The Kusko times., 1925-12-26
Tokotna. Alaska. Dec. 26, 1925.
MINING JOCNAL REPLIES TO
 FREES ATTACK ON ALASkA \
CEngineering and Mining

Press, New York.)
 Representative Arthur M Free. of California, ranking member of the committee on merchant marine and fisheries in the House of Representa- ttives, has just returned from Alaska, where he inspected the government railroad He has issued statement that the railroad should be aban- ,doned, on the grounds that 1t serves sa population of only 5000 at 3 cost ,of $400 per capita per pear, and at floss to the government. While it may be true that there are only 5000 peo- pie "on or near" the railroad, yet a .gT. e at the atlas shows that the roGl extends to the very heart of the great Territory, and that tributary ito the road (excluding the Copper River valley and Southeastern Alas Ika) there are villages as far west as Nome, with total population of 13,000, that receive 9 direct benefit -IIOIl IIllS IOdl4 III Ille uldLIcI OI III6tIls passenngenr service and freight. MT. Free should not forget the service rendered and time saved in trans porting antitoxin to stricken Nome Mast winter from the railroad at Ne mana, 450 miles inland-a saving of eight to ten days and undoubtedly the Hives of many people at the isolated and frantic city. Every prospector, fisherman, woodchopper, and Indian in the great Yukon valley, and as far north as the reindeer fields of the Arctic, is benefited directly or indi- rectly by this road.
 The census takes cognizance of only the permanent population. During tevery summer season there is usually "a transient population of two or even three times the local citizenry that must be taken into consideration when reckoning in terms of abandon ment. The purchase of Alaska was characterized as Stewards Folly" yet who is there today that begrudges tthe original cost of S7,200,000? As }business is organized at present, the expenditure of S60,0O0,000, largely upon the recommendation of the late Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Anterior, is not excessively large in comparison with the cost of "Sew- ards Folly" Apparently MT. Free implies that this venture is "Lane's Folly" but, as matter of falt, as in the case of Seward, Lane had the vision of future empire north of "'54-40."
 Alaska has coal, copper, gold and other minerals, to say nothing of timber, fisheries and agricultural pos abilities. Transportation is the key that will unlock the frozen re- sources of this Northland-frozenn not because of cold, but because of inac- possibility. A more liberal policy on the part of the federal government toward opening the timber and min eral lands, as well as agricultural areas, would aid greatly in utilizing to the best advantage the railroad that MT. Free says should be scrapped. He seems to think that this roadbed could be converted into an automobile highway. It could, at the cost of many millions more, and yet Alaska would be without a rail road. To convert this as he suggests would necessitate concreting it the entire distance, or surfacing with gravel, and in many places the heavy fills would rewire widening for auto traffic. Sleds only could be used dur ing the winter season, and for