UNLOCKING ALASKA 



473 



HERD OF REINDEER. 

 IT IS PREDICTED THAT THESE ANIMALS WILL BE THE SOURCE OF MUCH OF THE WEALTH OF ALASKA. 





tic more in Alaska than keep a few po- 

 licemen stationed at closed doors, to 

 prevent breaking and entering. Now 

 that we are to open the doors, we need 

 more than a police force. Mineral and 

 other resources must be opened to use ; 

 the lands must be opened to settlement. 

 There must be such administration of 

 the laws as will give prompt and ready 

 assistance, unhampered by red tape and 

 unnecessary delays, to honest settlers, 

 while protecting fully the rights of the 

 nation against monopoly, fraud and 

 waste. 



"We are to encourage the building of 

 industries and commerce, and the mak- 

 ing of homes and farms, in the new 

 territory. To do this, we must plan and 

 build systems of roads and trails, to 

 connect the railroads, the seaports, 

 towns and farms. We must plan the 

 location of towns and provide facilities 

 for settlement. Fuel and power must 

 be made available for domestic and in- 

 dustrial uses. Revenues must be pro- 

 vided without discouragement to settle- 

 ment and industry, and there should be 

 no bar to efforts for simplifying and 

 bettering taxation methods. 



"There must be new and simple ma- 

 chinery for the successful working out 

 of this program. * * * The new 

 policy is not to invite a few men to ex- 



ploit the cream of Alaska's riches, but 

 to develop all the resources and possi- 

 bilities of the territory harmoniously, 

 for the best interests of both the people 

 who go to Alaska, and the people of the 

 United States who own this great public 

 domain. 



"Alaska's problems are largely pe- 

 culiar to Alaska. Our present system 

 of government there is heterologous. 

 Instead of one government in Alaska 

 we have a number, interlocked, over- 

 lapped, cumbersome and confusing. 



"There is a government of the for- 

 ests, a government of the fisheries, one 

 of the reindeer and natives, another of 

 the cables and telegraphs. There is a 

 government for certain public lands and 

 forests, another for other lands and for- 

 ests. Each of these governments is in- 

 tent upon its own particular business, 

 jealous of its own success and preroga- 

 tive, and all are more or less unrelated 

 and independent in their operation. Ex- 

 perience has demonstrated that efficient 

 administration is best secured by cen- 

 tralizing responsibility and authority in 

 the hands of a few men, who can be 

 held to strict accountability for the re- 

 sults of their actions. The propo>e<l 

 Development Board for Alaska follo\\> 

 this modern and well-tested plan for 

 securing efficient administration." 



