The Cordova daily times., 1919-12-30

George c. Baldwin, former we'll known Alaskan who has many friends in Cordova, has spent the past three months in the oil fields of Texas and Oklahoma and the prospective oil fields in New Mexico. He writes the following interesting letter to our townsman, George c. Hazelet, from Oklahoma City:
 '"The money that has been made in the last two years in the Texas fields, particularly, is positively staggering, and the development work that has been done and is now being done has to be seen first hand to have it's mag Ditude appreciated Last week I made an automobile trip of four hundred miles through ten counties in the northern part of the Texas field, and was hardly out of sight of an oil rig at any time, and in places literally hundreds could be counted in sight from one point It makes me sick to think of how the oil development Of Alaska has been held up by these fool laws. The oil development of Texas has been greatly benefited by the fact that the land of Texas is practically all held in fee by private owners. What little remaining public land there is is managed by the state and not by the federal government Just now this section Oklahoma and Kansas) is suffering from the effects of a coal shortage, caused by the strike of the coal miners, and I take particular delight in telling these peo- ole that it serves them just right; that I am heartily glad of it; and re- mind them of the fact that two of the most malignant opponents of the de- velopment of Alaska's coal resources along rational lines were sent to con. gress from this section, namely, Scott Ferris, Democrat from Oklaho ua, and Victor Murdock, a renegade from Kansas.
 Quite a number of Alaskans are in and around Wichita Falls, among them Frank Manley, John L. McGinn, Henry Riley, Red Nels Smith, Mur- nhy. who used to work for Ed Wood at Valdez, Jim Milsap, Billy Leake, Bill Irving, and quite a number of others from the Fairbanks country whom you probably do not know.
 ITO come back again to the subject of Alaskas laws regarding coal and oil development bill, the oil leasing bill passed by the senate, or rather passed by the house and now in the senate, and which will probably be passed, as you know, does not apply to Alaska. However, it is just as well that it does not for the bill is utterly unavoidable and has in it all the faults, defects and vicious provisions that the Alaska coal leasing bill and in fact all government leasing bills, have. If you will carefully read the bill you will see that it was intended to cure the evils of the past; that IS to say, calculated to clear up the titles in dispute between the government and private claimants, and all provl- sions for the future were traded oil by those interested in passing the bill to get concessions regarding the clear ing m of these titles. The bill is ut terlv unworkable and no progress will he made under it. One provision alone, and. by the way, that is common to all government leasing bills, is that providing that assignments of leases must be made only with the consent of the secretary of the Interior. This nroyision, it seems to me, can in no way benefit the public, and certainly tends toward restricting development. When one sees in the oil fields now leases are traded around, bought and leases are traded around, bought ana sold, with the same ease and facility ;attendithegnf etaoin shdrlu etaolnn attending the transfer of blocks or