if HE KUSKO TIMES
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■■■■• 29th, 1923, at the postottice at
'n • totna, Alaska, under the Act of
•inch 3, ID's.
Takotim, ilaska, March 11, 193L
d. ASK A DELEGATE TELLS OF
I EK HITOKIAL A L)VAN CE MEN 1
Delegate James Wickersham, in
is address at the dedication of Alas
a'f new Capitol Building, said, in
•an, as follows:
Whatever criticism visiting: Con
gressional com; 'ttees may make with
regard to the development of Alaska,
.ve who have resided here for many
/ears and given fair attention to the
.changes in our government and the
reneral increase in our natural
vealth have clearly observed the con
tain, if slow, growth in both. The
Organic Act of August 12, 1924, se
cured by the people of our Territory
iiifter >ong travail, provided (1) that
he former unorganized region pur
based by the United States from
Russia, by the Treaty of March 30,
-S6.7, : rand known as Alaska, shall
/e and constitute the Territory of
\laska”; (2) “that the capital of the
territory shall be at the city of Ju
au, and the seat of government
rsrall be maintained there”; (3) it
icreatod an elective form of Territo
,rail Legislature wit hextensive pow
ers of local self-government, and (4)
ipaved the woy for this evening’s ded
ication of the Capitol of Alaska.
Ihese successful labors of our citi
zens constitute real and permanent
growth in good government, under
he most adverse circumstances, and
•jmonstrate that they are not dor
mant, but are ever active in pressing
>r better government in the way our
thers trod, in accordance with the
i in, iples of the Declaration of Inde
ndenee and the Constitution of the
•ited States. Nine sessions of the
' isku Legislature have met in the
pitol City, and conducted public
usiness in rented halls. The tenth
session will meet on the first Monday
March in the permanent legisla
e halls provided in this Capitol
yuilding. That is real Alaska pro
ress after the true American type.
In recent years Congress entered
n a limited system of internal im
provements in Alaska in aid of the
leve >ment of territorial govern
| gent .*nd the natural resources of
the C ' mtry. It authorized the con
sideration of a government-owned
and operated railroad from an all
‘he-y«. ar-open harbor at Seward,
through the Matanuska and Healy
♦River coal fields to the Fairbanks
gold fields, at a cost of $70,000,000.
Recently the Secretary of the Treas
ury caused plans and estimates to be
made and set apart the funds neces
sary to construct a general-use build
ing at Fairbanks, authorized by the
Pub; e Building Act of August 1,
1914 (33 Stat. L. 611), to cost $400,
000. The War Department will spend
this year for Alaska harbor improve
ments, $272,000 for the Ketchikan
badn, $85,000 for the Seward break
water, and $18,900 for the Port Alex
ander harbor work, while the im
prove ments of the Nome harbor, to
; c st $253,000, is to corns in two.years.
|lhe Alaska Road Commission this
year a million dollars for general
highway work in Northern and West
ern Alaska, and in addition the sum
of $130,COO on roads in the Mt. Mc
Ki ey National Park. The Bureau
f 1 ubl . Roads, under the Agricul
tural eDpartment, will spend out of
Forest Reserve funds for highways in
1931, $50,000 at Ketchikan, $140,0000
near Juneau, $45,000 at Seward, $40,
( 00 at Wrangell, $00,000 at Skagway,
$15,000 at Yakutat, S25.000 at Kako,
$30,000 at Moose Pass, $10,000 at
Craig, S2„.000 at Klawak, and $75,
000 at Petersburg, a total of $510,000,
while the Forest Service will spend
$191,000 in its separate work. The
total to be expended for construction
of highways, roads and trails in 1931
amounts to $1,670,000, not .nd uding
the appropriations yet to be made by
the Legislature of Alaska. Nor are
the native schools forgotten. The Bu
reau of Education will erect this year
six new school buildings in the North
ern part ,.f the Territory at a cost of
$36,000; three new hospitals to cost
3 5 . ; t elisions to 14 other school
eu..d.ngs to cost $110,000; an Ind an
boys’ uii.jg school at Shoemaker
I... , . to cost $100,000, and
he_ .e- .s t La ing $ ,125,000. Pu*>
.. funis to the amount of about $5,
uet',000 wi.j thus ze expended in
\laska In 1931, very largely for pub
lic highways.
And v by not? Five million dollars
amtun is a goodly sum of money,
but a m.re pittance in comparison
with what the United States expends
annua.ly in the States ior similar
work—in States where there *s local
power and wealth to con truct roads
and -other improvements by taration
up. n privately owned property be
.cn .ng to those who own both the
pi , v .... the reals, and where the
-Jmtwu o.at^s owns but little. In
A.asa_, ...e United Status owns 98
per cent of ail the lands, and all the
ra Iroaui, buildings and other prop
erty constructed by it, and reserves
to its own use for future sale ail the
coa , oil and other wealth from the
pubhc lands, from which it wi.l de
lete great profit. The snn-.il sum it
.’-rents in A.aska, improvi. g its own
properties, is much less than one-half
of ihe annual gold output Alaska
mines, send to the Government mints
f r the support of the nation’s gold
standard. I’rom January 1, 1880, to
December 31, 1930, a period of fifty
years, Alaska r- mined and shipped to!
me Ui .ted S.-.-s the sum of $6 2,
S06,o50 in gold, copper and other j
i lin eals. There are 600 months in •
5. years. Alaska miners produced
.- 01 e tr.an a million dollars of gold I
and copper per month during that 50-!
year period. The mineral industry
u Alaska is yet in its infancy and is f
constantly growing.
As great a sum as that half-cen- {
tury output of minerals amounts to, ■
die value of Alaska fish shipped to
the United States in half that period
exceeds it. From 1906 to 1930, both
included, a period of 25 years, Alaska
fishermen caught, prepared and ship
ped to the United States markets fish
to the amount of $743,975,738—an
annual production of $30,000,000.
From the reports of the Governor and
Collector of Customs, we are in
formed that the that the total pro
duction of Alaska fish, furs and min
eials exported to the United United
States since 1867 amounts to the sum
A SI,762,968,496.
Alaska Production Since 1867.
d a and fur products, ‘
id A.' 19.3 ..$ 323,042,290
Furs, 1906-1930 . 49,589,009
Fish, 1996-1920 . 843,975,738
Fish and fur, 1904 . 9,514,663
Minerals, 1880-1930 . 628,806,856
Total . $1,762,968,496
Not only has Alaska produced and
exported that great wealth to the
United States, and enriched the Pa
cific coast cities thereby, but her peo
ple have purchased from the United
States, principally from Seattle, Port
and and San Francisco, and import-J
cd into Alaska, from 1867 to date,;
more than $900,000,000 worth of mer-!
chandise of all kinds. Add Alaska's:
total production of wealth to her:
total purchase of merchandise—our
total exports to, and our total im
ports from, the United States—
$1,762,968,490—total exports
907,873,941—total imports
$2,670,842,437—total trade
and we have the total sum of Alas
ka’s past trade value with United
States merchants and manufacturers
since 1867—more than two and a half
bi.lion dollars! A huge sum to have
been won by a few thousand pioneers
from an inhospitable wilderness in
the first half century of trade with
the mother country. It is, however,
but a mere trickle .to the great
stream of wealth which will flow into
the markets of the United States
from Alaska when our natural re
sources shall be more fully located
and developed by an increasing num
ber of our people who will follow hs
into the Northern Territory, armed
with better trade facilities and aided
. y wiser and more generods govern
ment.
ccao aic itum wikU ilML, tUUT
.a., nt a ins with minerals, our coastal
is:ands with forests awaiting the
mining pulp makers, our interior val
leys with unsettled agricultural lands
equal in area and productivity to
those of Scandinavia. Our people are
brave and hardy, filled with loyalty
to American ideals and love for con
stitutional government, and in time
will adopt a state constitution and se
cure the admission of the State of
Alaska into the Union of the United
States. We hail the completion of
tiiis beautiful Capitol, and the prom
e of higher development in Amer
.can government and trade in our
_ iiosen homeland—Alaska.
At Ketchikan the First National
i unk has deposits in excess of $800,
000. and the Miners & Merchants
- a k in excess of $900,000.
It Did Not Matter.
V. hen Coolidge was inaugurated he
m.ol.need that he womd retain Dr.
Sawyer in the White House as presi-'
-eniial physician. This disturbed
many of his Massachusetts friends
who had heard stories that the old
uoctor tiai not do so well in diagnos- .
ing Harding’s fatal illness. One of ,
hem was delegated to call on the
President and speak a word of warn- ;
ing.
“I see,” he said to Coolidge, “you ,
have retained Dr. Sawyer.”
“Yes,” said the future columnist,
“none of us ever get sick.”
•MM*—13SR39
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