The Seward gateway., 1922-02-15

ted States. It seems more applicable
 to conditions in Russia or those that
 formerly existed south of the Rio Grande We have heard a great deal from progressive" sources during the last ten years about conservation of natural resources in Alaska. The ar guments were plausible enough but the application of those theories has served only to retard development. Private capital was barred from Alas ka by Federal legislation and the gov ernment has not been in position to do the constructive work there that would have been performed by private inter- ests but for Federal interference.
 Gov. Bone protests against the fur ther use of Alaska as an experimental station for faddists and theorists He writes that the pioneer spirit that de- veloped the rest of the West has been stifled in Alaska by bureaucratic red tape, that the system of nonresident government has been all mistake.
 Conserving natural resources is an alluring phrase; but it's practice often amounts ot keeping a talent buried m the earth. Undeveloped resources have no present worth. Soil that is uncul- tivated is as nonproductive as though it were barren. Coal that is not min ed if of no more present value than so much rock. Forests untouched by the ax might as well be so much des- ert land
 In his report Gov. Bone draws a oronhic contrast between Alaska as 1t is and Alaska as it would have been if there had not been so much experi- mentation with theories that are eco nomically unsound. Alaska is a Pro- methus bound to the rock of inactiv- ity by bureaucratic tape, It contains territory and resources to form half dozen states and not enough popula- tion for one Those natural resources would attract capital if capital could be freed from present exacting re- st~ictions Population without capital is liability. The whole of the face of Alaska is covered with forbidden"
 According to the Federal census re- ports the population of Alaska fell off twenty per cent during the last ten years That statement of fact refutes in itself all the arguments advanced by the faddists that keeping capital out of Alaska would keep the territory open for the common people. It reaf- firms the truth written on so many pages of history that where there IS no capital there is no employment and where there is no employment popu- lation cannot long exist. With all it's vast wealth in agricultural land, mines, forests and fisheries, Alaska is going back.
 Gov. Bone both states a condition and suggests remedy. He says thai the Federal government must get into more sympathetic touch with this vast territory, that it must encourage the of latent resources by hardy pioneers, that the investment of private capital in Alaskan enterprises must be stimulated. not unduly re- { . The Alaska of the future, visualiZed by Governor Bone is rich, well culti- vated territory with a sufficient popu lation to form three or four states; with it's mines producing and the trees of it's forests converted into thousands of business and residential structures. This vision is especially alluring to us of the Pacific Coast. It means ex- tended markets for the Los Angeles industrial district. Four States carved out of the present Territory of Alaska would mean eight additional senators and fifty new members of the House of Representatives from the Pacific area
 Such a reformation cannot be accom-. plished over night. There will prob ably be fifty years of time between the beginning and the completion of that development. It is grandiose but practical; but it will not be accom- plished until a beginning is made. IT the theorists are permitted to have their way, the agricultural areas of Alaska will lie uncultivateds for an- other fifty years and it's mineral re- sources will still be locked in the earth. It is high time that a fixed constructive policy was adopted for the development of Alaska along the lines that led to the winning of the