The Nenana news., 1917-08-04

lllto tilithlN popuidtSu ihihihS districts and it's vast fertile val leys into prosperous farms and graising lands with here and there a new placer camp con- tributing to the wealth of the country, already recognized as the richest in natural resources of any in the world. The trouble with Alaska just now is that our affairs are regulated
 in such a manner as to retard the development of the coun- try. That has been the trouble for a good many years and it probably will continue to hand leap us until Secretary Lane OF others understanding con ditions as he does, has con vinced those in authority that radical changes in administra- tiOn are necessary to release Alaska from bondage.
 We nOrtherners are up again st a serious proposition. Many of us realize it and most of us know in a general way what we ought to do to remedy condi- tions. The trouble is that We are all working at cross pur- poses, each selfishly striving to promote the interests of d certain district at the eX- pense of some other district. We do not seem able to unite for the common good of the terri tory, politically, commercially or in any other way. We are not getting anywhere.
 of us realize it and the most These conditions have obtain ed for so long that one rather expects opposition among the older towns. They disagree much as a matter of habit. But it is a matter of keen disap- pointment to find that the An chorage district the youngest section of the territory, actively engaged i'll a crusade against practically everything originat- ing in other parts of the coun- try. It is not a new form of op- position, with new objects and original arguments; it is mere " Old-Style Instructions from a new source; an attempt to hasten the development of the new district at the expense of the older and less aggressive districts. -..=
 We refer to the efforts which are being made to prevent the further eXpediture on the Fair banks-Naldez post road.
 The argument advanced by the Anchorage people is that the money now being expended on the Fairbanks-Naldez road should be diverted to the An chOrage section, for the con- struction of wagon roads need ed by homesteaders and miners of that part of Alaska; that the interior country will have no use for the post road after the completion of the railroad and that any further expendi- lures on the highway will be a needless waste of our road funds. The argument is with EOut logic and shows d lament able lack of knowledge of h.
 terior conditions. The people of Anchorage will not live to see the abandonment of the wagon road, no matter how
 many railroads are built by the government in Alaska. That road is the first link in a . chain of highways which some day will traverse the en- tire territory, from faldez to
 Nome and the Koyukuk and other outlying districts. It has proven an expensive undertak-
 in, but the benefits resulting have made it worth while and
 it's continued maintenance and
 extension is as important to the country tributary to the
 highway as any roads could be
 which Anchorage seeks to
 build.
 The Anchorage section doubt
 less should have roads. The
 need of wagon road feeders along the line of government
 railroad was recognized by the DAnrIo of T,,%4rs.