The Daily Alaska empire., 1940-12-28
ECONOMY IN TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT ADVOCATED
 BY MINERS ASSOCIATION

The Alaska Miners Association which was organized two year! ago among the small mine opera tors of the Fairbanks district, ano which has now grown by the ad- dition of practically all operators in the Territory, held a meeting in Seattle last Friday night, De cember 20, which was attended by 65 operators. The meeting was helo in Seattle for the reason that it was more convenient for represen- tatives from all divisions of tho Territory than Fairbanks or any other place in Alaska. Many min- ing men are generally in Seattle at this time of year. This is true of those engaged in placer mining who necessarily must go to the States in the late fall to arrange for finances for the next season and for the purchase of equipment and machinery.
 Many matters affecting the in- dustry in Alaska were discussed al length, as the stream pollution bill now pending in Congress, the pub- lie land withdrawal bill, the dras- tic increases in Federal taxes, ano the probable effect of the exces: profits tax law recently passed. A full discussion was had of the pend- ing proposals for increased expen- ditures and consequent increased taxes which will be brought before the Alaska legislature in January
 The following resolution on that subject was passed and copies mailed to Governor Gruening ant each member of the Legislature:
 RESOLUTION
 WHEREAS, the Alaska Legisla ture will convene in it's fifteenth session next month, and there vii be placed before it and presented to it's members singly and as body, proposals for greatly in creased activities of governmen and of administrative agencies, in volving a very substantial increas' in taxes, or else a departure iron solvency and from the Territory traditional policy of keeping ex penditures within it's revenues, ant it's revenues within the ability Q it's industries to furnish;
 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RE SOLVED, that the Alaska Miners Association make the followin representations:
 The Alaska Miners Association an organization composed of tn mining operators in the Territory representing them all and speaK ing for the thousands directly ant indirectly dependent on them, res pectfully represents to the Cover nor of Alaska, to the members o the Alaska Legislature, and to tn public:
 That aside from the fisheries il 1 the coastal waters, Alaska is eS sentially a mining country witt certain known reserves of gole and some platinum and coal ob tainable in commercial quantities but with indications that other es sential minerals will probably b discovered and developed, bringin an increase in population am wealth to the Territory and grea advantage to the nation,
 That the discovery and develop ment of mineral deposits is some thing which cannot be forced, hast ened or facilitated in any othe manner except as capital is gradu ally accumulated from the workin of known deposits and applied f the exploration for, discovery an working of other mineral resource. That such expansion and growtl is naturally slow but orderly an gradually brings about an increas in population as it already has i Alaska where the very substantia growth reflected in the 1940 cen sus returns may be attributed al most wholly to the mining indus try;
 | That except for the fishing indus try and those who depend on either directly or indirectly, prac tically all the people of the Terri tory depend for their livelihood o mining, so that the whole populs ton, including those on the publ payroll of both the Territory an the nation, depend upon these tw industries for their living and the very presence in Alaska; for
 there were no private industr there would be nothing for tf government to administer or regt late;
 That the Alaska mining industi
 we'll recognizes the fact that
 must contribute within the linn |