ANNUAL REPORT OF
ALASKA’S GOVERNOR
Alaska iicoiIh capital. Alaska iuviIm
people. Its natural advantages an*
obvious Its resources are apparent
anil real Its opportunities are in*
v I tin k and manifold
Hut a chaotic system of govern
ment him repelled capital and re
tarded growth and population
Liberalized laws for Alaska and
more flexible rule, and regulations
under sttcii laws, with a concentra
tion of authority an I responsibility
and an administration coordinated
mid brought closer home, are clearly
needed to speed the progn ; and de
velopment of the Territory
Far removed from the seat of Fed
eral (ioverntneut, aloof, comparative
ly unknown, save for its scenery and
its gold. Alaska has bidd n In vain
lor fair recognition and Just treat
men! for the fifty-odd years since its
purchase from Russia for the modest
sum of $7,200,000.
Kvery (lovernor ot Alaska has pre
sented its needs, always in forceful
and often in picturesque terms, and
some of these needs have been met
through piecemeal legi lation. Rut
the paramount need of a coherent,
constructive, upbuilding Federal pol
icy for Alaska lias gone unheeded
Thus, after more than half a contur>
the victim of inattention at
Washington and the prey of vision
ies have come to he entrusted largely
to multitudinous, over-lapplttg bu
reaus, admirable anil efficient in
their personnel, hut confusing and
complicating in their operation.
Individual initiative, which is es
sentinl to substantial development
in any country or community, new
er old. has been halted and the
pioneer rplrit maimed Alaska has
made progress slowly under these
heavy handicaps.
The construction of the Govern
mout Railroad from the const to the
a project now approaching comple
tion. should mark nu epoch in Al
aska's history , It should mean the
actual opening up of the Territory
should mean the bringing of Alaska
into easier reach and closer touch
with the world It should mean that
obstacles which hn\e hiterto baf
fled the ingenuity ot man and seem
ed impossible «o surmount will he
overcome. It should mean to Alaska
what the transcontinental lines in
the nineteenth century meant to
the country west of the Rocky
Mountains. It should mean an 1
mark the tlrst step in the building
of an empire And it will mean all
this and more, to the greatness and
glory of America, if the Government
at Washington will now proceed to
supplement this great project by
kindred interests, enterprise and ac
tivity in other directions.
Unfortunately, owing to the in
tervention of the World War. gov
ernmental attention was distracted
from Alaska and there was a failure
to evolve and put into effect con
currently with the buildtnr of *.h»*
railroad comprehensive policies i t
general expansion and development
The completion of the enterprise
therefore, finds Alaska iimuvpAivd to
turn the railroad at once to its
•he purpose intended bv it - builder
is to be attained, if the generous in
vestment :\ .t homed by Congress is
to be justified in full measure, the
inauguration of practical, business
like policies for the Territory that
will appeal to capital and peopl
cannot now be delayed
This governmental railroad "• 1
pay not In immediate or earlv
financial returns or even interest
upon th«' investment, but surely an !
substantially In the ultimate benefits
which will be derived both to the
Territory and the nation How soon
it will pay and demonstrate the wis
dom of its cost of fifty millions and
wort will depend upon how wisely
and far-sightedy the Government
henceforth deals with this vast do
main in the northland
Manifestly, a consolidation of
bureaus under one department head
at Washington, as contemplated in
pending legislation, is a logical in
•tial step toward the ends desired
Administration at long range is
teduui'. inefficient and unsatisfact
v \ at the very best Washington
i> eight da vs distant from Juneau bv
«losest mail connection In average
• time consumed in communication,
by wire, the national and Ter
• loria: capitals are 'a fortnight
« An expeditions administra
tor affairs necessarily becomes
: ssib-e Hence it is not only ad
v (sable. but absolutely necessary,
with I he proponed consolidation of
burr ails under one directing fiend, to
administer the nffnirs of Alaska in
Alaska to the fullest extent consist
ent with continued governmental
supervision.
Kven with the administration of
its affairs brought closer home, the
difficulties will still be great be
cause of the magnitude of the Ter
ritory and its widely divergent in
terests. For example, Nome is even
I farther removed from Juneau, in
point of time, than is Washington,
I and Fairbanks, the terminus of the
railroad in the interior, is also far
away The colossal sixe of Alaska
points conclusively to a division of
the domain, in due course of time,
I into two or more territories, prelim
inary to statehood. Under present
I conditions, in the very nature of
i things, administration is and will
continue to be beset with delays and
difficulties. In view of the short
ness of the season, especially in the
northernmost part of the Territory
ami the Interior, such delays often
entail actual hardships. Where red
tape is encountered at every turn,
through divided and ill-defined au
thority. these hardships are inten
Obstructions met by capital seek
ing in\eminent and by people in
quest of homesteads plainly account
for tin slow development of the Ter
ritory These obstacles have been
lessened somewhat in recent years,
but by no means removed.
Capital ami people ired only a
chance— a fair chance—to do their
part in the development of Alaska
ftoth are entitled i * have the pnrh
made easier than it has i ver been in
A oouu.r, that, unopened and
natural resources wealth approxi
mating a billion dollars, certainly is
a country worth looking after and
engaging the constructive attention
of the Government
Alaska s mineral wealth is a dem
onstrated fact Its Incomparable tlsh
t»rios are too well understood to bo
gainsaid in any quarter Its forests
offer undisputed opportunites for
wood pulp enterprises that will holp
to solve an urgent problem of the
tiny ami generation Its coal a mi oil
tieposits are abundantly in evidenr v :
These resources are so plain that
Hut the great area of fertile lan l
in the interior now awaiting home-1
'tenders and home-makers is little
realised or understood. The oft
repeated assertion that then' are
100.000 square miles of land in Al
aska susceptible of agricultural de
velopment involves no hyperbole of
statement The Government Rail
road reaches the best of this area in
the Susitna. MatanusKa and Tanana
valleys Once industries are started
through the investment of capital,
and a population created, these fer
i tile lands will offer exceptional op
portunities to settlers.
[ Colonisation plans should now bo
[worked out and inducements offered
to people to take up homesteads.
| The agricultural lands of Alaska
j can easily supply the needs of a
million people, probably three mil
I lions Wheat growing is no longer
; an experiment It is a demonstrated
; fact A flouring mill is in success
ful operation at Fairbanks Home
■ steaders in the interior are today
earning livelihoods out of the soil.
Geueral farming only awaits a con
suming public and accessibility to
Inducements to settlement must be
| offered to would-be settlers, just as
inducements to investment must be
i offered to capital
Alaska's hand has seemed to be
raised against both settlers and capi
; talists in the past decade, owing to
I restrictive regulations and cumber
some administrative methods and
i machinery
! Or Alfred brooks, the eminent
geologist, who knows Alaska and has
j rendered great service to Alaska, has
well said You cannot get men to
face the hardships of treaties life
( - aless there tv reasonable assurance
of large financial reward Similarly,
capital will not invest in pior.eer en
terprises unless there be hope of
’ large profits. If Alaska is to make
industrial advances every encour
adement must be giver, to the settler
and capitalist."
Hitherto the difficulties encount
ered have Ken discouraging and dis
hbartering ir. the extreme to settler
aad capitalist alike
The most premising s;c~
Hme» today for Alaska ia the awak
ened interest in Washington in the
opening of this rich domain and the
expressed determination in both the
Kxecutlve and Legislative depart
ments of the Government to coor
dinate and simplify the methods and
system of administration and meet
the manifest needs of the Territory.
Surely it was never intended that
the rich natural resources of Alaska
should be unused. Nature never
intended it so. The gold and silver
and other precioi s metals, and coal
and oil. clearly are intended for the
use and benefit of emnkind. So. too,
the countless acres of untiled soil.
The fact that more than half a cen
tury has elapsed since the purchase
of the Territory with so little done
toward developing it and making
its resources available for the public
good is past understanding to those
who know and comprehend Alaska's
richness. Now. with the completion
of the Government Railroad, a sys
tematic course of development be
comes doubly incumbent It is the
part of wisdom and the part of actual
Following the consolidation under
one directing bead at Washington of
the many bureaus whose activities
reach Alaska, which, it ia assumed,
will be brought about by early Con
gressional enactment, it is thorough
ly advisable that a representative1
of each of these essential bureaus be
stationed in Alaska and empowered,
to act upon matters under their jur-,
isdiction which constantly arise, i
Juneau should be the executive
heudquartera of these neeessarv
agencies, if administration business
is to be expedited and delays
avoided. The annual visitations of
bureau officials to Alaska to famil
iarize themselves with conditions and
make reports are not conducive to
the dispatch of business and a
satisfactory administration of affairs,
nor are they conducive to economy
Most of them are unnecessary and
unprofitable Too often they partake
merely of the nature of holiday
trips, not to call them junkets, with
only a prefunctory inspection of con
ditions and a chronicling of facts
already well known. The money that
may be saved by curtailing useless
trips of bureau officials across the
continent and along the shores of
live offices in Juneau and make for
action and results. Similarly, and
tor like reason, officials who deal
with Alaska affairs from headquart
ers in Seattle and Portland should
be transferred to Juneau. In short,
the business of Alaska should be
conducted in Alaska to the fullest
tinned governmental supervision at
Washington.
Two governmental agencies in Al
aska— the Engineering Commission,
which is building the railroad, and
the Alaska Rond Commission, which
is constructing roads and trails, are
functioning smoothly, efficiently and
successfully These are free-handed
and simply organized, having big
work to do. they are doing it in a
practical, business-like way. unob
structed by slow circumlocution and
long rauge direction, and unhamp
ered save when waiting upon appro
priations. The achievements of these
organizations in pioneer development
bespeak eloquently the* wisdom of
further centering and centralizing
authority and responsibility in
Coordination cannot be effected at
long range and with bureaus operat
ing from various centers, especially
outside of Alaska
should be held, not in Seattle, or
Portland, or San Francisco, but in
Juneau Then citiiens of Alaska and
the fishermen themselves, as well as
the cannery men and bureau offic
ials. would have opportunity to be
heard Moreover, such an arrange
ment would mean that authorixed
representatives of the great canning
industry would necessarily be within
reach, whereas now. under a chaotic
system, the management of such in
dustry is directed largely from a dis
tance and the responsible heads
thereof are far removed
Experience covering many yea»*s
prove* beyond preadventure that Al
aska's problems are not to be solved
through the appointment of commis
sions to study the Territorial needs
and make recommendations thereon.
Under every administration some
thing has been done in that line, but
the problems h\ve remained un
solved The Interdepartmental Com
mittee. the most recently created
agency of relief, is a capable organ
nation of practical men and has
made some useful suggestions and
recommendations, but its member
ship :s scattered and it is withoat
power toagive potency to its ideas
Hence its contribution to the solu
tion of Alaska's problems is nega
tive Its predecessor, the Alaska Ad
visory Committee, set forth the Ter
ritory's needs in illuminating and
convincing manner, together with
most valuable recommendations Bet
it availed naught.
Alaska's needs long ago became *
threadbare subject of discussion.
Assuredly the time has now come
to substitute action for discussion,
to turn words into deeds and t^ stop
theorising and recommending and
get to work. The concentration of
authority and responsibility in one
department at Washington, with a
centralization of administrative pow
ers in Alaska, will be a direct and
decisive slop toward the solution of
Alasku's problems.
Transportation.
Vital and urgent is the problem of
transportation. The completion of
the Government Railroad does not
solve It. but only imikes its solution j
the more vital and urgent.
Separated by foreign land, as well
as by water, from the United States,
adequate steamship transportation
and equitable ocean rates are the
necessary prerequisites to the suc
cessful operation of the railroad and
the development of the Territory.
Steamship and rail nre equally es
sential and mutually dependent
Utilities. Alaska cannot prosper and
progress without either. The groat
domain.its unparalleled resources yet
scarcely touched, must remain large
ly a waste and wilderness until the
twin problem of water and land
transportation is rightly solved.
The building of roads and trails is
being pushed rapidly by the Alaska
Road Commission, with Territorial
cooperation. This governmental
agency is producing actual and en
during results and keeping pace
with railroad building. It is work
ing under a comprehensive system,
with a definite programme of devel
opment ahead; and. in the consoli
dation of bureaus, or transfer of'
authority, its work should not be
interrupted or its appropriations
curtailed. Every dollar invested in
road and trail building will yield
handsome returns, assuming always
that Alaska's need of capital and of
people is to be met.
A railroad through a country un
opened by roads and trails obviously
would never pay.
Roads and roads and still more
roads, all through the Territory,
must, therefore, constitute a major
part of the general policy of Alaska's
development. Happily this fact, in
late years, has not been overlooked
or neglected. The highway from
Valdez and Chitina to Fairbanks. *
now traversed by automobile, and j
to be extended to Circle, will be
arteries, to the railroad itself when
industry and population are irtvited
ami permitted to thrive, and real de
velopment get's under way. Exist
ing freight rates to and from the out
side world, however, are too high to
permit the average prospector or in
vestor to reach aud utilize these
roads and trails, save in a limited
rnree steamsnip cumpame».
American and one Canadian, serve
the Alaskan trade as common car
riers. Iu the summer season they
are usually taxed to their full ca
pacities and often beyond. Sched
ules. except on the shorter run by
the inside passage, are irregular and
difficult to maintain. The Canadian
line is devoted primarily to tourist
travel and trade with the Yukon
Territory, whereas American vessels
sail to the westward, one of them
calling at Kodiak, and engage in
general business which reaches its
peak in midsummer and is light in
the winter. In addition to these
three lines, countless private ships,
not common carriers, operate along
the coast, carrying cargoes to and
from the canning plants and fishing
waters and other industries. Thus
the business as a whole is split and
widely distributed. Freight rates are
admittedly high and become pro
hibitively high to points in the In
terior. It is claimed that they ar*»
relatively no higher, considering dis
tances. than freight rates in the
States which reached an abnormal
level during the war and have since
been largely maintained.
Complaint of discrimination
against Alaska is sometimes voiced.
! but rate sheets for coastwise traffic
disclose no evidence of this. Carry
I irr charges from Seattle to Cali
j fornia ports are practically on' the
same basis as those from Seattle to
Alaska ports. Nevertheless. rates
are admittedly high and with long
hauls into the interior, are positively
oppressive.
That the situation calls for rem
i edy and relief, no one seriously wiU
deny. Industry in Alaska cannot
! thrive under existing transportation
conditions. This is as clear as day.
And the situation as a whole threat
! ens to begome all the more acute
with the impending suspension of
river boats on the Yukon, incident to
j i he opening of the interior by
; raf! and highway from the southern
coast and the consequent diversion
A practical solution o? this water
' Transportation problem of Alaska ap
parently has not been reached, a!
I though It has engaged the attention
i ot practical minds for months. The
Alaska Advisory Committee as a step i
j toward a solution, proposed a merger
of the two American steamship com
panies in order to reduce the heavy
overhead expenses of management ■
and operation, and control as to
rates by the United States Shipping
Board. This proposition provoked
immediate opposition' on the theorv
that removal of competition would
tend to aggravate rather than relieve
the situation. A Territorial Shipping
Board, created in 1919, for an ex
haustive study of conditions and
hearings, evolved through its counsel
a plan to meet the emergencies by a
tonnage tax on all vessels, privately
owned and coiflmon carriers alike,
the fund derived therefrom to be
used iu the creation and support of
a mosquito fleet id inside passage
waters, thus relieving the bigger
ships from the necessity of unprofit
able calls at smaller ports, but pro
viding for these much-needed facili
ties of local transportation and in
creased mail service. Such a mos
quito fleet unquestionably would
simplify the situation and contribute
largely to the solution of the general
transportation problem. But the
plan proposed, regardless of the
practical merits it possessed, met
with no general favor and at the en
suing session of the Legislature the
Territorial Shipping Board was
abolished. And so no progress has
been made toward the solution of
Alaska's transportation problem,
either through Federal or Territorial
agencies.
To the casual student of the
situation the solution is simple in
deed. It involves no difficulties
whatever and may be solved in a
jiffy. Every American port today
presents the spectacle of idle vessels
of the United States Shipping Hoard,
out of commission and going to
waste. Why not. it is asked, put
some of these on the Alaska runs
aud have an end to high rates and
kindred difficulties? It is simplic
ity itself, this solution, on its face,
but the cost of it and how it would
work out ultimately constitute a
problem, not for the casual student,
but for practical, economic and con
structive minds. If government op
erated steamship lines served to put
established companies out of busi
ness. which might naturally happen,
since the aggregate of Alaska's ton
nage is today not of vast magnitude,
it is conceivable that the proposed
and, in the end. might make the
dtuation worse. Certainly govern
ment operated railroads during nnd
duced rates or improved service.
IJuite the contrary. The thought of
high-knotted, direct-going steam
ships plying between westward Alas
kan ports and Seattle, and San Fran
riseo—a Twentieth Century line—is
possible of ultimate realization, but
manifestly cannot be realized until
tonnage has been created by the de
velopment of. the Territory.
Unless Congress is ready to sanc
tion and embark upon a policy of un
limited paternalism for Alaska and
prepared to pay the bills, the Gov
ernment may well keep out of the
steamship business—at least until
private capital and individual enter
prise have demonstrated conclusively
their inability . under proper regu
lation and control, to give the rates
and service which Alaska requires
and must have in order to grow and
The pending: measure for the con
solidation of Government Bureaus, j
operating in Alaska, under one de
partmental head at Washington and
the concentration of authority and
responsibility, authorizes the use of
United States Shipping Board ves
sels. i;i the President's discretion, to
meet Alaska's needs. This is a wise
and prudent authorization and it
should and doubtless will hasten the
solution of Alaska's transportation
problems. That there has been no
solution to date, with attendant re
lief. is due plainly to the chaotic and
scattering system of government un
der which the Territory has been re
pressed and compelled wearily to
mark time and wait.
The Postoffice Department is not
functioning and cannot function fully
or satisfactorily in Alaska under ex
isting transportation conditions. Fa
cilities are lacking to provide auv
thing like an adequate service to
towns on the coast and to communi
ties in the interior. More liberal
mail subsidies will aid in solving the
.big problem of transportation. Of
necessity mail service in costly in
; Alaska, but the people who are pio
neering and aiding in the develop
ment of the country are entitled to
the best service possible to give
them and the Government can well
afford to be most liberal in appropri
ations to extend, improve and main
tain the mail service.
Population Kctnnlrd.
Alaska is not growing numerically.
For the decade of 1910-30. according
to <he ceusus. its inhabitants de
creased 10,000. A liberal estimate
today would not place the white
population in excess of 30,000 a»
against the perhaps inadequate offi
cial figures of 27,000 compiled in the
winter season of 1920.
The Territory’s loss in population
is strikingly significant in that It
does not largely affect the natives,
whose number approximately 27,000,
by census count, shows a compara
tively small ratio of decrease, de
spite serious epidemics and toll of
deaths therefrom during the ten
Apparently the popular theory that
the Natives. Indians and Eskimos,
are fast dying off. is not sustained
by fact. Improved modes of living
seem to be making for hardier races
of Natives. That the reindeer in
dustry, which has assumed an im
portant magnitude, has contributed
to the bodily, as well as material,
welfare of the Eskimos is readily to
be believed.
Of the present white population of
from 27,000 to 30,000, it may be
safely said that 80 per cent is per
manent—that is, made up of people
who have cast their lots in Alaska
and become fixtures. A transient
population of several thousand in
the summer season, the bulk of It
engaged in the fisheries, is not enu
merated by the census.
Allowing for the drain made by
the World War upon Alaska and tho
failure of many enlisted and drafted
men to return after the Armistice—
a fact emphasized in every analysis
of census figures—and taking into
account, also, the exhaustion of
placer mining fields and the curtail
ment in the operation of quartz en
terprises. due to adverse economic
conditions resulting from the war,
the decrease of 10,000 in Alaska's
population is still unexplained.
Causes other than those cited cer
tainly entered into the extraordinary
equation.
During the decade showing such
a marked decline the Government
was constructing a railroad and tak
ing the first step toward opening
the Territory at an expenditure of
many millions. This in itself, in
centering attention upon Alaska,
should have attracted both capital
ind people and made for substantial
growth and development. But it
lid not. Clearly this is to be ascrib
Hl to the failure to put into effect
with the building of the railroad
broad policies of development, and,
above all. to make it easier for capi
tal and people to set a fooUutfd in
Alaska.
Capital and people are ever alert
to grasp opportunities, especially
imch natural opportunities as Alaska
presents for investment and settle
ment. but where obstacles are en
countered and vexatious delays ex
perienced. as has been proverbially
the case under a bureaucratic ad
ministration of affairs of this Terri
tory, capital and people turn to other
fields of endeavor.
A changed and simplified system
of government, with liberalized laws
and regulations, is manifestly re
quired. if Alaska would regain lost
population and stimulate growth.
The census figures of 1910 and
1920 constitute a powerful argument
in favor of a new order of things in
the interest of Alaska and the coun
try as a whole.
General Conditions.
Alaska has not progressed or pros
Epred during the last fiscal year, or.
indeed, since the conclusion of the
World War It has felt seriously
the effects of abnormal conditions
prevailing everywhere. The Terri
tory. while responding to all calls
during the war with characteristic
generosity, did not share appreciably
in war prosperity, save in the pro
portions attained by the fishing in
dustry and the greatly Increased pro
duction of copper. These did not
contribute ns materially an might bo
supposed to the Territory’s general
prosperity.
Alaska's splendid contributions to
the support of the war probably rep
resented more of actual giving rela
tively than could be claimed for any
state in the Union. Its patriotism
was magnificent and substantial, not
alone in money, but quite as magni
ficent In men.
Having attained no high level in
industrial and commercial activities
attending the war. the Territory es
caped the full measure of reaction
experienced in many quarters of the
Union following the war. Never
theless.htgh prices and the unnatural
overhead charges produced as the
result of war hare had and are still
Imposing most serlou. effects on all
industrial activities in Alaska.
Mining at a profit has been ren
dered most difficult and large enter
prises hav« been compelled to close
down, or greatly curtail their opera
tions. Both quarts and placer min
ing have been checked by adverse
economic conditions. Export sta
tistics for the catepder year will pro
bably show a more marked decrease
than the statistics for the fiscal year.
(Continue* on Pag* Two)