The Cordova daily times., 1922-05-26

Soderland, of Meriden, Iowa, and was inspired by a speech the Governor made in Washington describing condi- tions in the Territory. MT. Soderland compares Alaska with Lapland and tells of the latter's development on a single resource.-Ed.)
 Why has Alaska been forgotten by the Federal government in such a way?, was the question put to myself after I had been reading Governor Bones speech, which he gave at a dinner rendered him and Col. Freder- ick Mears at Washington, D. C., the other day.
 "The present order ofthings in Alas ka is chaotic and impossible. Bureau cratic control has paralyzed and pal sled this rich domain, which has ac- tually gon backward for 12 years and today is at a standstill.'
 And my mind flashed back to my native country, where we also had a province way up North, which, also, was paid very little attention for hun dreds of years, but today is the richest and the most profitable domain of that country. The domain lies many miles above the Arctic Circle and looks mostly like an ocean, whose waves have hardened suddenly. But in the deep silence of Lapland was hidden a great wealth and today she gives out of her riches not only to her own country, but to all the world. You have heard something about Swedish steel I suppose.
 SPEAKS FROM EXPERIENCE
 I have lived in Lapland myself for seven years. As an engineer for the Government railroad up there I was ordered to serve the railroad at many different places, and for four years I was placed at a small station 15O (Eng) miles above the Arctic Circle. There were only four families living there, and from the middle of NoVem- Der to the 13the of February we never saw the sun, unless we cared to climb to a mountain top, hundreds of which surrounded us in every direction. The summers up there were of indescrib- able beauty, indeed. It is not possible to produce any kind of foodstuff in that region but it's riches of iron make it possible for people to live and be happy even in that ice-bound land.
 And again my mind went back to Alaska, as it has so many times be- fore, since came to the United States, six years ago, wondering why thls rich land should lie so forgotten, so unused with all it's great resources resting in it's northern beauty. Com nared to Lapland, Alaska has many ad- vantages. While Lapland has only it's iron, our Alaska has so many dlffer- ent kinds of minerals that comparl- son is hardly possible except in their riches of coal and forests. Geographi- cally Alaska has an advantage, not the smallest, over Lapland because Alas ka extends to the south just as far as the southern point of the Scandinavlan Peninsula, while the size of Alaska is more than three times the size Of Sweden, and it is easily understood ,tpIN N1 fnp Or cultural use in Alaska is of consid- erable area.
 NEEDS HARDY SETTLERS
 What Alaska needs is just the right people, who know how to work the soil of the northern regions and who are used to it's climate. l would like to see few thousand of those hard wood-made Swedish Films get hold or land up there for homestead purposes. If anything could be done, they are the neople who can do it. Of course, noth- ing can be done without powerful government.
 Tn a letter I received the other day from a member of the Alaskan Engl- neering Commission at Anchorage, Alaska, I was told that immigrants, who had declared their intention to be- come citizens, are entitled to 16O acres of land in Alaska for homestead pur- nose. This is, of course, always the thing an immigrant first looks at when he stems on the American shore, but in Alaska the immigrant must have something to do besides his farming. The average immigrant has no money when he comes over here and IL must