Alaskan Dilemma

In departing from Alaska it was generally agreed that the President and the officers of the Cabinet who accompanied him had not found a definite solution for the Territory's problems. These problems are: too much interference from Washington and not enough regulation; too much capitalism and not enough capital. In each case it is very difficult to differentiate between the true and the false.

Governor Scott Cardelle Bone, formerly a prominent editor in Washington, D. C., and in Seattle, Wash., later Director of Publicity for the Republican National Committee, has definite ideas as to how the Territory can be developed. Others are more or less opposed to his point of view. He wants more authority for the officers of the Alaskan Government and more capital to develop the Territory's resources. Some Alaskans prefer more Washington control, which (if suffering from the red tape and the ignorance of distance) is at least likely to be impartial. As for capital, they fear its invasion, because of the examples of the Guggenheims in the mines and railroads, and the canners in the fisheries, both of which, they claim, have been entirely selfish and bad for the Territory.

The Alaskans expect much from Secretary Hoover, who was very eagerly received everywhere he went. He has a tentative plan for the appointment of resident secretaries of each Department of the Cabinet to handle Alaskan affairs on the spot (TIME, July 23). He is also expected to recommend to the President the creation of a fish preserve in southeastern Alaska, where otherwise the salmon fisheries, the chief industry of the Territory, will soon be destroyed by the extinction of the fish.

The decrease of population in the Territory is traceable to two sources:

1) the decrease of easily mined gold;

2) the War, which attracted away many young men who never returned. If the salmon fisheries were ruined the population would still further decrease. The opening up of the mines and forest resources of the Territory demands capital in large amounts. Alaska is not a land of opportunity for the man without capital. But to attract capital it will be necessary to relax Government regulation.