The Cordova daily times., 1919-01-15
OUT
MANY NEEDS
OF ALASKA

ANCHORAGE. Jan. l4.-Formal &C
ton has been taken by the Anchorage
Chamber of Commerce in support of
the proposal that congress should en-
trust to the Alaskan engineering com
mission funds for the building of
the government railroad. The Anchor
age chamber does not ask that any
moneys which usually have been ex-
pended by either the federal road
commission or the territorial road
commission should be diverted to the
engineering commission The cham
ber's plan is to obtain the appropri-
ton of special and additional funds,
which, it argues, can be handled by
experienced railroad men more effec.
lively than by anybody else when the
desired end is the creation and pro.
motion of business for the government
railroad.
The chambers action in the matter
is in the form of resolutions, which
have been mailed to Secretary of the
Interior Franklin K Lane. Secretary
of War Newton d. Baker. senators
and representatives in congress. and
the commercial bodies of cities in
states on the Pacific coast. and of all
places in Alaska. In view of the fact
that the government railroad. with
nrnnnepl t,ih
roads, will benefit, directly or indi-
rectly, all parts of the territory. the
commercial organization in every
other Alaskan city is expected to in
dorsc the request of the Anchorage
chamber for trail and wagon road
funds for the federal transportation
system.
Text of Resolutions
The resolutions of the Anchorage
chamber follow:
ITO Congress of the United States,
and to the Departments of the Interior
and Of War: The petition of the An
ChOraEc Chamber of Commerce and
the people of the Cook Inlet country
respectfully shows:
Il That the country along the line
and tributary to the government rail
road in Alaska is rich in gold and
other minerals coal and building ma
terial. which, on account of the want
Of roads. can not be successfully
mined
20 That there are more than three
hundred homesteads located in the
country through which the govern
ment railroad runs, and on which the
settlers have proved the fertility of
the soil and the praCticability of pro
duCing crops of vegetables and grains;
that during the last two years large
crops Of potatoes, Cabbages. rutaba-
gas and other vegetables, together
with oats. barley and wheat. have been
successfully raised, but were of no
value because there was no means of
getting them to the railroad and to
market. Sufficient potatoes are raised
in tn" valley of the Matanuska river
alone to supply all the towns along
IN" Alaska coast if there had been
roads and ships.
"2 That both the miners and
homestcaders are becoming discour,
aged and are leaving the country.
Approve Secretary Lanes Report
- That we heartily approve Sec
rotary Lanes report of December IA,
1918, favorinig Alaska's development,
and urge its consideration and adop-
ton by the congress.
% That Alaska is entitled to the
consideration of her industrial needs.
During the past she has been treat
ed bv congress and the government
like an ill-favored stepchild. She has
been denied adequate aids to navlga
ton, and especially lights on her
coast She has been denied the en-
ioyment of her own revenues; her in
dustries haye been refused encourage
ment. Not only that. but they have
been smothered by bureaucracy, red
tape and reservations. She has been
denied roads to her mines and her
farms, and her settlers on the pubic
lands. under the present homestead
laws and industrial conditions, are
obliged to expend $4,000 in money at
the least, besides continuous residence
for three years. in order to get title
to their lands. Nowhere in the States
was so much ever required of the
homesteader.
Exceeded Quota in Men and Money
In marked contrast to this treat
ment has been Alaskas attitude dur