Seward daily gateway., 1928-03-10
GENERAL RICHARDSON ON ALASKA

The Atlantic Monthly for January published at Bos- ton carried contribution from Brig Gen. w. r. Klch- ardson formerly chairman of the Alaska Road Comms- sion the subject of Alaska in general It might better be abed "Rchardsons Grievances" for it seems to bel trav severe case of unpleasant memories
 In the first place. the General in his contribution to the Atlantic Monthly takes the gloomy view that Alaska has been very much overrate that there was any real need of the Alaska Railroad and that the tax payers of the United States for long and hard pull to 1t out of the ditch of perpetual deficits Then on top this he aments that Seward selected as the ocean, terminus which he done without recommenda tion of any responsible agency of the government
 There are many gross inaccuracies of statement in the Richardson article that 1t is difficult to one1 as more gang than the other But this about the desig nation of Seward as the terminus of the Alaska Railroad is possibly as exaggerated as any.
 Whether Richardson knows 1t or not, Naval Com
 mission was duly appointed and sent to Alaska about 1914 to examine harbors and to designate preferable above others the center of operations and as future Naval base for Alaska waters. That Commission unanl mOsv eliminated all others and selected Resurrection Bay Not only did they designate it and describe 1t as ideal for Naval purposes of all kinds but they selected and established Naval Reserve of $500 acres on the shores of Resurrection Bay two miles south of Seward 1t has been Naval Reserve during all the time since then apparently unknown to General Richardson and has been adopted by the Naval Board of Strategy the future base of Naval operations in Alaskan waters 1
 That Naval Commission emphasizes in its report the central location of Resurrection Bay, it's perfect shelter from and from possible attack by enemy eets and it's safe and easy exit and entrance to and from the open sea at all times.
 To add to the sum total of General Richardsons ab- surdties he says it is mpracticabe to operate trains through the Kena peninsula the present adverse grades and curves" For downright ignorance, or mace that takes the palm He does not know that ocomo tive regularly hauls IS loaded from and to Seward over every mile of the Alaska Railroad through the Kenal peninsula over the same maximum 2.2 grade compen- sated ranscontinenta railroad in the United States operates with thousands of heavy trains per year Even this grade can be reduced to 15 by building the cutoff through Moose Pass as The Gateway has pointed ou and the present management of the Alas ka Railroad has verified
 General Richardson's management of the Alaska Road Commission was under constant storms of crit icsms During his incunbency it is notorous that 90 per cent of the roads laid and built have either been petey practically abandoned because they extended through barren and unproducve parts where no pera nent population subsis and that he neglected other and really productive valleys like the western shelf of the Kena peninsula and the Sustna valley where the future dense populations of Alaska will reside.
 The work and record of General Richardson in Alas ka conclusive and sweeping proof of his gross nco peence to pass ntegenty upon any subject pertaining to Alaskan developments of the possibilities that Alaska holds for the future
 Kentuckys governor is named Sampson, but it's Ok ahoma's governor who appears to have Deah on his hcrI