The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-04-14

CueS dppIoNSu dlI lOCdtlOuS lnCluQ' ing that part of the location south of Nenana which later was washed out is undoubted.
 In Wickersham's mind this is proof of the incompetence of all concerned. That glacial stream in a flat coun. try may change it's course occasion. ally is- the true explanation. It Is not absolutely certain that the pres. ent location will be permanent.
 We now have remaining two years in which P miles of road. as allow. ed by Wickersham, were built. Let us again stop to straighten out his statements in accordance with fact. TO give nearly correct statement of what was accomplished in the first two working seasons. not two years, fl miles were graded south of Nenana. five graded south of 16 miles of standard gauge track laid. five miles of mar. row gauge laid. 23,993 tons of rail supplies were imported from the states in two seasons.
 Now that we have 6 nearly cor. rect start let's analyze what it means. Wickersham KNOWS but doesn't tell the public that snow remains on the ground in the Fair banks region until April or May; that the ground is frozen under the moss until September and perman. ently in places; that when 1t is stripped it thaws slowly and that it is unecOnomical. if not impossible, to grade such ground until September It can be done before by scraping it little at a time off the top and waiting for more thawing. handling 1t all as much as a spoonful at a time. Now let us figure little. Two seasons from September l to October 15 is equal to 90 days in two years. During this time 4S miles of line were graded In in. terior Alaska. The actual work ex. tended over more than 90 days in two years but 1t was done under handicaps. Wickersham has stated that a written contract was entered into in 1914 by the transportation companies of Alaska to obstruct and If possible to cause the failure, of the railway project. wish the rest of the statements he made were proved better so that this could be accepted without reservation. If this is a fact, the incompetents did not do so badly when the records show that 23,993 tons of freight were fore. ed on transportation companies and deliveries exacted at Nenana. The excessive freight rates demanded helps explain where some of the money went.
 Again, Wickersham does not know, whether intentionally on the part of the transportation companies or not and congestion in the Seattle purchasing agents office. lack of stock in the hands of Seattle dealers, many acquisitions for supplies for Nenana, made in February. did not reach Nenana until the last boat of the season-September.
 Another thing. appropriations for the work made from year to year do not become available until early in July of each year and the big rush of work cannot begin until then as there is no money for the purchase of material and the payment of labor.
 Some will say that plans should have been to use money of one year for the work of the next, or to use 1t all for the purchase of material. No interior of Alaska man would ever say that, for if it had been tried there would have been howl as- cending from interior Alaska which would have been heard in Seattle. AS for holding over unexpended funds from one year to the next to pay labor Wickersham knows that the new appropriation would prob. ably be reduced.
 All that he attempts to show by the records of work is that over 50 per cent of the funds expended went for superintendence and less than half for pay to men who build as he puts it. He states that there are many employees, con- managers, superintend- ents. editors. disbursing officers, etc., 726 of them drawing high salaries. winter and summer, whether working or not. There also follows list of lesser officials. foremen, packmas- ters, captains, stewards, engineers, sawyers, butchers, bak- CTS, etc.. men who draw good wages but do not build railroads. He says. look at the estimates for 1920, sala- les. $967 ,295.00. wages $3O5, ,465.00. 75 per cent for overseeing and 25 per cent for construction work. In his analysis he says notice that a large of employees who do not