The Cordova daily times., 1920-06-11
FRIDAY, JUNE II, 1920
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH
 ALASKA?


 The new secretary of the interior announces determination to find out what is the matter with Alaska He is to be heartily commended for that determination. On the other hand if the various bureaus in Washington are to be whitewashed for their neglect of the Territory, their blunders and mismanagement of Territorial affairs, with efforts to shift the blame exclu- sively to the steamship lines, which might result in the disruption of the present Seatt1e-Alaska service, no pos sible good can result from the investi- gation. Quite to the contrary, any juggling of the steamship situation will prove a disastrous blow to both Seattle and the Nopthern Territory
 To an onlooker, and judging by the trend of events, the present agitation seems to have been the natural result of the governments latest blunder in appropriating $50,000,O00 for a railroad which is now approximately two-thirds completed, as far as the laying of track is concerned, but which has not developed any traffic to date, although th1et' sections of the line have been in operation, one from Seward, one from Anchorage and one at Nenana. The present investigation evidently seeks some sort of justification for this railroad so that a defense can be made when the expected storm of criticism breaks during the coming summer and fall.
 The files of this publication during the past few years have contained many articles covering this project. It is therefore quite unnecessary to deal with this subject at the present time. In this series of articles, which will appear from month to month, the aim will be to answer this question as to what is the matter with Alaska. The railroad feature will be taken up in due course of time
 In the year 177 the revered Father of his Country" acquired 10000 acres of land lying along the Ohio and Kanawha rivers, which in that year he divided up into small farms and offered for sale. The advertisement appears in the first number of a Bal timore paper established in that year The legal procedure by which that eminent statesman acquired the land is not known to the writer, nor is it necessary to go into that phase of the subject. Enough to say that this old advertisement suggests that In the early settlement of the colonies, pri, vate enterprise in the expansion Of the country and the development of it's wealth and resources were encOur- aged. From the days of the settle ment by migration to the West of the Appalachian chain, even to the great West by irrigation, the same spirit of helpful encouragement was notice able. The noble and seIf-sacrificing pioneers were enabled to develop and prosper on the forbidding frontier
 Not until Alaska was ready for and entitled to similar assistance, did the old order of things change. For more than fifty years this wonderful terri tory, rich in natural resources, has been neglected, discriminated against and unfairly treated by those in auth ority at Washington.
 Verify, Alaska is Uncle Sam's ill- fed and ill-treated stepchild.
 What has been accomplished to date is almost wholly due to private initiative and private capital. It is true that the country has wonderful natural resources but to properly de- velop these resources, persons with capital are the only ones to success fully carry on the work. Tn every instance capital has been hindered or embarrassed in it's development and notwithstanding the millions of words of propaganda put forth, without cap- itaI and without the daring of the successful American business man or expert, Alaska can never hope to wit