Interior Dept.
Plans For Alaska’s
I )eve!o»mient
£.
(By Vern Haugland)
((/P) Special Washington Service)
WASHINGTON. (/P) —Congress
early next year may be asked to
set up an Alaska Development
Administration.
The purpose would be to make
loans to private interests for start
ing new businesses and industries
in the Territory.
The interior department is draft
ing a bill to that end. Reginald C.
Price, one of the department offi
cials working on it, told a report
er:
“The primary purpose is to
overcome the most important sin
gle remaining obstacle to the de
velopment of Alaska—the iack of
venture capital.
“What little money there is
available for Alaskan projects is
at interest rates too high to serve
the purpose. Eight per cent is the
going rate.”
The proposed measure would
replace the Alaska Development
Corporation bill advanced last
September by William E. Wame,
assistant secretary of the interior.
Price, special assistant to Warne,
said that bill is dead.
It would have set up an agency
to enable the federal government
to establish its own industries and
businesses in Alaska at perhaps a
cost of $1,000,000,000 and later, is
feasible, sell or lease them to pri
vate interests.
Price said the forthcoming pro
posal involves a much smaller fig
ure.
He added that a “good many en
terprises” are under consideration
as likely loan subjects under the
proposed program.
Some, he said, are in advanced
stages of consideration. Among
these is a possible cement plant
project, under study for two years.
“A cement plant is out No. 1 in
dustrial need for Alaska,” Price
said.
“We especially want one in the
rail belt, in the area between Sew
ard and Fairbanks.
“Federal loans might also pro
vide opportunities for development
of timber resources and minerals,
and for creation of various pro
cessing plants to handle materials
that can be produced in Alaska.
“There is a primary need also
for recreational facilities to serve
the influx of population. By and
large, however, the prog ram
would be devoted to making ven
ture capital available for the es
tablishment and encouragement of
sound industrial enterprises”
The loan program would tie in
with Alaska project settlement
legislation now before the House
public lands committee. This bill
would authorize the Reconstruc
tion Finance Corp. to spend up to
$7,500,000 in connection with the
quick installation of settlement
projects in Alaska.
Much of the money would be
used for clearing and leveling land
for farms, a process so tedious and
costly in Alaska it has preevnted
agricultural expansion.
The funds also could be used to
aid construction of creameries,
fruit processing plants, sawmills
and other establishments to meet
community needs without delay.
In preparation for the settle
ment program, the interior depart
ment has withdrawn from public
entry three areas totaling 190,000
acres, on Alaska’s Kenai Penin
Produce Flown
From Alabama
To Anchorage
SEATTLE, (TP) — The Military
Air Transport Service will place
nine Douglas C-74, four-engine
transport planes in Alaska traffic
service in January, Capt. Eric C.
Forrester, MATS representative at
Seattle Port of Embarkation, an
nounced yesterday.
The 165,00 pound cargo planes
will make 12 flights during the
month of January, taking off from
their home base at Mobile, Ala
bama, to fly to Anchorage with in
termediate stops along the route
at Tinker air force base, Okla.,
Kelly air force base, Tex., Sacra
mento air depot, Calif., and Mc
Chord air force base, Wash.
At Anchorage, where the C-74’s
discharge their cargo, C-54’s, air
force transports, will pick it up
for shuttle runs to outlying bases.
Commenting on the cargo flown
to troops in Alaska, Captain For
rester said that eight tons of fresh
vegetable produce is flown there
each month. He added that fresh ,
milk is being air-freighted to the
exchange service at Adak under
air line contract.
sula, pending studies as to their
suitability for settlement projects.
There have been similar with
drawals of 86,000 acres in the
Chena area east of Fairbanks, and
32,147 acres in the Dunbar sector |
west of Fairbanks.
The extent of permanenty fro
zen ground in the Dunbar area is
such, however, that the project
plan there may be dropped and
the land returned to development
for other purposes, Price .said.
NEW Yt. X
ft CHEER
T
1
The old cares
and worries
have passed.
May the year
be full j
c’V
of joy.
BOARD OF TRADE
Silver Bells
.What a world
of merriment their
melody foretells
Proper music, indeed, for the
New
^NORTHERN
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