The Daily Alaska empire., 1929-07-02
GREAT FUTURE
 FOR ALASKA IS
 SAWYER VISION
Distinguished Visitor Is Inn pressed With Alaska's
 Latent Resources

q see a wonderful future for Alaska and for Juneau" declared Ernest Walker Sawyer, Executive Assistant to the Secretary of In- terior, who arrived here today after covering northern, interior and cen tral Alaska districts. He said he was simply here gathering informa- ton relative to conditions and matters relating to administration.
 MT. Sawyer will be in Juneau until Thursday, leaving then for Seattle. He expressed his delight in the trip and was apparently gratified at the extent he had been able to see the country.
 Too Mucn Glamour
 T came to Alaska expecting to see mountains and glaciers" said MT Sawyer "The great majority of Americans speak of Alaska with shivver. The very word Alaska seems to start New Workers teeth chattering and cause him to dig down for his flannel underwear. There has been altogether too much romance and glamour associated with your wonderful country All the stories tell of hardships and struggles not to gain a living but to keep from freezing or starving to 1,eath. That sort of propaganda is the bunk It has had a tre- mendous effect against the settle ment and development of a natural storehouse of untold wealth. Behind those mountains of snow and ice are some of the greatest valleys Of the world. Besides the glaciers and between the mountains are minerals. There's gold in them thar mountains and what little we know of it is due to the persist anec and tenacity of that wonder ful human called the sourdough There are only few of you. Just a handful as populations go but oh, what powerful kick you have. Thirty years or more ago you had the vision of an empire. With the strength and enthusiasm of youth you rushed to the promised land. There were no railroads then and airplanes were undreamed of For months and years you fought the elements with crude imple- ments. You had the guts to stick It is the sourdough who deserves the credit for staying on the job while his softer brothers of the States spent their spare moments in developing ping bath tubs and rose-scented toilet paper.
 Kicks Part of Game
 Some of you complain of the lack of support from Washington. Like the Irish who built the Union Pacific line from Omaha to Cali fornia, you have fought and bled for your country because you loved the work, and the growing against the lack of interest on the part of the Federal government is as na- tural as it is to kick against the grub or mosquito or rain or any other natural condition on any con- struction job.
 "If everything had been 'hunky- dory' you wouldn't be proud of your life as a sourdough. Do you think the Jewish cloak merchant and suit manufacturer of New York gets any kick out of the hard ships he now has as he travels the Sunset Limited to Los Angeles. About all he remembers of the trip is the story of the Irishman and the Scotchman that he heard in the smoker and the way his bridge partner let him down by leading a deuce instead of ten spot.
 "On the other hand you fellows can tell your stories of real life. Life in the open where mans man and the trails are unknown. So I say, Hats off to the Sour dough! His name and memory will go down in history.
 Time for Change
 Now I believe the time has come to change. I see new era where the doors of the ice-box are to be opened and within it I see. the cream and cheese of hundreds of dairies, wonderful roasts of deer and other meats, fresh vegetables. garden peas. fine potatoes and var ious grain foods, luscious blue ber- ries and other domesticated hy- brids.
 "The country is ready for it. The Outside world expects it. And soon the products of the Matanuska and Panama Valleys will be known in Juneau and Seattle, as well as the canned COWS and frozen roasts of the Chicago stockyards.
 Alaska is no longer a nation without a country. That period is over. The airplane puts Alaska within few hours of the great cities of the Pacific Coast, and the airplane likewise connects Nome and Fairbanks and Juneau with a n<