The Cordova daily times., 1921-08-13

1 will not be neglected.
 The fisheries of Alaska are, of
 course, a story in themselves, and
 it is a story that has often been [ told, so there is no occasion to ! dwell at length on this Alaskan in.
 dustry. The salmon and other fish
 products of Alaska are known
 wherever good fish are appreciated
 and has been so wonderfully sue
 cessful that to date its output has
 paid back the money we paid for
 Alaska at least fifty times.
 Another splendid Alaskan asset
 are its seals and other turbearng animals The government has and will continue to protect these ami
 mals, enforcing such regulations as will make the fur business success ful and at the same time prevent in. discriminate trapping and hunting which in the end would mean the extinction of the herds and packs
 About fifteen years ago the gov ernment imported about 1900 head of reindeer and established them in that part of Alaska where the sup ply of reindeer moss is inexhaustible. Today that herd of l,200 animals has increased to more than 1S0,000 head, and the industry has become one of the greatest in Alaska am con. vinCed that 1t can provide a good living for population Of 100000 people. The caribou migrations cross the reindeer country. and these ani- mals, which are not unlike the rein deer, have in thousands of instances been crossed with the imported ami mals. the result being q fine animal easily domesticated and producing q most appeti2ing meat. Reindeer meat is already to be had in most of our cities. and l am convinced that in the not far future it will be a popular course on thousands of American and foreign tables. Be sides this, the reindeer is of course invaluable as a beast of burden on the snow-covered plains and noun tains of such a country as Alaska.
 Having referred to the resources of Alaska and the possibilities of the territory, I am now" continued | Secretary Fall, going to talk about l some of the things that have held | Alaska back and which are still | proving a barrier to the natural and ! proper development Of that wonder | ful country.
 The greatest handicap now facing | Alaska is that of government, and | this is one of the things that this | administration is going to straighten out without delay. The administra- | ton of this vast territory, which equals in size the states of Mime | sota, Wisconsin, Illinois. Iowa. Kan sas. Missouri and half of the Da- kotas. Is at the present time divided | between so many different depart | ments and bureaus that I would hes itate to number them. For instance, under department of the interior Is the territorial government itself, | the railroads. education, and mines; highways and trails, telegraph and telephones are under the war depart | ment; forests and farms under the department of agriculture; the fish | and seal industries under the depart | ment of commerce. and so on indef- | initely.
 CONFLICTS OF AUTHORITY
 What this division of authority, with the inevitable conflicts. means to Alaska one can easily imagine, Herer is an instance. The trail over Rainy pass Is forty-two miles long. There is a roadhouse at each end. Every winter this trail takes it's toll of death. the trail signs being bur jed in snow, travellers simply having to trust to God that they will get through. Recently some of these pio- neers who annually face the death that turks along this forty-two-mile strip of snow-covered wilderness evolved a scheme to minimize the danger, and this was to connect the two roadhouses at the ends of the trail by telephone. The equip ment was at hand, but 1t belonged to