The Kusko times., 1931-10-24
ALASKA FORESEEN AS POW
 ERFUL STATE, HALF ACROSS e.
 PACIFIC, BY ERNEST. .SAWNEE

ERFDL STATE, HALF ACKE)SS e.
 PACIFIC, BY ERNEST. SAWNEE,
 The following .addxess eawaas given by Ernest Walker Sawyer, member of the International Highway Com mission, in speech presented at the Pacific Foreign Trade Couneil7 at it's eighth annual convention at Oakland, Calif., September IT, 1931:
 "I will endeavor to give you a de scription of the Pacific International highway to Alaska and it's Tpossibih- ties. Two thousand miles northwest of the Golden Gate is vast expanse of unexplored and undeveloped re- sources called Alaska. Three hundred and seventy eight million acres tof possibilities, land where dahlias axe eight inches across and cabbages av- craze 25 pounds, greater in area than the thirteen States including Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Mich igan, Indiana, Massachusetts and others served by the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Even when the area of California is added to the area of those thirteen States you, find Alaska still larger. Those States sup port 60,000,000 people. Alaska has today a population of 60,O0n-6,40 acres of land for every man, woman and child, and about a half mile of seacoast for each of the inhabitants, A country of minerals, opportunities and wilderness
 "The ma pof the world drawn by Marco Palo shows that he had bet Ter idea of Alaska than most people nave today. Gulliver's Travels in f700 show by the maps in the first. editions that Swift referred to Alaska as the land of the giants. Later, in TAI, the Russian officers, Bering and others, explored parts of the coast line ,and in 1904 the beautiful town of Sitka was located as a center of a great trade in sea otter and seal skins. Alaska is still land of mys- .ery. Only forty years ago great Mount Mckinley, ,Denali, the Home of the Sum- was unknown to white men. In 1867 Secretary of State Sew ard purchased Alaska fron Russia for $7,2O0,000 in gold. Since that time Alaska has exported products valued at over $1 100000 The exports of Alaska are over twice her imports. Seattle, that beautiful city of 365,0O0 inhabitants, was born of Alaska.
 "The Alaska salmon catch for the summer of 1881 averaged 5,1OO,000 cases. The mineral production of gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, plat mum and other metals has been $636 ,0OO, O,O0O, and yet only few Jumps of gold have been taken. The great quartz veins have been only scratched. Two thousand one hun- dred and fifty miles in an airline from San Francisco is the thriving con- munity of Fairbanks. Fairbanks is not only the center of the Territory of Alaska, but it is strategically placed as the aviation center of the North Pacific. Fairbanks is 3,510 miles from Tokyo, 3,260 miles from New York, 3,82O miles from Petro- grad, 4,27O miles from Berlin, and 4,430 from London. Petrograd is due north from Fairbanks, Honolulu is al- most straight south of Fairbanks. Approximately 70 per cent of the population of the world lives within 5000 miles of Fairbanks.
 Alaska is the stepping stone to Soviet Russia through Siberia, with only 56 miles of water between the two mainlands. Under ordinary cir cumstances the fur and gold trade of Siberia would be coming to us through the airports of Nome and