The Alaska daily empire., 1922-12-18
SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO PUT ALASKA ON FEET
Edward B. Clark Writes In. teresting Artisle, Concern
 ing Alaska Territory.

B. Clark writes a most interesting article under a Washington da-e-Ane. This article appeared in the issue of the Chicago Post, date November 6, on the first page. The article in full is as follows:
 Alaska, and what in a business way might be called it's management, has been subject of controversy in Congress for years. Something, all men here agree, must be done to make of Alaska what it should be, a rich, producing country of benefit to itself, it's citizens and to the United States, which bought the territory from Russia, 55 years ago.
 The Department of the Interior naturally is taking an active inter- est in Alaska The Territory falls within the department jurisdiction. Alaska has lost in population and in many ways has gone backward, or at any rate seemingly so. Last sum- mer Secretary of the Interior Fall sent Brig. Gen. W. P. Richardson to Alaska to study conditions and to make a report thereon.
 General Richardson lived for 20 years in Alaska, where he was en- gagged in road building for the gov ernment He was and is an army officer and during the fifths of a cen tury in the northern Territory he directed the construction of many 1,,,, I,,aJ ,>f <xS xrpn . When the country went to war Gen. eral Richardson went to the front. Because of his record and of his knowledge of northern peoples, Gen eral Pershing chose him as the con- manding officer of the American troops at Archangel, where this coun- try had trouble with certain ele- ments of the Russians after peace had been declared through the ar mistice.
 What Richardson Said
 General Richardson has returned from Alaska. He will make a report in full on the conditions in the Ter rftory, but as capital and labor. and the people generally, are interested in what has been called "the land of suspicion" I asked General Rich ardson to tell something about things as he found them He said:
 "The reasons for the present op- pressed conditions of trade and de- velopment in Alaska, with decreas- ing population. have their origin as far back asn 1906 or 1907. The Terri tory at that time probably had the largest population tliat it has had ait any time since the movement of people to the north country began immediately following the discovery of the rich placer deposits in the Dawson country in 1896, and the dis. covery of gold at Nome in 1898.
 About 16 years ago the Territory had reached the summit of produc. tion from the placer fields, the prin- cipal ones in addition to Nome be- ing Fairbanks, Birch Creek. Ram- pant. Koyukuk, Ruby and Iditarod. The richest of these diggings were being rapidly worked out. This was the time when the Territory should have been given active support by the general government in it's effoN for development, and with liberal in- ducements to capital and encourage ment to the individual prospector and homeseeker, in order to hold the population already in the Territory.
 'On the contrary there was spread through the country by means of an active and well-orsanized propaganda an exaggerated impression of the wealth of. Alaskan resources, espe- cialy coal, and that these resources were about to be seized by un. scrupulous combinations of capital to the detriment of the people of Al. aska and of the United States gen orally.
 Capital Is Discouraged
 Coal and timber were withdrawn from entry and regulations were is sued by the executive department oi such a character as to discourage capital from entering these fields The result was that the population began to decline.
 eTn 1914 Congress passed a bill authorizing the construction in Al aska of railroad from the coast tc the navfgable waters of the Interior river system under the impression that the building of such railroad would counteract the conditions re ferred to and attract people into the country. This project was made possible through the enthusiasm o certain clements which favored gov ernment ownership backed up by well.organized lobby.
 Anyone acqtiaiinted with the his tory of the Territory prior to tht beginning of the building of thii railroad could not fail to see tha' the assertions concerning it's value in the way of development could no be fulfilled unless supported by some liberal concessions to capital and ; systematic plan of colonization ana l by the construction of wagon roas ! feeders te the railroad.
 Nothing for Road to Haul "The result is that today we hav' a railroad With cost up to-date O about $56,000, 900, with still dimin | ishing population and with little ton