newsprint factories in South
east Alaska—which appeared in
The Empire Monday—is not dis
couraging although it would be
idle to deny that It came as a
disappointment to Alaskans
generally. His conclusion was,
briefly, that Mr. George T. Cam
eron and his associates remain
fixed, in their determination to
develop what is officially known
as the Thane Pulp Timber Unit
of Tongass National Forest and
construct their manufacturing
plant at or near Juneau; and
that the Zellerbach interests
are going ahead with their plans
for a similar development in the
vicinity of Ketchikan.
The hope had been fervent
that both of these projects
v/ould be initiated this year;
that crews would be put in the
field to begin the construction
of tunnels, dams, power trans
mission lines and power plants
which go into the complete hy
dro-electric development that
will furnish power for the manu
factories. Lack of finances, due
to current depression, the un
favorable market prevailing for
pulp and newsprint, were fac
tors too significant to be ignored,
and have resulted in delaying
the inception of both projects.
There is, however, much that
is encouraging about Mr. Hein
tzleman’s statement of condi
tions. The Federal Power Com
mission has granted the neces
sary licenses for power develop
ment. The United Slates Forest
Service has written a contract
for the sale of timber from
which raw materials will bo a
vailable. And both of these are
entirely satisfactory to the in
terests committed to the en
terprise. There is not a single
obstacle in the way of consum
mating the deals. Every hitch
lias been eliminated in the ne^
gctiations which were recently
ended in San Francisco.
The Cameron-Chandler group,
and the Zellerbachs, only await
a favorable turn in current eco
nomic, business and financial
conditions. International and
national authorities are general
ly agreed that the bottom of the
trough of depression has been
reached. Between the low point
and a definite upturn, there is
always a period of convalescence.
No one has yet been bold enough
to predict its duration, but it is
evident that the beginning of the
period of recuperation cannot be
indefinitely delayed. Those in
terested in the local project are
not going to wait for prosperity
ro return to normal, but will
proceed with their construction
programs as soon as the upward
trend has been definitely estab
lished.—Juneau Empire.
Free or Pampered
Citizenship for
Alaskans- Which
From Cordova comes a protest
originating with the Mining
Committee of the Cordova
Chamber of Commerce against
the withdrawal by President
Hoover, of 625 square miles of
the public domain in the Porcu
pine district for an Indian re
servation. According to the terms
of the executive order, all miner
als, oil, coal, etc., in this area are
reserved to the government of
the United States to be administ
ered by the Department of the
Interior. (According to a recent
statement by Ernest Walker
Sawyer, mining is not prohibit
ed). The land is not being given
to the Indians—they are not
permitted to own it or any part
of it. All that is expected of them
is that they forsake their citizen
ship and all their efforts at self
help, social, moral, political and
financial betterment, move in
side the fence and remain there
as incompetent wards of the
present government in the land
where their fathers were free
men. There a paternalistic gov
erment will take them under its
all-protecting(?) wing and care
fully guard them and shield
them from all the buffeting of
the winds of chance, from all
need for taking thought for the
morrow, or any incentive for re
sponsible management of their
own affairs. In such an encour
aging environment and whole
some atmosphere where youth
may be spent in idleness with
old age secure, they are expected
to develop, quite contrary to
every precedent of history, not
into helpless hothouse gerani
ums, but into sturdy oaks and
pines ready and able to serve
the world and its needs! And
the children who are to be rear
ed cn this reservation, shielded
from every contact with the
sterner realities of life,—by what
strange process of education
shall be fitted to accept respon
sible citizenship in the common
wealth we strive to build in Alas
ka? Segregated and kept from
associating with those who
choose the more genuine satis
faction of wringing from a hard
and stubborn world by their own
efforts independence for them
selves and their children, how
under such circumstances can
they ever realize that the whole
world honors and respects the
man who dares to hold up his
chin and say his soul is his own
but despises him who willingly
and needlessly begs for a com
petence or accepts it as a dole
from others?
Within the memory of men
still in their prime, the reserva
tion system of dealing with the
so-called “Indian problem” has
grown from a few employees and
the appropriations of a few thou
sands of dollars to over five
thousand employees in the In
dian Bureau and an appropria
tion of $24,000,000. And what are
the fruits of it all? In spite of
the crimes that have been com
mitted against him, the Indian
has survived. Like Israelites be