The Daily Alaska empire., 1939-01-31
TOURISTs-GOD BLESS FEM

Can we afford to be snooty about this business of encouraging tourists to to Alaska? It must be admitted that a good many of us are We throw back our heads look down noses humble some thing about post card tourists and dismiss the whole subject whenever it is suggested that the Territory make an effort to bring visitors here.
 Alaska. we are prone to say is a rich and unde- veloped country and the need here is new capital ready to invest in productive enterprises Tourists are pain-in- -the-neck with which don't want to be bothered.
 This stated briefly is the attitude which was dis played recently when the Legislature was considering a bill to provide an Alaska exhibit at the San Fran cisco Exposition That bill it must be admitted, may have been full of flaws and its packers may have been persona non grata to Legislators the time may not have been ripe and the money may have been needed more urgently elsewhere but entirely aside from these factors which help defeat bills there present the unnistakabe attitude that Alaska does not want an exhibit at the fair because all would do would be to bring tourists and Alaska does not want tourists, because tourists aren't good business proposition anyway That thought is what really killed the billI
 There exists this attitude among many Alaskans. and it an unfortunate attitude because it is doing harm all of It is taking money out of pockets and delaying development of the Territory
 Anlericsnsyit it is estimated. spend ten billion dol lars year in recreation and travel Suppose for the sake of illustration that Alaska by great effort could lure enough Americans 10 the Territory so that just ye-hundredth of that amount would be spent here AS matter of fact Alaska, with it's great wealth of scenery historical charm it's appeal of the outposts of civilization, should do much better than that But suppose did just that well. In 50 years there would be spent in Alaska by the now sneered-at tourist the of a billion dollars
 This is more than the mineral output of the Ter ritory since 1880 All the gold the copper the plat and other metals have produced have been worth only $776000000 in 50 years. And we look upon essentially mining economy.
 There is gold in them thar tourists than there is in the hills and it is lot easier to get
 All of the States have finally come to realize the vast proportions of the tourist industry. We find that all of them setting up public funds for adver tsing purposes They not just toleratng tourists letting the effort rest with inviting them; they gre all but Kidnapping people to get them to come and see and have a good time and spend
 Lovelest feature of the tourist industry and don't think for minute that it isn't really big busi- nessis that the tourists leave their money but take nothing away. The country after they have gone is just rich as before they came They don't take the blue out of the sky the sparkle out of the Or the off the mountains. but they pay good coin Of the realm for all these things.
 Who gets the money the tourists spend? It is foolish to argue, many do that it all goes to the steamship companies and the eurio stores It finds its way into the pockets all the residents of the region visited A travellers expense account makes interesting reading, especially the account of the