Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-01-21
BIZ FREDERICK
]. HASKW
mail capital has many chances in

Alaska.
Needless to say, conservation favors
the development of Alaska as place
where the little fellow has good
chance, and the demand for less strict
conservation policy springs chiefly
from men Of large capital. The timber
on the national forests of Alaska can
be cut, but only under forest service
supervision, 80 that they are not de-
stroyed. They are being cut, and at
the same time conserved to furnish
the paper supply Of the future Of the
United States. Without any federal
restriction they could undoubtedly be
exploited more rapidly and more prof
itably for the men doing the exploiting
but it is claimed by the conservation
lists that such exploitation the people
of the United States as q whole can
not afford.
Alaskan Wealth Acce0.bIe
The coal and oil in Alaska were.
under the last administration, long
withheld from public entry. Now that
the coal and oil leasing bills have been
passed, these resources may be devel-
oped under the new laws, which are
certainly lenient enough. All Of the
other resources Of Alaska--fish, min
erals, water power, like her agricultural
land, timber, coal and oil, are accessi-
BILE to development.
In spite of this fact, Alaska has suf-
fered severe slump during the war.
Her white population is said to have de-
clined one-third. Nome has only 10
per cent of the population of her palmy
days. The government railroad reach
ed Fairbanks, say the wags, just in
time to take out the population. The
salmon packing industry is not making
the huge returns it once made. The
production of gold has dropped 45 per
cent since 1915, and the number of
men employed in placer mining has
been cut in half.
Government interference, cOnserva-
ton and red tape are brought forward
by one side Of the controversy as the
cause Of it all. Give us free hand
to do anything we like with the re-
sources of Alaska and we will make
the land hum" says the business men.
The conservationists' reply that
Alaska's slump is part of the slump
that has hit the whole world, and
which is being felt in every part of the
United States. They say it is not re
markable that Alaska, handicapped b.
HGI ulSLdHCC liuh ANU Ac'
limited carriers, should suffer most.
They say that each of the phases of
the Alaskan slump can be definitely
traced to a cause in the present prices
which she is able to get for her com
modities.
At the same time they agree that
long range federal administration is a
nuisance in Alaska. Some 30 govern
ment bureaus control the resources of
that land, and nearly everything must
be referred to Washington. They fav-
or the relieving Of this situation by the
creation Of local board consisting of
representatives of each of the federal
departments interested in Alaska. and
empoyed to act with the greatest
promptness and considerable discre-
tionary latitude. They also favor the
abolition of certain unavoidable laws,
such as that which forbids man to
take up land on both banks of sal
mon stream, even though that stream
be mere brook with one salmon in it.
Federal aid in developing transporta-
ton in Alaska is also dire need they
say. The railroad is only one step.
Alaska needs both highways and ship.
ping.
But the Roosevelt policy of conser-
walton, they urge. must not be aban-
doned, if the Alaskan resources are to
yield their full value to the American
people as d whole.