The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-06-06
ALMOST SPOILED.

C. L. Andrews almost spoiled a remarkably good book in his Story of Alaska by unwarranted crt- cisms of the manner of the development or the United States without submitting the facts be- hind the criticism and by wholly unjustifiabe comment on Gen. Richardson with sur for officers of the United States Army. In a note, the author gave list of those who have written of Alaska feelingly" and then said:
 The only one who has written disparag-
 ingly, of those who knew that land intl-
 mately was Gen. Richardson, but his pro-
 fession is generally one of destruction rather
 than upbuilding, so his judgment may have
 been influenced by his education and calling.
 It is not fair to say that Gen. Richardson wrote disparagingly of Alaska. He wrote magazine article, it is true, warning people against the growing habit of painting in too lurid colors the prospect of growth and development in the near future of Alaska. He said it was misleading He said that he believed that the money spent on the Alaska Railroad would have been better used if it had been devoted to highway construction But he said that we have the railroad now and it is thirty years too soon to talk of abandoning it. MT. Andrews, himself, says in his book that the devel- opment of Alaska will be slow.
 But Gen. Richardson never destructionst. In fact he probably contributed more to the con- structive development of this Territory than any other one person since American occupation. While
  he the who got Congress to organize the Alaska Road Commission, and he its first President. This Commission, during the dozen years he was at it's head, developed fine system of roads throughout the Territory that contributed tremendously to mines and other resources. His services invaluable, and the Commission of which he the father has continued for the last fifteen years in carrying the course he had set for it and done work that was absolutely essential to progress
 The history of the United States Army has not been one of destruction The Army has contributed vitally to the development of the whole American West The pioneers of the plains always and almost, if not quite, unanimously friendly to the Army It was constantly guard and always helpful to the pioneers. AS builders of the rivers and harbors improvements helpers in time of disaster everywhere the American Army officers have been very helpful power in behalf of con- structive development.
 Several times MT. Andrews goes out of his way to make side remarks about matters that are wholly out of place in the book He refers to waste of the natural resources of the country in a manner to suggest that it needless, etc. and he intimates that the Indians of the continent were cheated out of their patrimony. But this is all pure dictum. It not at all necessary and is likely to rouse antagonsms and controversy on subjects entirely outside of the scope of the book In fact nearly all the faults of the book dicta, aside from it's real purpose.
 However in spite of it's faults, MT. Andrews's book is timely and ought to be in all collections of Alaska literature. The notes and references as well as the text testify to tireless study of the subject. The material examined very extensive and the author showed excellent judgment and nice discrimination in holding the Story of Alaska down to conveniently sized volume. It presents an excellent story of Alaska covering the century and a-hal from the beginning of Russian activities until the present