Seward daily gateway., 1923-12-22
...ssSa TIRED OF ROMANTIC
 SAYS NOTED WRITER
By Mrs. Willardie B. Ketchum


 November 1 there appeared an articl
 setting forth impressions gleaned iron
 their visit to Alaska by the Brooklyl
 Eagle party
 The conclusions arrived at express
 ed by the various members of th party appear rather superficial to thu
 Alaskan reader, and savor more of al attempt to wax poetical and eloquen
 over a country lavished with such ;
 wealth of scenery and resources as i
 Alaska, than a desire to look at rh, practical and advantageous facts re ! ialing to the country.
 :, Alaska is tired of the romantic, sen ' timental visitor, who desires to star
 tie an unenlightened outside work
 with the mysterious and obscure lock
 ed up Businesses of Alaska, and wants
 instead, the open minded practica and honest visitor in her midst
 Alaska is beautiful and charming in every particular and in her silent and dignified way seems to clasp her child ren close to a heart overladen with good things for those within her bor- ders Alaska knows no want no pov- erty, no acute lack. When various lodges or like institutions for we have no charity organizations in Alas ka-we don't need them) attempt at the Christmas season to give cheer to the needy they know not where to ,look,-we have no needy. Can this be said of the Over-crowded, congested States, where no amount of charity can keep want and starvation from the doors of countless thousands Of the inhabitants. And this, too, not alone among the so-called poor, out often the middle classes are finding it hard to keep the wolf from tn? door. We have real wolves in Alaska but we do not have them at our doors, either fguratively or literally speaking.
 All that was said of Alaska's seen. cry, resources and wealth by these late visitors is quite true, but the sympathetic element could have been omitted. Alaska needs no ones sym pathy. What she needs is good, sound, common sense and honesty to make her the greatest country in the world. When Alaska takes such good care of her own, besides making the wealth of various concerns in the United States a real factor there, she needs no sentimental sympathy. Ske has her own farming lands Gall argu- ments to the contrary nOtwithstand- ing), her vast mineral resources, her fisheries her wonderful climate and her unparalleled record for health No body dies of illness in Alaska Only old age or accident takes one away here. (All ambitious morticians lake lotice)
 Alaska is not land for future gen erations. It is land of opportunity for real energetic, ambitious men and women who can wrest from her locked mountains' the untold wealth secreted there quite as efficiently as some future generation. Never leave off till tomorrow what you can do to- day. Those who question the future prosperity of Alaska should know what it's people have already done, and there would be no ulisgivings as to the future. To the dreame- who comes here end gives her the "once over" it may look impossible but not to those who know what has already been accomplished through good hard muscle and desire to attain. No Soc rates could fly through Alaska nn a tour and be in position to do her justice in his conclusions and no les ser lights need attempt to do so.
 AS to the raGio and the movies" Alaska has both, and her motion pic ture theatres are far iL advance Of those of many ot the more prominent towns in the States. These theatres have pipe organs. opera chairs and all the other desirable features represent ed in any well-equipped theatre. It is misrepr esentaGo1 to mako the state ment that these advantages a'e not to be found in Alaska.
 Agriculture in Alaska is as feasible and practical an industry as in the Scandinavian countries, where the eli matic conditions are very similar to those of Alaska with the advantage to Alaska of a less rigor ous climate, to- gether with it's level surface, permit ting of vast smooth areas easily con- verted into farming land, with the ad- ditional advantage of easy clearing. The forests of Alaska are not deep rooted, thereby permitting of easy re- moval from the soil. An instance might be cited here of the success achieved by one energetic young man, who at the age of twenty-four years rented some acreage at Palmer, Alas ka, on the Government railroad, and after a period of four years has under cultivation eighty acres on which heI raises all sorts of vegetables and grains and finds an easy market for same, not only for his own product, but also for those Of his less ambi- tious neighbors. 1t is not necessary to go outside of Alaska for a market that is to be found at home. All grains groWn in the States can be grown