200 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



all, the industry when established will be upon a permanent basis, 

 each mill being assured a perpetual local supply oi raw material at 

 a reasonable price. The national forest contract offered is entirely 

 acceptable to experienced paper manufacturers, who have no fault 

 to find with the terms of sale established by the Government. 



Meanwhile 86 per cent of the lumber used in Alaska is cut from the 

 Government forests, and Sitka spruce from the Tongass National 

 Forest is finding an outlet in the markets of the world. The sawmill 

 at Wrangell during the past summer made a shipment of 45,000 feet 

 board measure of Sitka spruce for the London market, and another lot 

 of 450,000 feet board measure was shipped from Wrangell through 

 Prince Rupert to eastern points. During the latter part of August and 

 September a 5-masted schooner was loaded at Ketchikan, Alaska, with 

 a cargo of approximately 1,800,000 feet of spruce for the Australian 

 market and 3,000,000 feet more will be shipped in December from the 

 same mill. This lumber M'as all cut and manufactured locally from 

 timber purchased from the Tongass National Forest. Thus the indus- 

 tries developed by this great national forest are ma-king a place for 

 Alaska timber in the general lumber markets, furnishing labor to the 

 residents of Alaska, and bringing outside capital into our northern 

 ports. 



The roads which are being constructed in the national forests in 

 cooperation with the Bureau of Public lloads are proving a great 

 factor in improvmg business and living conditions in southeastern 

 Alaska. During the past a number of roads were extended out from 

 the chief towns in the forest. The result in travel and in business 

 and home development has been amazing. In some cases the road 

 has been scarcely completed before every foot of frontage on each 

 side of the highway has been taken up in suburban lots and neat and 

 comfortable homes have been erected. Communities are being 

 literally transformed in this way and their desirability for year-long 

 residence greatly increased. The result is a more contented and 

 permanent local population. 



That the policies and activities of the Department of Agriculture 

 have won the approval and support of the people living in and near 

 the Alaska forests is becoming every day more evident. The encour- 

 agement and assistance given in building up an export lumber trade, 

 the basic work going forward for the establishment of the pulp and 

 paper industry, and the large expenditures which are being made on 

 forest roads, together with a decentralized local" administration, are 

 contributing largely to the growth and prosperity of the Territory. 



It is becoming evident that the solution of the Alaska problem is 

 local self-government. The people of the Territory who come in 

 contact with the national forests are thoroughly satisfied with the 

 existing form of administration and control of these properties. 

 Their criticisms of Federal red tape are not usually directed against 

 the bureaus of this department. The counsel and assistance of our 

 scientific bureaus are welcomed. Apparently what the people of 

 Alaska want is not the power to run the Government's business or 

 property in Alaska but power to run their own business. They do 

 not object to the two national forests in Alaska being administered 

 just as national forests are administered elsewhere, but they want to 

 make their own laws, levy their own taxes, and spend their own 

 public money just as do the people in the States. In short, what 



