The Cordova daily times., 1921-02-02
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1921
THE MILLER-MADDEN DEBATE

No one who has followed the ca reer of Representative Martin B. Madden of Chicago is particularly as- tonished by his remarks in the de- bate with Representative John F. Mil Ter of Seattle over the Alaska rail road. MT. Madden ranks in the house with Representative Blanton of Tex as and Stafford of Wisconsin (Staf- ford is not in the present house but was in the last and will be in the next) for the multitude of speeches made and lack of knowledge of the subjects discussed.
 And none who knows MT. Miller is surprised at his defense of Alaska and his friendship for the territory. He was an Alaskan miner once upon a time, and he has lived in Seattle and been much interested in working for this territory for a score of years since departing from it. Alaska has no better friend in congress than he has proved himself to be. Mary times in the house and ill committee he has spoken for the territory when her ed last year for his third term in ;he house, and his presence there is re- assuring to the people of Alaska.
 The Congressional Record contains the following account of the debate between MT. Madden and MT. Miller over the Alaska railroad, a subject that was introduced when Representa- tive Mckinley, senator-elect from H. linois, introduced an amendment in the appropriation bill designed to pre- vent 0 raise of the salary of Col. Mears, chairman of the Alaskan en- gineering commission, from $10,000 to $15,O0O a year.
 Mir. Madden-Everybody said that we were building a railroad into a new Eldorado, that we were going into the Matanusk acoal fields, that we were going to supply the Ameri- can navy with cheap coal. We were then buying coal from Wales at some thing like $25 to $30 a ton. They said the Matanuska coal had a heat ing power greater than that coal down here in the Virginia fields, that 1t could be produced in quantities with out end, that we were going also into a great agricultural region from which we would be able to get freight enough to pay for the railroad in no time
 We have not found the coal and I have not seen any of the agricultural products. Sometimes they say that if you want to get down to where the earth is up there you have got to dig through seventy feet of Ice.
 Now I do not know whether this railroad is being built on the ice or not, but one section of the road, twen- ty-five miles long, was laid in place where 1t was washed away within a week after it was laid. That shows the quality of the engineering forces up there. We had two civilian con- missioners cooperating with the mili- tary commissioner neither of whom had ever seen a railroad except when they rode on it. They were getting s10,000 a year. They did nothing for their compensation. They had AT per cent of the men employed in the over- head force and only 53 per cent of those employed were doing actual con- struction work. think it has been one of the most scandalous enter prises in a small way-for we consid- CT $5O000,000 or $6O000,00O now a small thing-that I have ever known. We have just begun to build the rail road. Only Al miles have been built out of 600.
 You know 1t was said before this railroad was authorized and while it was under consideration that the Gug. genheims owned some of the railroads there; that they were stealing Alas ka; that they were criminals. I sug. gested then that if they were crimin. ais they ought to be arrested and put n Jail.
 I said, suspect that the first thing