The Washington times., 1923-07-07
HARDING PLANS
NEWERAFOR
ALASKA
Hopes Personal Investigation
May Discover Means to
Develop Territory.
BY GEORGE r. HOLMES,
International News Service.

ABOARD THE U. S. TRANS.
PORT HENDERSON, EN- ROUTE
TO ALASKA WITH PRESIDENT
HARDING, July 7.-They called it
Stewards Folly" back in 1867
when the United States paid Russia
S,2OO,0OO in gold for the Territory
Of Alaska. Stewards Ice Box"
was another favorite. Seward was
Secretary of State and Andrew
johnson was President.
Seven million dollars was a. lot
OF money in those days. The civil
war had just ended; reconstruction
was at hand; prices and taxes were
high; people were poor; and it did
seem a piece Of colossal folly to
spend seven million badly needed
dollars for a parcel Of icebergs"
that few people in the United
States had ever heard Of, anyway.
There was a lot Of criticism
about it. and ribald sarcasm in the
newspapers. Then, as is the way
with most public questions. people
got busy on the problems left by
the war and promptly proceeded to
forget all about Alaska and Sew
ards Folly"
Gold Discovered.
Thirty years rolled by-busy
years, prosperous years
Then out Of the frozen North
trickled the word that set the al
venturesome heart OF American
youth af1ame-Gold!
1t had been discovered in the
bleak stretches of Stewards Folly
There began in 1897, thirty years
after Seward had committed his
tremendous folly. one of the great.
est tricks in history. It was com
parable only to the California rush
In 40
Fabulous tales of wealth and ad-
venture began to appear in the
American press, melting more and
more people to pioneer in that little.
known country. Thousands went
and thousands died in that mad
rush. Some found it a paradise
and stayed; some found it a hell
and came home. But gradually, as
the Strikes" became fewer and
fewer and great corporations put
the business of gold mining on
systematic and drab scale, people
settled down to things nearer at
home, and Alaska was again for
gotten, except possibly for the few
bureaucrats in Washington whose
duty required the reading and rem
dering of musty annual reports,
and the great corporations who
were busily engaged in stripping
the mountains and forests of their
hidden wealth.
In the Limelight Again.
Now Alaska is again on the front
pages of American newspapers.
President Harding is en- route to-
day to the great empire of the
north-the first President of the
United States ever to set foot in
the territory.
He is going to see for himself
just what constitutes this great
stretch of rivers and mountains
and valleys out of which, since the
Car of all the Russias signed the
$1,100, 900, 900, or nearly 160 times
the purchase price
Stewards Folly" has been
splendid one-financially.
In the fifty-five years that the
American flag has floated over its
vast expanse, American industry
has wrested more than 81 1000, 900 900
from its mountains and streams and
forests-and the surface has hardly
been scratched.
Untold millions and billions in
mineral and agricultural wealth lie
concealed under the SHOWS that are
present-not all of the time, as Is
the popular conception-but only
half Of the year, even as in the
northern part of the American
mainland and in Canada.
Would Aid Country.
Moreover, Harding is going to
see what can be done to open IN
this vast territory-equal in area
to one-fifth of the United States
proper-and to make it attractive
to settlers.
In short. he Is going to try to
sell Alaska to the American peo-
pie again. He realizes that it Ia
colossal undertaking and that the
public lack Of knowledge about
things Alaskan is nothing short Of
stupendous. Mountains of ignorance
and misinformation must be leveled
in the job that Mr.. Harding has
cut out for himself-and for his
successors. The present trip Is the
first step in that direction.
With the three Cabinet members
who are principally concerned in
Alaskan affairs, the President plans
to spend about two weeks in the
Territory, a short enough time in
which to discover and appraise the
country. A strenuous program has
been mapped out which will carry
him into most Of the sections of
the country that have been onened
up to settlement.
To Inspect Railroad.
Together with Secretary of Com.
merce Hoover. Secretary of the In.
terror Work and Secretary of Apri.
culture Wallace, he will traverse
the entire length of the Govern.
ment- built and operated railroad
visit mines, farms, interview the
inhabitants, consult their wishes.
get their recommendations and,
briefly endeavor to obtain enough
information in a few weeks to
frame some legislation for nresen.
tation to the next and succeeding
Congresses which will alleviate
most OF the distress and hardship
under which the inhabitants now
labor and do away with some of
the morasses of red tape which are
slowly strangling the economic de-
velopment of the great Territory.
Harding approaches his task with
an eagerness that is almost boyish.
1t has been his dream ever since
he became President to visit Alaska
and TO lnaugurate some movement
that VIII bring Alaska Clooar 70 +ho