The Cordova daily times., 1923-01-11
CONSTRUCTION GOVT. RAILWAY
 IS DEFENDED


 done so, a flew years would have witnessed the practical depopulatlon of the entire Alaskan interior,' de- clares Sherman Rogers in the third of his series of articles on the Terrl- tory now appearing in the Outlook. In this story under the title "Ihe Heart of Alaska" MT. Rogers deals with the railroad and the country which it traverses, which he covers i'll a fairly comprehensive manner
 Only theorists will offer objections to the railroad project, he said IL was every bit as necessary as the building of the Northern Pacific or the Great Northern to develop the North west. "No private operator could have built it, since 99 per cent of the re- sources of Alaska are owned by the Government and are therefore tax free" he declared. The district tapped bv the road, he said, contains major portion of the agricultural lands, coal districts, placer districts of the Alas kan interior, as well as several very promising lode mining sections.
 To Operate at Loss
 Referring to the prospective opera tions of the railroad, MT Rogers sald: It is true beyond doubt that this railroad will not pay operating costs for several years-it may be genera tion before a return will be earned on the original investment. Whatever time it takes makes very little dlffer- ence so far as the principle of the con- struction is concerned. Beyond all doubt the road is absolutely necessary for Alaskan development
 He praised highly Colonel Mears and his assistants, ocmpllmentlng them on the efficiency of their work and the results of their labor. 'These mon were confronted with tremendous obstacles. The work completed is monument to their genius, and r do not believe it would have been pos sible to have secured better talent under private management" he said.
 Advises Lower Rates
 MT. Rogers advises a policy of granting extremely low freight rates, saying he "disapproves of the freight rates formerly inaugurated by eX- lnNnr trIa than the Copper River Railroad sched- ules, lower than the old long distance river rates; but this road should, ln my opinion, be for few years pure ly a development project, and there should be no relativity between the rates charged and the expenses or operation. The country will never de- yelop and the road will not pay With ont population. The quickest way to get population is to offer, at least tenn porarily, the best possible induce ments.
 "Tf there was ever need of a pro tecting subsidy anywhere on earth It should be given in cheap rates m the Alaskan interior" he asserted. He quotes James J. Hill as saying in the early Great Northern days, "a rail road traversing a new country should establish rate that will pay fair re- turn when the country is practlcally developed" This, he added, applies with full force to the Alaska Rail- road.
 Continuing, he said 'When wagon roads and trail feeders have been constructed, thoroughly tapping every district adjacent to the Government road, and encouraging rates est9N lished, the Interior will fsouEsh, th@ railroad will eventually prove IT. nancial success, and it's Constfuctloh will go down in history as the tulh- ing point of Alaskan daV"lopmeht' 15o deries that the road is a "whit" a,ephane" on the hands of the NoV- ernment.
 Reviews SOIIlc Ol ''S''SN'
 MT. Rogers then takes up the seV- eral districts adjacent to tke rallroau' Among those mentioned and in when individual properties are enum"rateu ara included: Hope and Sunrise De- tween Anchorage and seward 'he Willow Creek, Cache Creek, Matanus- ,o Valley agricultural lands, Tal- keetna, Broad Pass, the Mckinley range. the Kantishna mining district, Healy coal fields, and the Fairbanks mining and agricultural districts. In closing he takes up the Richardson Highway and gives one paragraph to the Prince William Sound district. Regarding the highway, he said