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Show IF YOU ARE ON THIS LIST... i r L I ALASKA f ( Continued ) v WlinA ' 2 Lonely gravel road, untamed forest, and overwhelming scenery are typical of Alaska's major virtues and towering handicaps. get started. One prominent Alaskan said flatly, Alaska needs money more than it needs men. Men, however, are still sought for other reasons. Not for jobs, though. Like other communities, those in Alaska need a few trained professionals engineers, teachers, medical personnel, etc. but there the need ceases. The unskilled and semiskilled worker, even the white collar worker, are there in abundance, and there are more of them than there are jobs. The need in the city is for more employers, not employees. Out in the country, however, the wild land is waiting for men who can tame it. A new wave of homesteaders, similar to those of the early West, is expected in the 49th state. In fact, farmers are eagerly sought, because one thing is certain about Alaskas future: it will never be able to supply enough of its own food to meet the demand. Whatever is grown there will find a long line of hungry customers. Right now Alaska is importing 95 percent of what it eats, creating astronomical prices for even basic commodities. The reason is that less than 1 percent of its gargantuan ground area is considered suitable farm land, and only 20,000 acres of this is now under cultivation. There are about three million more acres chiefly around Anchorage and Fairbanks waiting for the first bite of a plow, and some of it is free for the asking and working. Why havent more people asked? work. The Because its land must first be cleared of trees and roots and rocks (at a cost of up to $250 an acre). Farm equipment is discouragingly expensive, and fertilizer for crops and feed for livestock must all be imported. Under these conditions even the most liberal homesteading laws and theyre expected to be considerably more liberal under statehood dont help much. Its estimated that it will take either $25,000 in capital or three generations of farmers to make a homestead pay. But some are doing it anyway, working the farms part of the year, working elsewhere the rest of the year to get money to live on. Those who started cultivating raise most of the hardy vegetables, notably potatoes, ng Nervous and tense Arthritic Heart trouble " . 3 u Invalid ti i Middle-age- - and some grains and berries. Tomatoes, corn, and other relatively crops dont thrive. Dairying is successful in some areas, and cattleraising and sheepherding are starting to prove themselves on a limited scale. But, as they say down on the farm, Alaskan homesteaders still have a long, tough row to hoe. Alaskans see more immediate hope for a temporary type of inunigrant the tourist If it sounds vulgar to say that Alaskans eagerly await visits from people wholl come up there to spend some money, then a lot of vacation-lan- d areas within the 48 states are openly guilty of vulgarity. Lets face it tourism is big business, and Alaska is expected to have one of the biggest. Last year alone it took in $29,000,000 from hunters, fishermen, camera fans, and others. Statehood is expected to create so much new interest that this figure will be multiplied several times over. In justice, however, it should be said that the tourists will unquestionably get their moneys worth. Whatever it takes to attract them, Alaska has in overwhelming volume. Where else can you find: Small game from wildfowl to minks and marmots, big game from Kodiak bears to caribou, and sea mammals from whales to walruses. Scenery that staggers the imagination; a profusion of forests and flowers, rivers and lakes teeming with fish, glaciers you can climb or watch drop tons of their icy selves into gorges, and mountains wherever you look, including 20 active volcanoes and the highest peak on the continent, Mt. McKinley. All this and the midnight sun, too. Real natives, Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts, living where they have for centuries, not on Government reservations, but in their own villages in their own way with a few of the white mans ways. too. Theyre quite willing, for instance, to sell homemade trinkets to tourists. hot-weat- immigrant in Another temporary is there on a more permanent basis than tourists Uncle Sam. And his status in Alaska is a source of both joy and anguish. The Federal Government is by far the largest single employer in Alaska than anywhere in the 48 states and yet, with all due respect, its not as attractive a target as those farther south. In other words, its a good launching platform for our own offensive weapons, and its an excellent defensive warning station against polar attacks on other areas in the U.S. and Canada. Such an area, many in Washington said, should have closer ties with its homeland. All three armed services are stationed in Alaska under the unified Alaskan Command, the Army chiefly at Fort Richardson, the Navy on Kodiak and Adak islands, and the Air Force at Ladd, Eielson, and Elmendorf air bases. But smaller units are scattered throughout the vast land, tending antennas that search the skies like rabbits ears. Theres about a billion dollars invested there, chiefly on radar and radio stations along the coasts. A base is slated for construction near Fairbanks. The whole network is probably the biggest and most expensive burglar alarm ever built, and such an investment is not likely to be withdrawn overnight. Thoughtful Alaskans, however, are not inclined to depend entirely on Federal spending to lift them out of the past, but to use it as a convenient cushion to carry them through a transition period when many changes must take place. The new states potential, in spite of the enormous handicaps, is too great to ignore and too rich to waste. So whats ahead for Alaska is in many ways the same thing that was ahead for the great American West after the Civil War almost unlimited opportunity mixed with equal quantities of blood, sweat, and tears. And, as any tourist whos crossed the West knows, much of it is still undeveloped today and the Civil War ended nearly 100 years ago. The last frontier may last a long while. It will be exciting to watch, nevertheless. $250-milli- on missile-detecti- ( ! DONT LET CONSTIPATION ADD TO YOUR WORRIES! 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Professional results every time. Whtreter paints are sold, or write for folder rubbed-effec- mum 1121 W. S4tfc Atffltt II, Ml Of. F.w BUY U.S. SAVINGS BONDS OH, MY ACHING BACK - 4 9, 1953 that goes with constipation (particularly in cardiac, high blood pressure, and similar cases), and he on Family Weekly, November or elderly d Pregnant or nursing High blood pressure top-prior- ity ' fSv' back-breaki- (45,000 servicemen and many more civilian employees) and the largest single source of revenue (70 percent of the total income). But, as one caustic critic commented, What the Government giveth, the Government can taketh away. Its happened more than once. A military crash program needs construction workers in a hurry and pays top wages to get them. Then, when its finished, nothing! And thousands are out of work. One of the strongest arguments against Alaskan statehood was its overwhelming dependence on Government spending. What would happen if this subsidy were ever withdrawn? 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