The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1933-09-25
AND WE DIDN'T KNOW 1T.

Alaska will furnish the next National
sensation-and scandal President RooseVeiI
has swarm of experts investigating every
angle of business and traffic in this atmos-
pherically cold and politically hot spot Every
angle of the ALASKAN situation looks very
very bad-and the President is determined
to have the facts-gold SEALS rail rgnts
and Waterways-all to the hour.
Thus reads a paragraph in a column headed
"Whisperings' in the National Investment Tran
script weekly financial paper published at Camoen
N j. by National Investment Transcript, lncr Presi-
dent Clement H. Congdon Editor, Clement H.
Conedon and Managing Editor, Clement H. Congoon
And maybe Clement H. Congdon is also the author
of "Whisperings" It's a right tidy little piece
news and if he wants credit for 1t along WIN MS
saeacious advice on what stocks to buy and which
ones to SELL and his diagnosis of the worlds Ills
and other economic and financial lore, we're willing
he should have it.
For it is news-very, very real All of us
will he glad for the President to have the facts,
I'm to the hour" about gold That's commodity
we have always had a sneaking suspicion about
WHY some of the tree-covered granite hills and
grayes of this frgid land don't contain gold deposits
and others do is something's that has bothered lots
of us Maybe Nature didn't have anything to DO
with it. and it is the result of conspiracy to
defraud the Nation of its holdings here. That's
real job for the Presidents experts!
Now take rail rights, for instance. II memory
is correct, there two common carrier railroads
wholly within Alaska and one in Alaska and Canada.
We don't know whether they have any rights OF
not but of one thing we are certain-none of them
boast of any profits The President through Secre-
tary Ickes is the boss of the biggest one OF the
three-the Alaska Railroad-and ought to be In
position to speak with authority any subject con-
nected with it,
Waterways inland and ocean lanes, may be IN
danger of seizure by predatory interests from the
Government which holds them in undisturbed pos
session Even smal-sized creeks are nationalzed
in ownership may only be developed even for non
commercial uses under permit and license from
the Government. The system seems askew ana
cumbersome and possibly the Presidents investigators
may recommend change.
Fur seals, too need investigation of micro
scopic thoroughness Just why these mammals,
which have increased from few paltry thousands
in 1912 to more than 100000 in 1883 have not
multiplied more rapidly remains mystery. Wny'
guinea pigs and rabbits do much better ana they
do not begin to compare in size or value Fernaps
Uncle Sam is gypping himself in that resource OF
which he has been the sole proprietary owner and
exploiter for than two decades
There is fuel in all of these things Tor the
next national sensation" We are at loss to
explain why IL ndSh puisI WHO opeii AoAAe o
this The manipulations of the stock markets, the
specuatons of supposedly responsible banking 1nst-
tutions with depositors money, and the failure OF
thousands of banks, racketeering and gangster
GUNNER New Jerseys famous rum row. its I'M
solved Lndbergh kidnapping, all OF the hundreds OF
other front page" incidents of the past four years
pale into insignificance when compared to the
coming Alaska scandal"
To forget the news, however, and get back to
the facts for a moment: There is just one special
investigator in Alaska today. He isn't concerned
with gold SEAL rail rights or waterways. His
mission is to study the reindeer breeding and
grazing industry. Possibly rumor OF his presence
has reached the East and has led the New Jersey
editor into speculation that has neither point
nor moral