Evening star., 1923-07-28


complained against coal land leasing
system. Perhaps the contracts do
need slight modification. II Alaska
possesses all the coal which the ex-
tremists believe all the agents OF
greed ever heard of would be insult
ficient to grab control.
THE truth is we do not know the
actual extent of available deposits
because nature has tossed the coal
strata In all directions and large op-
erations remain unproven. The Navy
experiment where we ventured upon
building a modern town before we
proved the accessibility of the coal
was a notable fiasco, with a deserted
new town as monument to folly.
Coal Boom to Come.
alaska might well be supplying
coal for our own industrial and do
big way in the world fuel supply
must await big capital in develop
ment and aids In reduced transporta-
ton costs which present day condi-
tions are slow to promise. The gov
ernment has its own railroad in Alas
ka and we have our own ships which
may be assigned to operate in con-
nection with the railroad, but I can
see no more reason for defyfng the
immutable laws of economics in pro-
viding transportation at the exces-
sive government cost than there Is to
sacrifice Alaskan resources to the
same unfruitful end. Time and the
normal urging of economic conditions
will bring Alaskan coal into It's ulti-
mate own.
There Is petroleum in the terri
tory. small production is already
| affording a profitable return. refined
| In Alaska for Alaskan consumption.
There are developments now in proc
I ess by some of the larger commercial
| oil interests and there are dreams of
| measureless oil resources in the most
| northerly sections which are ex-
pressed in terms which sound more
| fabulous than real.
Large Capital Needed.
Here is a discovery and devel-
| opment demanding excessively large
! investment and a venture on the part
of capital which the ordinarily justi-
fable restrictions utterly forbid. 1t
| is no project of hundreds of thou
sands of capital: 1t Is the quest of
| to ports. the making Of available
ports If the deposits are proven, de-
| mand that grants or leases be ade-
| quate to fair return for the big ad-
venture. No native. no individual en-
| terprise. is to be hoped for. To un-
cover the suspected riches there will
| need be the lure of adequate return.
| We shall have to do whatever is nee
essary to encourage leasing and de-
| velopment or hold the vast treasure
4
| Il have left agriculture to the last
in this consideration of Alaska's
| leading resources and possibilities.
| That is because of the conviction that
an examination of the others was
| necessary to understand the agricul-
| tural problem. Our policy toward
| agriculture must depend largely on
| the attitude we shall adopt toward
| these other resources. If we are to
| turn Alaska over to the exploiters, to
4 a aff far nf
| sources wrenched out of 1t by the
ruthless means of mass efficiency we
| will never create or need a real agri-
| cllture there.
| Pictures Exploitation.
| IF, for example, we shall go on
decimating the fisheries year by year
until they have been ruined; and IT,,
! then, because raise in the price of
paper shall have made 1t profitable
! we shall turn over the forests for a
like exploitation and a like destruc-
| ton; If, in short, we are to loot Alas
ka as the possibility of profit arises
now in one direction. now in another,
| then we shall never have a state or
states in Alaska, we shall never have
| community of stabilized society and
| home people.
IF that is to be the Alaska policy
we need not concern ourselves about
agriculture. The adventurers and
| casual laborers, the masters of ex-
ploitation and agents of privilege will
| be satisfied to live on canned yege-
tables and cold-storage meat during
! the brief periods of their temporary
stays. The slow processes and mod
| est returns of agriculture will not
appeal to them.
Urges Agricultural Aid.
But If, on the other hand, we are
| to make a great, powerful, wealthy
and permanent community of Alaska,
If we are to place it's star in our flag,
to shine for land of hope and homes
and opportunity for the average man.
| then We must commit ourselves to a
program of moderation, of control, of
rounded and uniform development.
We must encourage the present tend
| ency to make homes; to bring wives
and raise families; to regard life In
lovely, wonderful Alaska as an end.
not means. We must, if this is our
aim, give especial attention to en-
couraging a type of agriculture suit
ed to climate and circumstances.
we will learn many lessons by
studying the methods of older coun-
tries with like conditions. .
The federal government has done
something. but all too little. along
this line; we may well be generous
scientific and demonstration work of
the agricultural agencies. We will
need to help the Alaskan farmers to
help themselves. The Alaskan farm
erS are making Ilne progress, Dut In
this one direction / would urge gov
ernment interests and aid on a scale
| which is much more liberal.
Transportation Needs Vital.
"In another direction there is justi-
| fication for a most liberal DISPOSE
| tion-that of road and trail building.
! Much of Alaska which will in an
other generation be rich and pro-
ductive is yet unexplored, to say
nothing of being mapped and equip
ped with highways. There should be
| an organization capable of the read
lest response to demands for roads
and trails. No discovery of riches
! should be kept from rational devel-
| opment for want of access to it. =
l. Roads constitute a prime need
! in every new country. and our long
national experience in pushing our
highways ahead of the enrolling
wave of settlement ought to con-
| toward roads in Alaska will be GER
| tain to bring manifold returns.
| aside from all this there is the ne
cessity to provide feeders for the rail-
road which the government has built
and is now operating. More than
miles of railroad. 1t was not built in
! the expectation Of immediate or even
early profit; rather. it stands in much
the same relation to Alaska that the
Union Pacific did to our widely sepa-
rated ocean fronts. east and west,
| vance of economic Qualifications. 1t
/, Is a pledge, a testimony of faith, a
declaration of firm confidence in the
future Of all Alaska. 1t is but be-
ginning. as the present road system is
but beginning; and am willing to
be charged with a purpose of some
thing like prodigality ia my wish to
serve Alaska generously, and. more, in