The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1939-08-29
SLATTERY
REPORT Is
RECEIVED
Points TO Baranof Island
Kenai, Matanuska for
Development

Baranof Island, the Kenai Pen
insula and the Matanuska -Susitna
Valley area are regions in Alaska
under special consideration for set
tlement and development by Euro
pean refugees, it is disclosed in
copies received here of The Prob
lem of Alaskan Development" IN
dersecretary Harry Slattery's report
to Secretary of the Interior Harold
l.. Ickes.
TIL e 94-page report includes a
careful summary Of Alaska's known
and probable resources and states
fatty that settlement in the Terri
tory cannot be successful on an
agricultural basis.
The expected advantages to be
derived from the development OF
Alaskas natural resources are de-
scribed in detail, and there is out
lined the organization of privately
financed corporations which, in
partnership with the government,
would undertake to utilize the dor
inant wealth Of the Territory.
Precedents Noted
In support of a partnership OF
government and capital in such a
venture the report points to the
operations of the London, Plymouth
and Dutch East India Company, the
special charters granted by Con-
gress for the. development of the
West and the pubic purpose cor
poration.'' ''i.s.''
Legislation modelled in part on
the China Trade Act of 1922 might
provide for the organization of
Alaska development corporations,
privately financed, but bound by
the terms of their charters of IN
corporation to conform to such con-
ditions as Congress might prescribe
with reference to the type of In
dustry to be developed IN Alaska
and the type Of settler to be adj
mitted," the report states. = '.f
The charters. II is also suggested
might likewise contain limitations
upon the amount of income return
able to stockholders and bondhold-
ers, so as to insure that the cor
poration will serve its original pur-
pose OF aiding in the development
of Alaska and not become, as SO
many industrial corporations in AL
aska have become, merely means
of draining its wealth to the pockets
OF absentee owners" 81
Nom Competitive Resources
Fortunately" the report sets
forth, the resources of Alaska are
very different from those of the
United States and these resources
can be developed along lines that
will not compete with products of
the United States. On the contrary,
the products of Alaska are, in large
part, products which we now i'm
port from Asia and Europe, and their
development will help to make the
United States economically indie
pendent in the event of war"
This condition is applied particu-
larly to tin, of which the United
States imported in 1897 approx
mately 1913 percent of its con-
newsprint, 77,3 percent
herring, 94.4 percent i'm
ported; canned crab meat, 94.4 per-
cent imported, and various types
Of fur, leather, paper and wood pro-
ducts.
Newsprint Emphasized
AS to newsprint,, of which the
United States is the worlds great
est user, its consumption for 1880
totaling 100000 tons, the report
states that the amount of timber
available for cutting on sustained
Yield basis each year in South
east Alaska is enough to supply
one- fourth of the nations needs.
TN the Alaska of the future
there is room for American techni-
clans, displaced by the contraction
Of our foreign trade and the slow
ng down of our population growth;
Tor boat builders and fishermen.
rom the shores of the Mediterra-
1ean; for trained toy makers and
nachinists, skilled leather workers
ma cabinet makers from Central
europe and workers in wood from
North Europe who can transplant
% Alaska the industries of their
native lands" the report concludes.