The Alaska daily empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1912-1926, 1920-04-28
EVERYBODY MILKS
NORTH, SAYS RIGGS
Governor Declares Territory Would
Be Self-Supporting If Allowed
Own Revenues
Seattle Times)

Seattle Times)
/ Ii industries and citizens of the
United States were to pay taxes in
proportion to those paid by industries
and citizens of Alaska, the annual
revenue of the Uuited States would
be $4,000 600, 900, Gov. Thomas Riggs
( Jr.. of Alaska told several hundred
business men who attended the lun-
cheon OF the members council Of
, the Chamber of Commerce 1t the
/ Masonic Clubr0oms yesterday
Gov Rigs, who described the Two
. months he spent in Washington. d..
] C.. whore he worked for Alaskan
Development measures, as harrow
ing" said that members OF Con
grcss took notice OF the above state
ment and wondered at his statement
that if the government Will let 4!
aSka keep Tho revenue from It's for
F ests, mines, oil properties. codl beds
and farms, it will not ask the govern
ment for the appropriation OF one
cent for The development If the
Territory.
There must be some svst9m OF
putting something into AlasS&; not
/ taking everything out" said t,.e gov
I ernor. Some societies arc even
taking antiques away and hoped
: that American soldiers you'd raid
Berlin aud recover the most complete
collection of Eskimo antiques ever
! assembled in Alaska Eyarrhody
seemed anxious to take something
away from us
/ Must Cut Red Tape
"Interosts OF Seattleand Alaska
are Identical as the Territory de
velops, so does Seattle. The people
! of this city should make it a matter
/ of immediate business to force Con
gress to see how Alaska has ooen
/ starved We must cut the red tape
! and | have had valuable assistance
| from Seattle and especially from the
/ Alaska bureau of the Chamber of
Commerce and the manager of tho
bureau. ]. l.. Mcpherson. We must
keep departmental jurisdiction Ii Al
aska and not be forced to wait
upon slow acting bureaus in Wash
ington when we want action. When
the change is made, the Territory
Will go ahead by leaps and bounds.
Ten years ago, Alaska had double
the population she has today; the
oil lands have been withdrawn paper
mills forced to close up on account
of the withdrawal of forest lands
and the extreme conservation meas
ures of 1906 caused Alaska to halt
in the journey to the goal it had set
out to reach.
"But | find more interest in Al
aska, and there are hopeful signs.
They used to ask me at the capital,
How cold is it up there?' or Was
the steamer able to leave Juneau?
but today. now that they have been
aroused they ask why pulp mills are
not working why there is no devel-
opment of oil and coal lands, why
our mineral product is not greater
tell them that the answer is found
in the extreme conservation measure
of 1906 We do not ask SO much to-
day for an appropriation as we do
that we be allowed to retain what
we produce For instance, from the
seal islands alone the government
received in one year $6.400,000 for
fox and sealskin sales. Yet Alaska
did not get one cent of that money.
Needs More Roads
Gov. Riggs called attention to the
lack of roads and trails in Alaska
pointing ont that there are only 1000
miles in the Territory. Each mile
the government will build, he said.
will open UP mine. a mill or farm.
The governor said he was Impress
ed with the spirit of greed and grab
he saw in New York and IN the
East and said that he could not
see anything normal in that sor'
OF life as he saw it expressed while
away. The avarice. greed and
profiteer!ng ! saw was appalling,
and the lights of Seattle gave me
a thrill of happiness he said. !
want to live always in Alaska but il
cannot be there, | will live out my
life west of the Cascades" he said
The East had magnified the so
called Soviet problem of ALASKA, he
said
One night | was called on the
phone in Washington, D. c.. and told
that Soviet Alaska was about to
sever relations with America" he
said. ''But there will be no soviet
or any revolution in the Territory
We are too much of Americans up
cannot live there any more than Il.
can live in Seattle
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