justify the pulp sales and the
rotten deal that is being hand -
ed Alaska in the name of “con
servation.” I wish to call your
attention to two articles credit
ed to Mr. Heintzelman, publish
ed in the “All Alaska Review”
published by the Cordova Daily
Times last year and draw a fe\
comparisons in the hopes thai,
you will publish this letter in ov
eer that some of our dormant
American citizens may see a lit
tle light.
These articles covering the
subject of water power develop
ment and the timber industry
of Alaska give us a very com
plete picture of the pulp sales
and their ultimate benefit to
Alaska as s°en through the eyes
of the present administration.
He draws us a very complete
picture of the cost of pulp mills
and the benefits fo be derived
therefrom. Each plant with an
initial investment of ten million
dollars. A payroll of six hundred
in mill and woods He credits
each plant with an ultimate ad
dition of two thousand to om
population He do^s not mention
what we stand to lose.
The forests here are credited
with 85 billion feet of timber. To
each pulp project is to be allot
ted five of these billion feet with
the land on which it stands.
Sufficient to insure a continu
ous supply indifinetely. Let’s see!
With 85 billion feet of timber we
have room for seventeen pulp
projects. Mr. Heintzelman speaks
of taking care of local demands.
At present these call for some
fifty million feet a year, or at
Charles Benjamin
HEADQUARTERS
FOR
Fishermen’s Supplies of ALL KINDS
Wrangell
Alaska
Canadian Fish & Cold Storage
Company, Ltd.
PRINCE RUBERT, B. ( ., CANADA
offer to the fishermen of Alaska the means of ob
taining highest prices for their halibut and salmon.
We have recently reconstructed our ice plant
and now produce only hard transparent ice which
preserves the fish one hundred per cent.
KARL HANSEN
Is equipped to supply all the needs of fishermen at
reasonable prices.
Alaska Office:
PORT ALEXANDER
Seattle Office:
1911 L. C. SMITH BUILDING
T
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least they did before our salmon
box business went on the blink.
So we will have to hold out
seme of the scrubbiest and most
inaccessible and call it sixteen
pulp mills.
Let us summarize! Sixteen
pulp mills at ten millions each
is a total of 160 million dollars
invested. Sixteen payrolls of six
hundred each is 9,600 men. These
men are not lumberjacks or
transient labor, they cannot be
if they add 32,000 to our popula
tion. Each must have a wife and
one child, some of them two
children. These are Mr. Heint
zelman’s figures. To a popula
tion and industry hungry coun
try they may seem very rosy. We
will accept them as the best the
Forest Department has to offer
and authentic.
BUT!
We must remember, we are
the people who are making this
deal. Let us look into the sub
ject. Is it what we want? Is it
what our children will want?
The Forest Service is merely our
agent. I know that we and they
also are prone to forget that
point. Are they making a proper
move in our interests? Let us
look up a few figures of our own.
In our everyday business deal
ings we don’t generally accept
the other fellow’s word if there
is any way of verifying his fig
ures. Why not use the same sys
tem here?
The Year Book of the Depart
ment of Agriculture tells us that
the Tongass National Forests in
Southeastern Alaska contains
approximately 20 million acrres.
How big is that? A little figuring
gives us 31,250 square miles. We
are still curious and dig out the
World’s Almanac to look up the
area of the smaller States in the
Union for comparison. It takes
the combined areas of Massa
chusetts, Connecticut. New Ham
shire, New Jersey and Delaware
to foot up to a total of 31,369
square miles, South Carolina