The Nome nugget., 1922-01-28

It availed naught.
 Alaska's needs long ago became 2 threadbare subject of discussion. | Assuredly the time has now come
 to substitute action for discussion
 to turn words into deeds and to stop theorizing and recommending and get to work. The concentration of authority and responsibility in one department at Washington. with . centralization of administrative pow CTS in Alaska. will be direct and decisive step toward the solution of Alaska's problems.
 Transportation.
 Vital and urgent Is the problem of transportation. The completion of the Government Railroad does not solve 1t. but only makes its solution the more vital and urgent.
 Separated by foreign land. as we'll as by water. from the United States. adequate steamship transportation and equitable ocean rates are the 1 necessary prerequisites to the sue cessful operation of the railroad and the development of the Territory. Steamship and rail are equally es- sential and mutually dependent utilities. Alaska cannot prosper and progress without either The great domain.its unparalleled resources yet scarcely touched. must remain large ly waste and wilderness until the twin problem of water and land transportation Is rightly solved. The building of roads and trails is being pushed rapidly by the Alaska Road Commission. with Territorial cooperation. This governmental agency is producing actual and en- during results and keeping pace with railroad building. It is work ing under a comprehensive system, with a definite programme of devel- opment ahead: and. in the consoli- dation of bureaus. or transfer of authority. its work should not be interrupted or its appropriations curtailed. Every dollar invested in road and trail building will yield handsome returns. assuming always that Alaska's need of capital and of people is to be met,
 A railroad through a country un- opened by roads and trails obviously would never pay.
 Roads and roads and still more roads. all through the Territory. must, therefore. constitute a major part of the general policy of Alaska's development Happily this fact. in late years, has not been overlooked or neglected The highway from Valdez and Chitina to Fairbanks. now traversed by automobile. and to he extended to Circle. will be second only in importance. with its arteries. to the railroad itself when industry and population are invited and permitted to thrive. and real de- velopment gets under way. Exist ing freight rates to and from the out side world, however. are too high to permit the average prospector or in vestor to reach and utilize these roads and trails, save in a limited way.
 Three steamship companies. two American and one Canadian, serve the Alaskan trade as common car riers. In the summer season they are usually taxed to their full ca pacities and often beyond. Sched- ules. except on the shorter run by the inside passage, are irregular and difficult to maintain. The Canadian line is devoted primarily to tourist travel and trade with the Yukon Territory. whereas American vessels sail to the westward. one of them calling at Kodiak, and engage in general business which reaches its peak in midsummer and is light in the winter In addition to these three lines. countless private ships. not common carriers. operate along the coast. carrying cargoes to and from the canning plants and fishing waters and other industries. Thus the business as whole is split and widely distributed. Freight rates are admittedly high and become pro- hibitively high 10 points in the fn- ,erior. It is claimed that they arH relatively no higher, considering dis 1 tanees. than freight rates in the States which reached an abnormal level during the var and have since been largely maintained
 Complaint of discrimination against Alaska is sometimes voiced