Seward daily gateway., 1930-08-30
E:D|TOR|AL.
PERTINENT FACTS

avowal that he is viewing the Alas ka Railroad situation with an un- biased and unprejudiced mind re- gardless of his Cordova speech in which he is quoted .as saying
 T am told there are 5000 per- sons living along the railroad and of these 4,OOO are in one way or another connected with the rail- road. So WE have an investment of $72,OO0,OOO operating at an an nual deficit of nearly $1,000,OOO a year to serve these 4,000 people. Where else in the United States are WE treating OUR people so generously. I favor public owner ship, but utilities should be run for blood"
 Acknowledging, flor the sake of argument, that the Senator is cor rect with respect to the numbers beneficiary of the railroad. Is he prepared to tell his colleagues in the Senate the cause of this cOndi- tion? Let us assist him For 14 years, during construction and long after, the railroad was in com petition with the, mercantile busl- ness established by those attracted to the railroad belt by promises that the enterprise carried with it something more than, as has been stated by a number of Congress- men and Cabinet members, the building of a railroad, now lt is up to Alaskans to make it pay" These are words used by former Secretary of the Interior Hubert Work. It is well known fact that during construction the sum of ap- proximately $5OOO,OO0 was expend- ed by the railroad for foodstuffs capable of being produced from the soil of Alaska. Until the towns along the railroad were incorporat- ed along about 1920, the utilities were operated by the Federal Gov ernment and purchasers of lots in the townsites were assessed for street, water and sewer improve lmentS.
 During construction of the rail road contracts were let for station work at figures permitting only of days pay profits. If these profits exceeded this figure the allowance for yardage was reduced. Tn fair ness. if a contractor failed to make wages, he was allowed sufficient advance to guarantee him against loss. Thus economy was practiced to the nth degree, and the man of toll did not secure sufficient to make him independent of the din ner pail and time clock.
 The little merchant was forced to be content with the crumbs that dropped from Uncle Sam's table. Today the coal miner meets Icompetition thru the purchase of coal by the railroad at from $3.65 to $3.85 per ton and resells it to its employees at a figure below the current rates paid by non-em- ,'ployees, while the private dealer must pay $5. This is excused un- der the plea that lit is part of the workman's compensation" Thus he is not gwen cash value in coin for his labor, but something after the nature of rain check or cou- pon.
 The Senator must know that during this interval, and continu- ing today, the federal government retains control of a major portion of the natural resources in Alaska, prominent among which is the Matanuska coal fields; that these resources are obtainable only thru a leasing system that denies the individual the privilege of develop ing under the freedom of action enjoyed by the investor in uncon- served resources; that various ex- Iperiments have been indulged with respect to these resources and are being indulged today despite a background of American progress
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