The Cordova daily times., 1920-09-20

Tn the fourth of a series of articles on Whats the Matter With Alaskan"
 Edmund Ellsworth Sumner writes in the Railway and Marine News as fol- lows:
 The trouble with Alaska always has been the lack of authoritative govern ment within the territory and the seeming indifference of congress and bureau officials at Washington. In the old days of Russian occupation it has been said that the slogan God and the Czar are long way off," and so 1t came to pass that under Ameri- can regime the cry was altered to fit the great distance to Washington, D. c. Right here it will be we'll to quote few authentic passages of history.
 Following Stewards purchase of the territory for $7,2OO,0O0 in 1867, the United States should have at once be- come the active developing head of a veritable empire far exceeding in wealth the fabulous mines of King Solomon. There can be no contradic- tion to the statement that during the first three decades of American occu- patton practically nothing was done
 toward developing the territory. Ap- ! prOpriatiOns were made only for the salaries and expenses of agents at the fur seal grounds and sometimes these | appropriations were somewhat lavish
 as for exemple, on March 8, 1881, the
 sum of SS,0OO was appropriated for
 the repair and preservation of public
 buildings, and in 1882 a few postal
 routes were established, but for seven
 teen years following the actual pur-
 chase no we'll defined practical plan
 of industrial development had been made, yet petitions without number had been presented to congress re-
 questing some form of civil govern ment. Each year the president of the
 United States called attention to these
 various matters and many resolutions
 and bills were introduced in the sen-
 ate but most of them were tabled. The
 outside world knew nothing of Alas ka and, according to the historian | Bancroft, "If we may believe Major | Morris, dozens of letters were address ed to the United States consul at Sitka and many governors of states 1 and territories sent copies of their Thanksgiving proclamation to the gov ernor of Alaska territory years before that country enjoyed the presence of any such officials"
 When one considers that had the United States in 1867, or at least in the following year 1868, organized a strong civil government, appointing good, practical men to the positions,
 and had followed this up by naming special committee to study the fur situation which would put a stop to the ruthless slaughter of the sea otter | and the seal, the first five years of American occupation would have over- paid greatly the purchase price. Let this be distinctly understood. The sea otter was the most valuable fur-bear- ing animal in existence and that ami
 nal alone, if wise conservation had been applied between 1867 and 1872 on the strict lines of the utterly ridic- ulous conservation plans of Clifford Pinchot of 1906 relating to the timber
 and the coal, then Alaska would have advertised itself to an extent whereby the other riches of it's then unknown minerals and fishing would have been developed earlied and more intensive ly.
 Mention is made of this fur industry owing to the fact that it was the only industry developed under Russian rule. The sea otter in the fifteen years following the American pur- chase was allowed to be killed with out restriction and became extinct, yet as every one knows, the sea otter fur is much more valuable than the seal skin. Here was country officially known to be rich in the value of furs derived from sea animals, yet follow ing the purchase and for years, not one thing was done to preserve that great industry. It was not until Dec ember 4, 1883, that Senator Harrison, introduced a bill to provide civil gov