WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALASKA 



207 



ducing animals, one of the great food sources of the United 

 States. In her vast forests lies a practical solution of our 

 paper shortage. The United States has painstakingly, by 

 many years of effort, built up national policies for the use 

 of publicly owned timber, publicly owned sources of food, 

 coal and oil resources, water power, and migratory birds, 

 from the standpoint of public welfare in the long run. 

 It has built up specialized organizations handling these 

 varied resources with the best technical experience and 

 skill the country affords. Should it now, by one stroke, 

 cut off a vast region containing one-sixth of our total 

 area from the uniform and consistent application of these 



sary because the same results can be accomplished by a 

 decentralized administration of national affairs in Alaska. 

 It is dangerous because it means a partial breaking up of ' 

 the effective and uniform execution of vital public policies 

 for dealing with natural resources. Let us rather de- 

 velop Alaska in harmony with American policy at all 

 points. Make her a State as soon as she is qualified. 

 Give her as rapidly as may be the local powers that go 

 with Statehood. At the same time handle permanent 

 national interests in Alaska as they are handled elsewhere, 

 both during her territorial apprenticeship and after she 

 becomes a State, preserving the same policies and uni- 



A SCENE ALONG THE ALASKAN COAST LINE 



The ocean trip to Alaska is one of constantly changing scene and there is so much worth seeing that one begrudges the hours of darkness 

 and of sleep. This bit of scenic wonderland is on the southern coast of the territory. 



public policies by the specialized organizations created 

 for the very purpose of their accomplishment? I think 

 not. And from the standpoint of Alaska herself, in order 

 to bring about the most effective development of her 

 resources, it would be unwise to cut her off from the 

 direct application of the energies and from the technical 

 and financial resources of several great Federal organi- 

 zations which are experts in doing the very things that 

 Alaska needs to have done. 



The Development Board plan for Alaska is unneces- 



form direction but with localized administrative ma- 

 chinery adapted to Alaska's isolation. Let us not cut 

 Alaska off from the broad national effort to make the 

 best use of natural sources of wealth, by introducing a 

 separate scheme which inevitably will be out of harmony 

 with the public policies toward these resources as a whole. 

 Nor is there, in this issue, any real conflict between the 

 interests of Alaska and of the American public. A sim- 

 ple and obvious course is open which will meet the 

 needs of both. 



