The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-03-28
REVEALS REAL PURPOSE.

The latest move of John M. holzworth in seeking to have tied up all Alaska tmberands bordering the inside passage tends to convince Alaskans that his first step the agitation for bear sanctuary sn Admiralty Island was mere blind, adopted to conceal the real purpose-the prevention of the proposed establishment of a pulp and paper manu- featuring industry in Alaska. On specious plea that timber cutting will despoil scenic beauty, he urges conservationists to join him in demand on the Federal Government that no cutting will be allowed on the inside passage" This, too, he adds will have the effect of protecting wild life.
 MT Holzworth continues to be misleading in his statements He makes positive assertions that are absolute falsehods. He informs those whose aid he seeks that the Forest Service has given options on all of the panhandle, Southeast Alaska, an area $50 miles long by l20 miles wide He declared that L Zeerbach holds option on Kupreanof Island and that the New York Geological Society had asked him to surrender this to George T. Cameron so that the latter in turn could be induced or compelled to relinquish his own options Admiralty Island tracts
 There isn't word of truth in his assertions about the options The National Forest area in Southeast Alaska is slightly more than l60OoOOO acres Of this, the Cameron options have a gross area of 587So3 acres, and the zelerbach holdings gross IO79,5l9 acres. But much of these areas is not timbered and will not be included as contract lands Thus, in the Cameron unit the net acreage is but 4l5595 while the zelerbaeh options net 425 GOO acres Thus the total gross acreage of both groups is only about 10 per cent of the Ma tional Forest lands, and the net acreage which is the real basis be used is only five per cent of it Yet MT Holzworth unqualfiedy asserts all of 1t is optioned.
 As to Kupreanof Island, the zellerbach interests do not now and have held an option on a single acre of any kind of land there. If the New
 
 arrangement that MT. Holzworth claims it did, then it merely demonstrated just how little it really knows about the setup in Alaska.
 Most of the timber MT. Holzworth asserts, is mature, virgin growth ranging from two to six feet in diameter spruce and hemlock, and fine building material Again he has spoken falsely. He knows, or could have easily ascertained, that most of the growth is not fit for commercial saw-timber Surveys made by expert cruisers for the Government as well as those of private interests have demon strated that not more than 10 per cent of the 8O0OO0000OO feet of timber in Southeast Alaska is suitable for commercial building uses. That DOT ton of it that is saw-timber is, admit, excellent in quality But 90 per cent of it is good for nothing unless it be utilized for pulp and paper making for which it is regarded almost ideal On the two optioned units, which MT Holzworth has attacked the percentage of saw-timber is much less thar one-tenth They partly chosen because of thf small proportion of large trees.
 Very little of either the Zellerbaeh Cameron holdings are located on the inside passage as matter of fact Even if they were all so situated there is no reason for MT Holzworth's conclusion that timbering operations would destroy the scenic value of the route. Since Alaska forests were pu into National Forests, in 1909, about 1,00o,oo0,oo feet of timber has been cut from them. Yet th thousands of passengers who have made Alasks tours in the recent past have been unable to tel where the cuttings made and to them, tn forests they view from the decks of steamers ar an untrod wilderness The proposed operations oi the two pulp timber units will have no greate effect and will be more noticeable than thos carried on in the past. Even if they did, tha should be no valid argument against the develop ment It is upon the utilization of such resource that the future prosperity and growth of Alask depends If they to be locked up just to kee Alaska in a wilderness state for the aesthetic en joyment of visitors welcome as they are then we might as well get ready to close up shol and move to some other part of the country wher we can enjoy the rights that acknowledge to be the heritage of all Americans