freight from Nome, then controlled by the Alaska Steamship Co., he says, on page 25;
 The total transportation charge on supplies of the Seward Peninsula will. then, be about $l,20o0oO, or nearly 30 per cent of the value of the entire gold output of the year
 He says Of the interior rates and freight traffic on Page 26;
 No exact figures are available in regard to the amount oi freight shipped annually to the Alaska DOT tion of the Yukon basin, but it is prob ably safe to say that it amounts to 30.000 tons, and that it costs s2,5oO,- 900 to land it at the end of steam boat transportation.
 It is simple to demonstrate that this freight costs the people Of Ruby, Iditarod, Fairbanks, and other interior points at the average rate of $S3.33 per ton.
 The great tax on the mining indus try of Alaska, caused by the present system of transportation, is striking lv illustrated by the fact that the an nual freight bill-much to be sure paid indirectly-fo every white man, woman and child living in inland Alaska and on Seward Peninsula is over $35O. As this figure is based on incomplete data concerning ton mage and estimates of population, it is only approximate. but it at least indicates to what order of magnitude the true figures belong. If these estimates are correct, tne dulouut paid for freight in the placer camps of Alaska is equal to nearly half of the annual gold production. The freight charges are reflected on the high cost of all supplies and labor All this clearly indicates why only the richest placer ground is being mined and suggests that the pres ent industrial advancement of inland Alaska is small with that which will take place when railway communt- cation with tidewater has decreased the cost of operating.
 "A reduction ought to be made in the White Pass commodity rates equal to the SIP rebate paid to the Northern Commercial Co.,, and then from 50 to 100 per cent additional, so as to reduce them to an equality with the Grand Trunk rates. The Grand Trunk line is the longest haul on the newest pioneer railroad ap- preaching the region of Alaska, and the climatic and mountainous condi- tions along it's line correspond fairly with those along the White Pass (.