The Wrangell sentinel., 1942-03-13
Alaska And AlaSkanS Given Once Over In
 Fortune Magazine

Including a few things they won't like and a good many with which they will agree, Fortune. one of the top business and industrial maga- zines Of the nation, gives AIaskans a spread in the March issue. ulustrat- ed with pictures of Coy. Ernest Gruening, Gen. Simon Buekner, Del egate Dimond, Joe Cross0n, Marshall Hoppin of CAA and Capt. A. D.. Lathrop; street scenes in Juneau, Fairbanks and otheT places includ- ing some of the usual romantic booey always attached to Alaska of the boys in the back room and a guy with a parka on tending bar, Fortune tersely touches on lot of Alaska in minimum space.
 Gov. Gruening gets a Fortune bow with being described as the most intelligent executive Alaska has ey- CT had and the lrst to try in a thoroughgoing way to cope with AL aska's problems and needs" Tony Dimond gets Fortunes attention for being a lonely voice crying in the wilderness of Washington.
 Almost Human
 Alaskans on the whole are des- cribed:
 Like all frontlersmen, Alaskans are indiYidualists, and they grumble and grouch about the outsiders from Washington who run their affairs, about the oGYernor (appointed by the President) and about Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes, whose name is apt to produce guffaws of annoy ance and wrath. Their territorial statue irks them, yet they have no united desire for statehood. They complain about interference and re- mote control from Washington, and in the same breath ask Washington for more money. Some of their home rule sentiment is genuine-but some of it is not, as Gov. Ernest Gruening discovered when President Roosevelt sent him up to Alaska two years ago."
 Pointing out that the Governors program was defeated in the last Legislature, Fortune says "eYen when he hands out after-dinner cigars at his white colonial man. sion in Juneau, there is uneasiness in the political air. He is no polite ian, no diplomat, and his enemies say he is the worst-hated executive the Territory ever had.
 On Alaska development, Fortune has this to say:
 Development
 "The development of Alaskan re- sources is not going to be accom- plished in a few years. Governor Gruening knows that, but he believes that immediate (after the war; ec- onomic benefit can come in the shape of tourists fro mthe States. Alaska has mountains higher, more rugged than the Alps; Alaskan moose and brown bear are the biggest in the world; and Alaskan trout run up to thirty-six inches Fjords and the midnight sun and live glaciers in Alaska are as exciting as they are in Scandinavian countries, and the Governor believes that better passen- ger ships, better roads, more hotels and lodges would bring enough sightseers and big-game hunters and fishermen to make tourism rival the fish and gold industries. But, even if he is right, there is no place for tourists in wartime Alaska.
 Government bureaus - The Geo. logical Survey, the Fish and Wild life Service, the forest Service, the Office of Indian Affairs, and others are doing what they can with the limited funds, to develop Alaska. Ii isn't enough. The real settlement oi Alaska is going to take long, slow time. The government will have tC do much more thaL 1t has to explore and survey and test the minerals and soils, to plan and encourage settle. ment. Most important of all, it will have to build road to Alaska and many roads in Alaska. Its agencies in Alaska will have to be unified and coordinated, with the Alaskant assured of more political choice anG power and assuming a greater share of the tax burden and greater gov. ernmental responsibility. The res possibility rests on the people of Al aska-and on the people of the T S. Alaska belong to them"
 Hot Spot In Strategy
 As the Bridge to Asia, Alaska is pointed out as a hot spot in U. S strategy, declaring, If the Japanes, should invade and conquer, thu blame will be ours alone. But tn, time has passed when the U. S