The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-01-20

ot their upkeep.
 ALASKA'S JUST DUES.
 When Alaska makes a request for the government to aid in the development of her resources she is not making an unreasonable demand. but is simply making plea that is based on what is due her in all justice. She is merely asking for her just dues. There are two sound and just reasons for making the claim that she is merely pettioning for her just dues. In the first place, most of the territory's taxable wealth has gone Outside. Practically all of the original money that was made in the early days of the gold rush has been taken out of the country since that time by the men who made it. and is now taxable wealth in the states. If it had remained in the territory it would be subject to taxation here, and would thus furnish the territory with her own funds for any such purpose
 Many millions of dollars have gone out of the country in this way. In the early days there were thousands of men who came to the scene of the big gold rush to make their for tunes, and great many of them were success full. After the big excitement was over they returned tostheir homes Outside taking im- mense sums with them wrested from the bos- om of the territory So on this count alone, Alaska is entitled to help from the government now, when she is in need of the means for de- veloping the resources of the territory.
 The second reason is that practically all the working capital that was in the country at the time that the United States entered the war has been placed at the disposal of the gov- ernment, and is thus not available for use at the time when it is most needed. The call for money from the people has never been in vain, when it reached Alaska. The people of the territory heard the call of the government, and answered to the extent that now when they need working capital it is not here, but is ill the hands of Uncle Sam. The Liberty ,oans were marked successes in this country In the fourth and greatest of them all, Alaska was the first "over the top' with its quota and this quota had been raised from what it had been in the other loans, because it had been found that Alaskans were such free givers In other words, Alaskans came thru with such "a punch in the first three loans that when it came to the fourth loan the per capita quota was raised because of the apparent ease with which the other three loans had been met
 The territory placed all its available cash at the disposal of the government in the emer- gency caused by the war. and now when her own emergency comes up she has no working |capital. Therefore it is no more than fair that the government should be asked for what is practically loan to help in the development of the vast resources of the country. The initial loan will be repaid many times over in the revenue that will come from the prop erty that will be opened up, and the govern ment will be doing no more for Alaska the last new country of the nation, than it has done for the other parts of the land as they developed.
 More than merely developing the country, the government, thru this comparatively small loan, will accomplish an end that could only be accomplished otherwise by a great burden of taxation upon the people Outside, namely, paying the nations war debt. By aiding the development of the territory's vast and rich resources, the government will make is pos sible for the territory to pay the debt that the nation owes without undue strain upon any of the people, either of the territory or of the States proper. This is no idle boast, but is based upon sound reasoning, from facts and figures drawn from the small percentage of mining property that has already been devel- oped thru private enterprise. The Kennecot mine that paid special war tax of about $2,3OOOOO is a sample of what may be ex- pected from the territory in the way of reve- nue for the government This mine in ques- tion is only one of many such properties, all of