The Wrangell sentinel., 1940-11-22
What Defense Of Alaska Means To U. S.

works now under construction in Alaska are substantial, and We who live in the Territory are profound ly grateful for having this much done, l suggest that even when the present appropriations have been completely expended. those works will be far from adequate. While it may never be necessary to station any extremely large forces, either of the Army or Navy. in Alaska. in the whole Territory We should have something comparable to the defen- sive strength now in existence in the Hawaiian Islands. ConideratiOns of national defense demand that we have in Alaska at least the fa- cilities to accommodate 2.000 air planes and a corresponding number of ground troops, as well as naval base or bases capable of serving large part of our fleet With these defense works in being. the main door of our house will be locked and guarded against that mass of rob- bers and assassins who are now seeking to dominate the world.
 There is one other feature of AL aska defense that is deserving of equal attention, and that is theI need of having an overland connec-I tion by highway between the Un-I tied States and the Territory. At the present time one cannot travel to Alaska by road because. for al thousand miles or more of inter vening territory, no road whatever exists. All transport between theI United States and Alaska is now carried on by sea-going vessels or
 by aircraft, and nearly all of itI goes by sea.
 Alaska Key to Pacific Control
 It is obvious that as long as we control in force the Pacific Ocean,
 there will be no difficulty in supp plying by sea our military and naval forces in Alaska, as we'll as the ci-I yilian population But. to our mis-
 fortune. the day may come, and
 possibly it is not far distant, when
 events occurring in Europe, and
 the enormous concentration of wealth and population on the Att lantic Coast will insistently rel quire that practically all of our ex- isting fleet go to the Atlantic Ocean and remain there for some indefin-I ite length of time. It is further possible, a contingency against which a good general would att tempt to make provision, that af-I ter our fleet is in the Atlantic. theI Panama Canal may be blocked andI thus the whole control of the Pa cific, except for a narrow area ad- joining our shores which can bel effectively policed by land-based airplanes, will be lost to us, and we shall no longer be able to send our ships with safety between the United States and Alaska. It is, therefore, of the highest necessity that a road be completed through l Canada into Alaska at once, there to connect with the meager system of roads in Alaska, and, at thei same time additional road connec- tions should be made so as to give road facilities between the Army Air Base at Anchorage and the main road of Alaska, the Richard son Highway. It is no answer to say that under such circumstances sea-going vessels may be safely con- yoyed by airplanes over all of the considerable distance between the States and Anchorage, or Seward, l Alaska, as against powerful and numerous surface craft of a poten- tial enemy; but if we have a high way to Alaska, that line of supply can be safely patrolled and protec-