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Show I HOME RULE FOR ALASKA A j I NON-PARTISAN PATRIOTIC BILL -L BJ (Continued from Last Issue.) BJ when tbey can not get around" on land BJ In that vast territory? It Is almost BJ as difficult for peoplo to travel In BJ Alaska without transportation facill- BJ ties ns it Is to travel on the Atlantic BJ ocean without a boat. Give Alaska m decent transportation and you will IB find that our pcoplo In tbo United B States will not be selling their farms' B In Iowa, In Minnesota and In the Da- B kotas and other states and taking B their families, their money, their B possessions and going to Canada. H They will go to Alaska. But they can B not get around there now, because B Alaska has very little transportation B except water transportation. W'q havo B no transportation In southwestern B Alaska save one railroad running from Cordova up to n copper mlno. H Alaska wants more railroads through H this great country. B Ilcsurrcctlon bay In southwestern Hj Alaska Is one of the great harbors H of the world. All the fleets of tho H Pacific can rldo safely at anchor In B Itcsurrcctlon bay and be Invulnerable H to attack. It Is tho greatest harbor H In the north Pacific. H If anything should happen to our H north Pacific fleet It would havo no B port to make nearer than San Fran- H Cisco, or Pearl harbor in the Hawal- H t Ian islands. The fleet could not sail H into Puget sound." It would not sue- H ceed In getting through the Straits H of Juan do Fuca. Resurrection bay H is 1,800 miles nearer the orient than H either San Francisco or Seattlo or H Puget sound, and it is tho best place H in the north Pacific for this govern- H mcut to havo a place of safety in caso H of accident on the north Pacific H ocean. H The people of tho United States, H for their own protection and for their B own welfare, should build a railroad H from Resurrection bay to the Inter- ior of Alaska, opening up this won- derful Kuskokwim valley . Then tho B people who leave our country to bet-B bet-B f ter their condition will go to Alaska B and settle there. They will go up there and cultivate the ground and I till the soil. They will develop the I agricultural resources of the country I They will take advantage of tho cat-I cat-I tie ranges and produce enough meat rm to supply the wants of the people of our country. They will produce mineral min-eral wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, A railroad from Cook Inlet to Fairbanks, opening up these wonderful won-derful valleys, would also open up tho greatest coal fields on this continent tho Matanuska coal fields. Here are millions of acres of the finest nnthracite coal on earth, and of the best bituminous coal In tho world. Tho government could pay tho expenses of the railroad every year by mining its own cpal for the use of the Pacific fleet. Tho government of the United States pays $18 a ton for coal at Nome. It pays in southwestern Alaska Alas-ka $12 a ton, and In southeastern Alaska Alas-ka $7 or $8 a ton. The government buys that coal at Norfolk or Newport News and transports It all the way around South America. It transports that coal in foreign ships, flying for-clgn for-clgn flags, and manned by foreign seamen. Every year tho government pays for tho coal of Its Pacific fleet and tho ro.vcnuo cutter service and Its other ngencles on the Pacific coast a sum of money amounting to millions of dollars. If that money was utilized to build a railroad It would begin to pay a profit the first day it was In operation, and In ten years would pay tho government back i every dollar It cost, ana be one of I the best and quickest ngcnclca to help tho peoplo on tho Pacific coast I of which I am ablo to coucelvc. ' These aro the things which Alaska wants and that I shrill continue to fight for In congress and out of congress con-gress until they are finally granted: First, home rulo for Alaska; Bcconil, better safeguards for navigation, and third, better transportation facilities. We ought to do something for Alaska. Alas-ka. It Is n sbamo the way congress treats Alaska. It Is un-American, undemocratic un-democratic and unrepubllcan. It Is a disgrace to tho fundamental principles princi-ples of American citizenship. I cry out against governing Alaska like n conquered province. I havo done all I could for Alaska slnco I havo been n member of congress, but 1 havo not been ablo to mako much progress, but I shall keep up the" fight for tho right until tho pcoplo of Alaska get what they want, what they demand ..s American citizens namely, territorial government, better transportation facilities fa-cilities and moro safeguards to navigation. navi-gation. I say It Is an outrago on tho citizens citi-zens of Alaska from every state In the union, who havo made It their home, who Intend to ltvo and dlo there, and who are developing her vast mineral resources, and the other Important resources of that vast empire em-pire In our great northwest I say it is an outrage and a shame that the congress of the United States does not give those good and worthy citizens citi-zens tho legislation they demand. It is a fundamental principle of American patriotism a saying In this country slnco revolutionary days "No taxation without representation." The fathers of tho republic fought for that principle, but, strange as it may seem, more than a century afterwards tho congress of the United States denies the citizens of the district of Alaska territorial government and taxes them every year, without their consent, con-sent, several hundred thousand dollars, dol-lars, which Is turned into the treasury of the United States. Mr. chairman, every newspaper in Alaska, I believe Is in favor of this bill for territorial government. The Democrats and the Republicans In the Alaska conventions recently held have unanimously passed resolutions In favor of territorial government There Is not a man In Alaska today, In my Judgment, who is a bona fide resident resi-dent of Alaska and Intends to stay there and live there, who Is not in favor of territorial government. If anyono here doubts what I say, let him go to Alaska and find out for himself. I am in favor of tho pending bill It is a meritorious measure. It will soon bo'a law. I want to congratulate congratu-late tho chairman and tho committee on tho territories for bringing In this bill. I have gone over It very caro-fully. caro-fully. It is a good bill. I am tho first man In congress that ever Introduced In-troduced a bill to give Alaska a territorial ter-ritorial government. I Introduced that bill years ago at tho request of a nonpartisan convention held by the peoplo of Alaskn. Tho presiding officer offi-cer of that convention was Hon. A. P. Swlneford, formerly governor of , Alaska a great man Ho has gone to his reward, and ho has gone Into history as Alaska's "grand old man." ' Ho helped mo draw tho first bill for j territorial government for Alaska. I , am sorry that the dear old Governor I Swlneford Is not living today to wit- ness what we are doing. It would gladden his heart more than anything I that ever happened in his long and i Illustrious career. I want to congratulate tho delegate from AlaBka, Judge Wickersham, for all he has done to bring about this great legislative reform. I know whereof I speak when I say that ho voices the sentiment of every true Alaskan when he speaks for his bill for homo rulo for Alaska. " I ' want to congratulate tho people of Alaska upon getting finally what they havo prayed for theso many years, the simple right to meet In. legislative assembly through "their representatives and write their owu local laws. How many members of congress knowWhat the people of Alaska want? We are very busy, we aro legislating for all tho country on momentous matters, mat-ters, and wo have not the time to read their letters or their petitions. We havo not tho tlmo, and wo can not intelligently legislato on tho lit-tlo lit-tlo things tho peoplo of Alaska want for local purposes, This is a nonpartisan measure. This Is a patriotic bill Thcro aro no poll-tics poll-tics in it This 1b an American Mil, and whenever a hill of this kind Is-presented, Is-presented, 1 caro not who tho author is or from whence it comes, I am for it, because I am an American. |
