The Stroller's weekly and Douglas Island news., 1921-12-10
AIAsKA's FUTURE AS SEEN BY NEW YORK
 WTATEC
TIMES

The following editoria-comprehensi truthful andl displaying accurate knowledge of conditions as they cxst-appeared in recent issue of the New York Times
 President Harding plans to put Alaska the "Great| Country on the map, in the that he will use msI influence with Congress to have the dormant rcsoucesI of the Territory developed and to people 1t with hardy and cnteprismg settlers who will become permanent residents Great is the Aayeska of the Eslimos m sol many ways Its area is 59080 square miles lt IS asI large as Maine, New Hampshire Vermont Massachu- sctts Rhode Island Connecticut New York New Jersey Pcuusyvania Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, North and South Carolina Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee The cost to the government of Alaska 369 l}9GOO acres was about cents am acre. Scemcally' Alaska is tremendous Its glaciers excepting those of the South Polar continent said to be the largest m Inc word The Yukon has length of nearly 3OOO miles, @ 400 mygabc by ight-draft vessels. Mckinley has am 9lfide of 2O46i nearly 5000 feet greater than Mount Whitney, hc highest peak in the continental nited States In beauty and grandeur Aaska's fiords cannot be sur passed by those of Norway, nor has Switzerland finer mountain scenery.
 It has been estimated that there are 2OOOOOO acres of coal land in Alaska One gold mine alone the Tread wc has produced seven times much gold as the United States paid Russia for Aas5a's 5908Oi square miles l was estimated in 1913 that the trade of Alaska with the United States had amounted to S5OOOOOOOO in the preceding ten vcars exceeding for the same time the value of the trade of the United States with the Orient According to the Department of Agriculture, there are more than 6tO0OOO0 acres of arabic and grazing land in the Territory. Natmalsts have talked rather wildly bout the reindeer hcrd If their estimate is now con >dcrcd excessive there is doubt that with conserya ou laws properly enforced the reindeer would m course f time provide the country with much needed addi iou to it's meat supply In Alaska are the only tim mines ou the continent The copper deposits have only lccu scratched Alaska may yet vie with the Southwest cru States in the production of ol It tact the Territory is a storchousc of the minerals used in industry The utcd States Fish Commission has declared the Alaska .od banks to be among the most valuable in the world The fur wealth in the last fifty years has been greatly re- luccd but is still considerable Aaskas exports to the United States in 1920 were valued at $6649867l. Not more than half of the Territory has been mappcdi much |Di it is meNplorcd.
 Alaska has long endured a system of government that may be described as maze of red tape no less than thuy-cieht bureaus at Washington claiming and cNer- cisiug jurisdiction The Territory can make little prog rcs until this pcrnicious system is reformed Iherc are bills now in committee to coordinate government acty
 cs and to ccuazc authority Secretary Fall declares lat administrative changes must come before thc m- provcmcu of transportation. He would have the 9il- roads turned over to private They are now un 1cr Government control and progress in construction las Jagged A bin approprating S4O0OOOO more to
  la few days ago.
 In his annual report in 1920 Governor Riggs arguing .or national as against fanatca conservation and for Gvc-audct-iyc regulation of business in Alaska ly the Government at Washington said: "Iu Canada the fom- der of great industry gets lnghted; in Alaska he very often gets indicted" I is only too true that restrict lions upon the development O fhc Teuitoy's resources
 have exceeded reason and their effect has been to keep capital out of the country and to decrease the white pop uIatiou by "lcaps and bounds" A pioneer who spent fifteen years in Alaska and became am active business man has said:
 "Thc blight went under the name of conser-
 yatiou, but was really am attempt to gather all
 thc public lands of the Territory into am estate,
 it's forests its mines, its water power, its wharf
 sites to be managed by devastating host of
 Government undcrlings and worked by the citi-
 zcus as lcssecs licensees and tenants
 Alaska has literally been reserved to death.'
 This may seem like the language of eXasper0tion but Loro s .oIor of tlth i'm if Alaska was in a way to be