or go about over a country that
i* eternally covered with snow, over
lying a vast Held of Ice.
Here is what wo have. An area
roughly aOQ by 100 miles in extent,
*i must places heavily forested. This
IuimI consists of an Immense group
or islands wtih a narrow strip of
mainland.
It cannot be classed as agricul
tural land. It is timber land, pure
and simple, all directly available to
sa'*t water transportation.
One of the most acccssable and
valuable stands o£ timber in the
world today
Roughly 20 million acres with a
Maud ot virgin timber estimated at
75 billion board feet of saw timber.
More reccnc cruises and 'estimates
p.ace tlio total muc.1 \er thau
this. But these figure./ / (impress
ive enough. On the subject of
this land and timber, I am perhaps
a little fey In the minds ot some. I
do not admit it.
To begin with—Land is the natur
u! habitat of man, it is for his use
and enjoyment, it is the first love
vwvv, YnV S*. II. * SUSSMAN' ’ \*1
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r a
V Highest Grade Dentistry at .j.
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Plione If-6
GENERAL LAUNDRY
WORK
F. H. Bold,
Sanitary Market
CHAS. A. GREENAA
MEAT MARKET
GENERAL MERCHANDISE
k Petersburg, - - Alaska
SITKA CAMP
ALASKA NATIVE
BROTHER HOOD
Meets 8 P. M. Mondays
President: Secretary:
Mark Jacobs A. Hops
•A all settlers and people.
To withhold idle land from peo
ple who wish to improve that land
and build themselves a home on It
Is criminal. More particularly so
•rhen it is .lone by a government.
It is of vastly more importance to
?r.y country, that any citizen, who
diearns a dream of building him
telf a homo and improving a piece
01* laud, shall be given thut chance
on any available piece of unoccu
pied laud, regardless of what others
nuy think of the venture, than any
possible future protit the govern
ment may derive from holding it.
IJul when tiiis same man, after
having been refused a piece of va
cant land, in a place, where he aches
to build himself a home, sees this
s.me land nfTured to the ravagos of
a corporation for a pitiful 30 pieces
: f silver, what are his thoughts?
Does he retain hly love and rc
snoct for his country’s government
and institutions?
Does he feel that he Is getting a
equare deal, or does’ he feel like
going out and shooting a potbellied
government olllchil or robbing a
bank? I ask you.
The land here in Southeastern
A-uska or at least the greater bulk
ol it Is held us a National Timber
Reserve, styled “The Tongoss Na
tional Forests.’'
The reserve is patrolled and su
ps !»• vised by the Forest Service, un
d»-r the head of the Department of
,*.r rlculture.
Absolutely no settlement is al
lowed on timber lands within the
boundaries of this reserve.
On* of the most criminally cruel
and unjust burdens that this, or
any other country or people, have
‘ ver been called upon to shoulder, is
this hocus pocus of National For
ests.
The only National Reserves justi
fied are tkone creating parks and
playgrounds.
When the Act of Congress, creat
ing National Forests went into effect.
It was not particularly obnoxious to
the States because practically all of
*
what van at that tiuu» dcsireable
land, had alreudy passed into the
;;«:nds of private owners.
But, with a virgin country like
Southeastern Alaska it wan a death
liiuw to settlement. It sounded the
neath knell to thousands of homes
--homes of fishermen, of fur farm
ers, of miners and of tinibermen.
Houses tucked away in each buy
and inlet, in some sections, quite a
community, each in a small clear
ing for the growing of the gardens
vltich yield bountifully here. The
cc-rmanence of each bucked up by a
claim of virgin timber laud, which
would some day, bring its reward to
Ibe sturdy pioneer who mAde it his
home.
Don't get the Idea that I think
(he life would be easy or that they
would be getting something for
lothlug. Far from It. Perhups on
ly one In ten who made the venture
.vould stick. It would all depend
cn the man. But I will say that the
man who did stick would be a man
v.ell worth having as a fellow citl
r* n.
But no. That is not the policy
of the Department of Agriculture.
Through its agents, the Forest Ser
vice, It tolls us to this effect: "Why,
Jl r. Private* Citizen-W h o-Is-Crazy
euough-t o-want-t o-live-in- Alaska,
you are crazy with the heat* You
can't make a living here. You would
rtarvo to death if wc gave you a
I iece of land here aud you tried to
live on it."
Maybe wo would. But I "rare"
»*ght up here aud now to state,
that, if thev give me and 100,000
more like mo a chance at ICO acres
<« the publi: domain, we will not- at
least die, blaming the United States.
Government for refusing us a
chance at our place iu the sun or
the home o' our hearts desire.
If I could see any good, or even
any ultimate good In the policy of
the Forest Service it would not be
so bard. But all I can see Is the
rape of another of Alaska's resourc
es when the time comes.