The Cordova daily times., 1921-02-16
BOARD PLANS ACTIVITIES OF
 COMING YEAR

The officers of the cabinet are giving the Alaska inter-departmental board the strongest kind of support made by the board has been ac- Cepted," declared Chairman George A. Parks, of that body, speaking be- fore the Juneau Commercial Associ- ation at it's noon luncheon meeting last week.
 More than all else, more than the work which the board has already done and what it is now undertaking, the thing that impresses me as con taining the greatest promise for Alas ka is the desire of every Washing ton governmental department to have man here on the ground who will have absolute authority to deal with any question arising, except where it involves a matter of general policy, which is of course, never designated to anyone" he stated.
 While the Alaska inter-depart- mental board was not completely or ganized until sometime after the first of December, it has been able to accomplish a few things for the terri tory and is steadily enlarging it's ac- tivities and is functioning we'll" he said.
 Mir, Parks recounted number of things taken up by the board for the territory. One of the first things was to secure an executive order for the restoration of approximately 100000 acres of land to entry in western Alaska. What is known as Alaska Withdrawal No. 1, contain ing 2S6,000 acres around Seward and Resurrection bay, and 5000 acres adjacent to Talkeetna on the gov ernment railroad are specified in the order. The board took up the ques- ton of restoration with all the de partments and secured a waiver from them of any objections to such restoration and the order was prepared by the board and prior to Chairman Parks departure from Washington was ill readiness for the signature of the president. In an eff fort to effect this restoration the territorial legislature in it's 1919 session memorialized congress asking that the necessary action be taken, but nothing was done until the board took up the matter
 Many changes have already been effected by the board among the de- partments themselves, said MT. Parks, which are already greatly fla cilitating the handling of Alaskan questions. Others will be made from time to time, in fact, he said, wher- ever possible, there will be a consoIi- dation of authority of bureaus func- tiOning under the same department as the first step in wiping out in- terlocking authority in the bureaus
 
 and departments dealing with Alaska.
 Realizing that it would be i'm. possible to secure the passage of any large number of bills relating to Alaska, the board prepared and had introduced three measures which it believes will be enacted into laws before the end of the present ses. sion of congress" sad MT. Parks. "The first of 'hssa, whiie designed pri- marily for the relief of certain home steaders in the Cook inlet country, will be of great benefit to the entire territory. This is the measure au- thorizing the department of interior to issue patents to surface. This measure had passed the senate and was favorably reported in the house and placed on the unanimous consent calendar early this month.
 "The second bill is the result of a proposal made to the board by MT. sherman, representative thereon for IIS uOpal ILAlCuI OI dStClutIuTS, ana provides that from 1921 to 1880, in elusive, 50 per cent of the gross total revenue derived from Alaska na- tional forests shall be turned over to the territory. The territory now re- ceives only 25 per cent of the forest receipts.
 "The third measure" said MT. Parks, lis one which we are con yinced will aid largely in the de- velopment of the coal fields of Alas ka. It provides for the issuance of prospecting permits covering 2,560 acres of coal lands to applicants. These permits permit prospecting operations for period of four years by applicants, and at the end of that time it is provided that the hold I-