(Continued from page four),
comparable to the defensive strength now
in existence in the Hawaiian Islands. Con
siderations of national defense demand
that we have in Alaska at least the facil
ities to accomodate 2,000 airplanes and a
corresponding number of ground troops, as
well as naval bases capable of serving a
large part of our fleet. With these def
ense works in being, the main door of our
house will be locked and guarded against
that mass of robbers and assassins who are
now seeking to dominate the world.
There is one other feature of Alaska
defense that is deserving of equal atten
tion, and that is the need of having an
overland connection by highway between the
United States and the Territory. At tne
present time one cannot travel to Alaska f
by road because for a thousand miles or
more of intervening territory, no road
whatever exists. All transport between
the United States and Alaska is now car
ried on by sea-going vessels or by air
craft, and nearly all of it goes by sea.
It is obvious that as long as we con
trol the Pacific Ocean there will be no
difficulty in supplying by sea our militar
y and naval forces in Alaska, as well as
the civilian population. But, to our mis
fortune, the day may come, and possibly it
is not far distant, when events occuring
in Europe, and the enormous concentration
of wealth and population on the Atlantic
coast, will insistently require that prac
tically all of our existing fleet go to
the Atlantic Ocean and remain there for
some indefinite length of time. It is
further possible, a contingency against
which a good general would attempt to make
provision, that after our fleet is in the
Atlantic, the Panama Canal may be blocked
and thus the whole control of the Pacific,
except for a narrow area adjoining our
shores which can be effectively policed by
land-based airplanes, will be lost to us,
and we shall no longer be able to send our
ships with safety between the United State
and Alaska. It is, therefore, of the
highest necessity that a road be completed
thru Canada into Alaska at once, there to
connect with the meager system of roads in
Alaska, and, at the same time, additional
road connections should be made so as to
give road facilities between the Army Air
Base at Anchorage and the main road of Al
aska, the Richardson Highway. It is no
answer to say that undefc such circumstan
ces sea-going vessels may be safely con
voyed by airplanes over all of the consid
erable distance between the States and An
chorage, or Seward, Alaska, as against pow
erful and numerous surface craft of a po
tential enemy; but if we have a highway to
Alaska, that line of supply can be safely
patrolled and protected by our Army air
force. The expense of building such a
road would be less than the cost of an air
plane carrier; and the road is not only
militarily indispensable, but it would
serve a definite economic need in all the
yoars to come.
Large portions of Alaska, both of the
coast line and of the interior, are unchart
ed, unaurveyed, and all but unknown. The
charts now used for hundreds and hundreds
of miles of our coast are compiled from
sketches made by the early explorers, some
of them more than 150 years ago. Atnthe
present rate of progress, from 25 to 30 [
years will be required to complete the
charting of the Alaska coast. We have ex
cellent reason to believe that the Japanese
are much better informed concerning the
coast line of the Aleutians and the nearby
mainland than we are, and have more accur
ate charts of that region.
Not only is it vital that Alaska be de.
ended in order to protect the United States,
but the Territory is well worth defense on
its own account. Equal in area to all of
the States east of the Mississippi River
and north of a line crawn nunway, eo.e>u ^
west, thru Tennessee and North Carolina,
Alaska contains almost illimitable resour
ces. More than a thousand tons of gold of
■fche value of more than 500 millions of dol
lars have been taken from Alaska, and prob
ably twice as much remains. It has pro
duced more than 200 million dollars worth
of copper. It has given to the economy
of the nation more than 100 million dollars
worth of furs, and more than a billion dol
lars worth of seafood products, principally
the rich and nutritious salmon} and these
resources, altho not now utilized, are cap
able of producing in perpetuity products
worth at lea^t 50 million dollars per an
nuo. Its coal alone is estimated in bil
lions of tons. Alaska produces both plat
inum and tin as well as silver and other
minerals. It contains vast f®30^®3 of
iron. Its oil lands are mostly withdrawn
for the future use of the Nation, And
most valuable of all are the 4-0 million
acres and upwards, of agricultural lands
of the Territory, Capable of producing
enough food to supply millions of people.
The reindeer ranges of thecarctic could
furnish sufficient meat to feed those peo
ple. Its total trade with the United
States amounts annually to more than 100
millions of dollars.
To long fail to establish sufficient de
fensive works in Alaska would be folly -
folly because Alaska is worth a thousand
times the cost of anything necessary for
its defense, and folly because the posses
sion and adequate defense of Alaska are
vital to the safety of the United States.
We are fortunate in one respecx con
cerning Alaska because we have in the Ter
ritory no fifth columnists and no material
for any such treasonable organizations.
The people of Alaska, native born and for
eign born alike, are loyal, aealously so.
Now, as in the World War when Alaska fur
•nished a greater proportion of its citizens
to our armed forces than any state in the
Union, Alaska stands ready and eager to do
its part in the defense of the Nation,