Stumpage or People
1 his is the question that should ho
considered by the forty federal h i
re; us in Alaska.
The Forestry Bureau would think
'MlTorently of the stumpago tax •
lrV if they had to earn their liv
ing for just three months by “tin
s.'■••at of their brows” instead <■
swiveling in swivel chair or trav
ling in a luxurious yacht (calico
i angers).
The Stumpage tax should I' •
abolished. Neither the governmea
noi the Territory gets any bctu >
irom it.
The Forestry Bureau gets it
lid more for salaries and expense
as Governor Parks showed in h •
19 2 6 report (expenses $1,2it0,061
receipts, $1,248,325.).
Pages 5 9 and 61 of the1 repo*'!
v a y s:
Timber cut since 1909—639.50u
000 hoard feet.
Income for the Territory of Ala -
ka—none.
Income for Government—None.
Income for schools—None.
Income for roads—None.
income for Bureaucrats—$1,21
325.00.
Expenses of Bureaucrats --$1,290
065.00.
Dead loss to federal governmeri.
--$41,740.00.
'he expenses do not include nion
oy spent for roads or trails but ii"
cording to Governor Parks’ repork
Mitse expenses are exclusive of sum
sr,; -p for roads and trails.
The money which conies to ti
Territory from so-called Forest .•■■■>
ires me DO NOT come from such
sources because the expenses of this
lepartment exceeds its income.
The stumpage tax of $1.50 an
$2.00 per M is therefore a tax o.
tne resident loggers of Alaska for
the purpose of keeping these nice
college boys in fat jobs. It amounts
to nothing more than that.
We looked into the Governor’s re
port for 1927 very carefully to sec
i!' any improvement has come into
Hi" Forestry Department, but we
lin-1 ‘Diary a word” about that fea
Dot* ol i lie (lovernnio.nt’s Business.
'I1 federal governor will see to it
Mi 1 il is never nieniiond again
1 b'deral employees, we must
k together.”
• r ! .ventv years past, not a sing
b pe 'iv of benefit lias come to Alas
k from ihi' “Forestry Service” but
!; dekciency of $41,740. plus the
sekool and road funds had to be cov
On ilit* contrary, llio Forestry De
partment rei'itses to allow American
( M'/eiis to homestead because “in
i1- ir .lodgment” the hind is not
valuable for agriculture than
or anything else- in one case they
- hi, “The hikes in the area desit
id make the proposition impossible’
'■! eii there is no lake for several
miles.
While loggers and mill men are
struggling to make bare expenses
r • i In nisolves and employees, ; he
sat".' logs a,re offered to nonresi
d< ats at OAK HALF the rate eharg
< d at i >gg;ors. Not that we are o*;
I>11■ i'll to pulp mills, but we say,
in i all alike. 1! is good to get. more
people into \laska, but why drive
ot t those who are already here?
/KM. MR RAC 11 C ORPORATION
rim Don Is of Zellerbach Corpora
o »>! do uoi, as many financiers be
l.ovo, include 1 lie “rights” of said
com ri'ii in Alaska, but DO INCLUDE
exchangeable privileges, whereby a
ini d holder may exchange, as many
are certain to do, with circular
work iml propaganda put forth oy
"\vens. the STOCKS of Zellerbach
Cm-poration, which, by comparison
go at around 50 cents on the dollar.
Providing the Public buy the
stocks in amount sufficient to justi
fy, then only will the Zellerbach
concern, acting for the Julius
Fleischaeker in I crusts, vvliicli con
cern is all powerful, push the Alas
k 'n project, even as they did the
D< liar Steamship Company project,
and which they own and control al
w ays. i
Adequate purchases by the public
vill. ultimately, bring the pulp
i tills, but possibly not the paper
mills as it may prove better to haul
the pulp to the centrally located
mills such as Angeles or TownsencJ,
or possibly Olympia, with the odds
igainst the latter named place be
cause of unsatisfactory harbors.
Result to Alaska if successful
will lie depression while if successful
as is likely, it will be much as is
Powell River, Ocean Falls, and oth
ot pulp towns, a city within a city
or near by—much as Garden City
or Chatinika is to Fairbanks—much
as Kennecott is to Cordova.
Only Alaska herself can ever hope
to develop Alaska for the Guggen
imims, the Fleischacker’s, the Zel
b rback’s & Co., will do no more
so than the former has developed
Skagway, White Horse, Cordova,
La touche, Fairbanks. It does not,
w irk that way.
Yet we are poor sports if we d<
not stand for pulp mills, and pro
perty rights in Alaska, even with
out taxation We must be submis
sive, and be satisfied with the
crumbs that fall from the tables.
Of course we could own those
tables as easily as they—if we did
n’t remain in Alaska.
WHO ARE THE COWARDS
Pilate is of those who, seeing the
world’s evil, consent to it in the
erd. because to do otherwise is high
ly dangerous.—U. G. Peck, The
Drdne Revolution, p. 126.
Primitive Indian ways, except in
the squatter camps, are seldom
found in the cities.