The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-07-20
THE ALASKA ROAD COMMISSION.

Today the Board of Road Commissioners TOT Alaska-the familiar Alaska Road Commission-eno ed an honorable and highly useful existence and new Alaska Road Commission comes into being. No fairer future can be wished for the latter than that it be as faithful public servant to Alaska and the nation, and efficient in it's admlnlsua- tion. the former.
 The original Commission created more than 27 years ago by an act of Congress There was no Territorial Government then existing, and only a few scattering communities of whites There were no roads and trails and organized body to build them There was money on hand to construct roads and trails with and without any authority to levy local taxes Alaska had to look to Congress to supply its funds well as the machinery to expend it. Taxes business and occupation were levied by Congress and the proceeds deposited in the Alaska Fund, most of which was specifically reserved for road construction. The Alaska Road Commission was created to have charge of the work of building roads and trails and expended the receipts in the section of the Alaska Fund and funds appropriated directly for roads and trails by Congress.
 Up to the end of the fiscal year ending June 30 le3l it had expended $17,273 ,79462. It had con- structed and maintained 2002h miles of automobile and wagon roads, 1,707 miles of sled road 8598 miles of trail; and TIP miles of Jagged trail grand total of 010 miles Tt expended this sum or money, pullI LieS0 Aoooo oiiN trails economically and to the best interest of the public without the slightest hint of scandal and with not single accusation of graft, declared the Juneau Chamber of Commerce recently in opposing the measure then before Congress to wipe out the Commission. The Chamber did not overstate the facts. The distinguished record it has made in Alaska ought to be matter of pride to the War Department and to the Army of which the Con- missoners were truly representative.
 t1of Tho COf,1r, ccinf1 is part and parcel of Alaskas history. Every mile of road and trail it constructed left imprint upon the Territory's record of development. Its career is contemporary with the careers of most of the bonanza placer mining camps and in later years with the farming communities that have come into prosperous existence in the Matanuska and Panama valleys
 Perhaps its most noteworthy characteristic was the fact that while it created purely Federal agency and remained until the end, it was the most local in viewpoint and administration of any of the several Federal bureaus operating in Alaska. Its actions all controlled and di rected right here in Alaska. Its road programs drafted in Alaska approved here, and whatever changes were made in them from time to time were made to meet changing conditions not by directions from some Washington officer bureau thousands of miles away from the locale of action, but by the who made the programs originally. There red tape to hamper it's action. If something needed to be done immediately, some emergency to meet there time wasted in going back to Washington for authority to move If funds available, they expended the Commissions motion Not a mining camp in the Territory but has had to be thankful that such the case. All of them were given prompt attention at stages of their develop ment
 In this attribute the Commission was unique No other Federal agency in the Territory, or for that matter anywhere in the country ever has had it and have it now. Without it. much of the success it had was impossible of attainment If its successor in the field does not continue to have it. it will lose much of the effectiveness that has characterized the work of its predecessor.
 Alaska is losing with deep regret the Army offic- CTS composing the official Board of Road Commis- sioners for Alaska. In saying farewell to Mai. Malcolm Elliott, the President, and his staff, The Empire is it voices for most Alaskans their appreciation of the work they have done and through them to their predecessors in office A job well done is said to find it's own reward in the satisfaction derived from the doing If that be the mission, either as members of the Board or in the civilian personnel, ought to feel richly repaid for the great service they have rendered to the Terri tory. The network of roads and trails they have built in this vast northern wilderness empire of the nation is more enduring monument to it than any memorial that Alaska can ever erect The Territory is better more habtable and more pros- porous place because of their mission to it and the manner in which it performed. It is the gainer because they were here, and the big loser by reason of their departure
 As Maj. Elliott and his fellow officers depart,