The Alaska daily empire., 1921-05-17
PINCHOTITES AGAINST CURRY BILL.

PINCHOTTTES AGAINST CURRY BILL.
 The opposition of the old Pnchotite crowd has been added to that of the Washington Bureaus ir the movement to defeat the Curry Alaska Develop ment Board legislation Norman Hapgood, who gained fame in the old undertaking days declared in al article in the Washington Times that the Development Board Bill is a gigantic plan to hand over the re of Alaska to commission responsible t' nobody" and if enacted into law would make czar out of the Alaska Commissioners, granting them thu power to give away vast resources
 While Chairman Curry and other members of th Committee Territories of the House of Representa- tves protested against the Hapgood article, the same Pinchot idea shows it's head in the letter writer by the Secretary of Agriculture to Chairman Curry in which the Cabinet officer said:
 The enactment of this would be
 highly prejudcia to national interests in
 Alaska in that it would remove wholesome
 checks against exploitation of vast
 tional resources and would deprive Alaska of
 the technical help of our Federal agencies
 which combine long experience and best
 scientific knowledge in studying and develop
 ing specific natural resources.
 We have come to the time when economic
 conditions should bring about gradual de-
 velopment of Alaskan industries with corres-
 bonding increase of population This devel-
 opment should be sound basis and not
 the result of temporary and reckless
 ploitaton of public property by creating
 Alaska board composed of representatives
 placed there by each of the Federal agencies
 active in the Territory and two per
 panent Alaska residents
 Every proper purpose sought to be
 complished could be brought about without
 jeopardizing national and Territorial in-
 terests.
 The National interests in Alaska!" Check against exploiaton!" The general development! How like the old cap-trap of the Pinchotites, wh locked up Alaska and practically stopped development through fear that it might be too rapd
 The history of the development of the West is tn proof that the greatest National interest in Al aska' would be served through the rapid develop ment of the natural of the Territory Pin chots contention was that the resources of flask belong to the people of the Nation, and in theor, that is true. But there is way that the peop of the Nation can profit through that ownership ex cept by coming to the Territory and claiming tn resources for development, by staying at home an, profng through the market for their product by their development No in the East o anywhere else can cash check against his interes in coal, oil or minerals that locked in tn ground, or in the pulp and paper resources as lonj as those resources in standing trees The poten tial water power of Alaska is of absolutely no use t the Fasteners who have ownership in it as lon as the water runs unharnessed down to the
 The appropriated resources of Alaska only ar profitable to the people of the United States It ha been estimated that per cent of the resources o Alaska have passed to private ownership and tha the people of the Nation the other 98 per cent If the figures correct the per cent of resource in private ownership worth to the peopl Of the Nation than the 9S per cent that is owned b. the Government. The privately owned resources ar the resources that creating trade and traffic an, producing wealth against which the people can issu checks Only they pay taxes and support citizen of the Republic
 Alaska has been developed slower than any 0 our other frontiers, and that is largely becaus or the pernicous Pinchot theory and propaganda about the Nations ownership of the resources Peo pie have got it into their heads that in some mys terious manner they may cash in on their ownershl of the resources if they are kept out of privat ownership It cant be done. The history of tn country has shown that the frontiers dev veIoped am the Nation grew strong and great in proportion a the natural resources appropriated and develope by private owners,
 What Alaska needs and what the country need is not the gradual development of Alaska if ther is any way earth for us to have rapid develop ment. The quicker begun and the speedier the de yelopment the better it will be for those who liy in Alaska, those who may here and for thos who choose to remain in the States Every day O delay in the development of the Territory and he resources, or any part of them, is day wasted f, all of these. and wasted time is the worst sort O money and energy waste-it is the very opposite o real conservation.