Writes Sensational Letter Which May
Have Induced Congress to Hesitate at
Passage of Appropriation Bill for
Alaska Government Railroad
(Continued from Page One)
sponsibility for the holding up of the Alaska railroad appro
priation where it rightfully belongs. And further, what makes
the action all the more contemptible, it evidently was due to a
desire to play politics—to place political opponents in a bad
light before the country, and especially before the people of this
territory. In a word, the failure of the railroad appropriation
appears to have been due to the misdirected activity of James
Wickersham, the man who frequently has been honored by the
people of this territory, and who occupied the position of dele
gate to congress until March 4 last.
In a letter addressed to Franklin K. Lane, secretary of the
interior, and dated January 8 last, Wickersham charges the
cabinet member with being responsible for the “failure” of the
government railway project in Alaska, giving an elaborate
array of “facts” to prove his contention, and making sensa
tional charges of incompetency, mismanagement, misconduct,
and even criminal offenses against those in any way connected
with the project. Not only that, but he charges that the “Alaska
Syndicate’’ has, through Secretary Lane’s efforts and by his
connivance, obtained control of the Bering River coal fields,
and that the Southern Pacific railway has likewise gained con
trol of the Matanuska coal fields. There are other more or less
sensational and irresponsible charges in the document, which
is a reminder of the days when Wickersham was campaigning
the territory with no other campaign cry than his hatred of the
“Guggenheims,” the transportation companies and all other
concerns which had money invested in Alaska enterprises.
How Appropriation Was Killed
While this letter of Wickersham’s to Secretary Lane never
has been printed, so far as Ave* knoAv, there is nort the slightest
doubt that copies of it Avere exhibited to members of congress,
undoubtedly to members of the senate appropriations commit
tee and others, and that it had much influence in preventing
the passage of the Alaska railway appropriation.' Wickersham
is a forceful writer as AArell as speaker, and the array of infor
mation al his command for an occasion such as this, garbled in
the manner which is customary with him, made possible a docu
ment Avhicli, presented to a public mair SAVom to do his duty,
must necessarily cause him to hesitate to assist in the appro
priation of public funds for an enterprise concerning which
there Avas apparently so much scandal. No man could do less
than investigate the sensational charges made before taking
action. And unfortunately the members of congress Avere not
in position to knoAv, as Avas Secretary Lane, that the charges
and assertions Avere mostly buncombe.
As to Wickersham’s purpose in putting forth a document
of this nature, it is quite likely that it was not primarily in
tended to block the appropriation. It is surmised that it was
drafted as a campaign document to be sprung later, and that
after the railroad appropriation Avas securely attached to the
general deficiency bill, and there seemed little doubt of its pas
sage, he made public the letter.
Some Charges Made by Wickersham
Addressing Secretary Lane, Wickersham says that his ad
ministration in the construction of the Alaska railroad is now
about concluded under present legislation. That it has proven
disappointing, he says, to those familiar with the work, is ad
mitted, and he continues:
“The people of Alaska who are best acquainted
with the facts think the failure results from your in
efficiency, incompetency and petty political partisan
- ship, in which conclusion I am forced to concur.”
He recites the fact that $30,997,620 already has been ap
propriated, making, with the estimate for 1920, the total au
thorization of $35,000,000 for the project. “When the sum of
$4,000,380 carried in the estimates for 1920 shall be appropri
ated as now requested by you, and expended,” he continues,
“the entire sum authorized by congress for this project will
have been spent, and the project will be about two-thirds com
pleted. The people of Alaska want do know why there has been
such a waste of their trust fund, why the project has been sc
long delayed, and why there is such a difference between prom
ise and performance.”
The claim is made that while the estimates as to cost of
construction were $50,000 per mile, the actual cost has beer
more than $140,000 per mile, and he gives figures purporting
to prove it. The project, he says, is left in a disjointed, demor
alized and wrecked condition, “with various parts of con
structed road north of Matanuska Junction entirely useless
until, in some future time, they can be united and combined
into one complete through line.” Unless congress shall make
immediate provision for closing these gaps and completing the
main line to Fairbanks, he says, “the whole project, excepl
the Matanuska branch, is a waste,” and “the White Pass &
Yukon Route steamboat monopoly in the rivers will have all
it fought for before the senate committee on territories in 1914.’
Wickersham then gives figures attempting to show the pre
ponderance of employes of the railroad in the “organization’
or “overhead” class over the “pick and shovehmen,” and sayf
. that the latter were less than 50 per cent of the number.
He Could Not Work for Appropriation
With statements and figures such as these placed befor<
them, can it be wondered at that there was hesitation on the
part of congressmen to facilitate the passage of the Alaska rail
road appropriation? Wickersham was understood to be en
deavoring to secure this appropriation for his constituents dur
ing the closing hours of congress. A perusal of his letter to
Secretary Lane shows conclusively that no honest man, who
believed the statements therein made, could conscientiously
work for this appropriation. If AVickersham did attempt to
aid in the passage of this appropriation measure, in view of the
“facts” which he himself stands sponsor for, he convicts him
self of participation in all the incompetence, inefficiency and
criminality with which he charges others.
The result of such sweeping charges can only be a series
of interminable investigations, which in all probability AVick
ersham had in view when he wrote this letter. If the officials
determine to take the former' Alaska delegate seriously this
can be the only logical outcome. The public generally knows
what to expect from government investigations. Miles and
miles of red tape will have to be unwound, witnesses will have
to be rounded up from the four corners pf the earth, months
and possibly years of delay will be caused, and in the meantime,
unless some miracle happen, the Alaska railway project will
come to a standstill.
The distressing feature of this is that in the present un
settled condition of industrial affairs, especially in this terri
tory, hardships will be worked on all classes of people through
out the territory. AVith the demobilization of the armies of
the United States, and the consequent need for employment of
the discharged men, thousands are looking to Alaska to take
care of some of the surplus labor. Every vessel coming to
these northern ports these days is bringing a capacity passen
ger list, a large proportion of which is composed of men seek
ing employment. Should work on the government railroad
come to a standstill, as now seems inevitable, this source of
employment xvill be closed, and furthermore, those now em
ployed on the project will swell the ranks of the Vnemployed,
thus aggravating an already serious labor situation.
And if, as may well be supposed, this letter of AVicker
sham’s is responsible for this condition, the territory may thank
the man who was elected to look after their interests in AVasli
I ington, rather than to work against them.
How He Loves Riggs! ,
'
Discussing tlie Nenena division, Wickersham devotes a
large portion of his letter to abuse of Governor Thomas Riggs,
Jr., who was the commissioner in charge of the Nenana end of
the line, and the officials under him. He charges Riggs with
inccmpetency and worse and exhibits a letter accusing an of
ficial under him of gross drunkenness and immorality. “The
loss of twenty-five miles of railroad,” be says, “was the result
of the drunken inefficiency of a locating engineer, acting under
an incompetent commissioner.” This in reference to the
stretch of track washed out by the overflow of the Nenana
river. He claims that the net result of the construction work at
the Nenana end of the road is “three miles of main line track
constructed in four years.”
Whole pages of Wickersham’s letter are devoted to an at
tempt to show that the activities of tiie transportation com
panies of Alaska, together with the Northern Commercial
C< mpany and the Kennecott Copper Corporation, have been
devoted to “rendering the construction and operation” of the
government railway a failure. The arguments and “facts”
used are familiar to every Alaskan, but of course they will be
new to members of congress and government officials. Typical
is the statement that “the unfortunate merchants and miners
of the Yukon and Tanana basins are yet paying an additional
and unlawful excess of $12 per ton for every ton of freight com
ing into the Interior country,” in order that the White Pass
may live up to a contract to pay that bonus on freight ship
ments of the Northern Conunrecial Company until December
31, 1920.
“In other words,” says Wickersham, “the construction
of the railroad at Nenana is now and at all times has been un
der the control of those who desired it to fail—and it has, so
far, been a failure. ’ *
Pages also are ddVoted to statements of “extortionate
freight rates,” many of which were discredited at the interstate
commerce commission hearing in this city, in which, by his ig
norance of transportation matters, Wickersham made such a
sorry figure. Also the Alaska Engineering Commission, oper
ating the government railway, is charged with extortion in the
matter of express rates between Seward and Anchorage for
the benefit of the American Railway Express Company.
Alleged tables of rates are given. And here is where ap
pears one of the crowning pieces of dishonesty of the whole
dishonest argument. Not one word is said as to the fact that
a portion of this line has been blocked all winter by ice, and
that the seemingly exorbitant expense of transportation is
caused by the fact that freight must be moved for a consider
able distance between the breaks in the line by means of -dog
teams and other crude methods of conveyance. These rates
Wickersham compares with rates on established and well
equipped railroads in the States. Figures also are given to
show, among other things, how the Copper River & Northwest
ern railroad “maintains its control” over the “Bering River
cr Katalla coal fields.” And in a typically Wickersham style
he gives the items of common use which this railroad “taxes,”
, from hay and cigarettes to the coffin of the “old Alaska pros
pector who found the copper mines.”
, The Kennecott company comes in for another round of
abuse, and then the old campaign story of how Delegate Sulzer
1 was responsible for favoring the Alaska Steamship Company
in the matter of coastwise traffic in foreign bottoms is rehashed.
Apparently it makes no difference to Wickersham that this
i story has been refuted—Mr. Lane and the members of congress
, n,
may not know that. Governor Riggs again comes in also for
more abuse, for having “supported the Alaska transportation
monopoly.”
And as a final indictment against the steamship company,
it is charged with being responsible for the poor mail service
from which Alaska is suffering.
Those Coal Leases
Wickersham quotes a letter from the office of the secretary
of the interior in which it is shown that the Alaska coal-leasing
law has been a failure, and in which it is stated that “ (1) there
are three coal land leases in force in Alaska at this time; (2)
three tracts are either being mined or prospected under the
leases; (3) one lease of 2,420 acres of land in the Bering River
field, two leases of 1,400 and 1,440 acres in the Matanuska field,
and none in the Nenana field, are being worked or prospected.”
From this he deduces that “in plain English this means”:
“The Alaska Syndicate has control of a contract
signed by the United States government, by you as
secretary of the interior, for the exploitation of the
Bering River or Katalla coal field, valid for fifty
years * * *; the Matanuska field is as efficiently
monopolized by the Chickaloon Coal Company.”
“Whether this latter company is a subsidiary of the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company, as it is freely charged,
I do not know,” he says. “However, there can be no doubt of
the control of the Bering River field by the Syndicate.”
So that, in spite of all the warnings issued by Wickersham
during the past several years, the wicked monopolists have
really gobbled up Alaska’s resources after all, and “the poor
Alaska prospector” “must be buried in the Copper River val
ley, a poverty-stricken and disappointed man.”
“Commissioner Edes,” we learn, “came from the South
ern Pacific to your Alaskan Engineering Commission, and the
Southern Pacific men have been and now are in charge^of the
Alaska government railway under your administration. Vice
President McCormack of the Southern Pacific was at Anchor
age in October examining the government railroad and the
Chickaloon coal mine, at the expense of the United States, as
the head of a commission appointed by you for some purpose
not known to me.”
How Cordova Is Interested
But it would bo too ridiculous to suppose that Secretary
Lane or any other official at Washington would be gullible
enough to swallow the assertions of Wickersham in reference
to a monopoly of these coal fields. It is quite likely that Mr.
Lane is more conversant with the time state of affairs than is
Wickersham. As pointed out in the letter quoted by Wicker
sham, there is but one coal lease in operation in the Bering
River or Katalla coal field. This is a tract of 2,420 acres, leased
by Falcon Joslin and his associates under the terms of the leas
ing act. The lease carries with it no right to any other lands,
or control of their product. In fact, the act was drawn up to
make such a condition impossible. There are many thousands
of acres of coal lands in the Bering River field, all subject to
lease under the same terms as were given to Mr. Joslin. How
ridiculous, therefore, it is of Wickersham to endeavor to make
it appear that the granting of this solitary lease conferred a
monopoly of the field upon the “Syndicate”!
The citizens of Cordova, together with the residents of
other sections of the territory, have been endeavoring for years
to secure the opening up of these coal fields, with all that it
w ould mean to the prosperity of this section and to Alaska gen
erally. At last a company has been formed and large sums are
being spent in an endeavor to test the commercial possibilities
of this field. The former Alaska delegate, who should be the
last man in the world to endeavor to block legitimate develop
ment of Alaska’s resources, immediately raises the cry of
“monopoly,” and tries to create the impression that this im
mense coal field is subject to wdiat he is pleased to term the
1 ‘ Syndicate. ’ ’
Probably the most ludicrous portion of Wickersham’s lu
dicrous letter, however, is that relating to the Matanuska coal
field, which he says is in the control of the Southern Pacific
railway, “a monopoly” which, lie says, “is beyond the control
of the congress or the people of the United States or Alaska.”
As pointed out by Secretary Lane, there are two leases in
this field, one of 1,400 and one of 1,440 acres, operated by the
Chickaloon Coal Company. In another section of his letter
Wiekersham says: “Whether this latter company (the Chick
aloon Coal Company) is a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific
Railroad Company, as it is freely charged, I do not know.” In
another place he says that Vice ‘President McCormack of the
Southern Pacific was in Alaska in October examining the gov
ernment railroad and the Chickaloon coal mines, “at the ex
pense of the United States, as the head of a commission ap
pointed by you for some purpose not known to me. ’ ’
And on these flimsy “facts” Wickersham makes the as
sertion that the government railroad is “dominated” by the
Southern Pacific and the great Matanuska coal field is “mo
nopolized” by the Chickaloon Coal Company.
Again, can there be any wonder expressed that congress
men, not knowing the real facts, refused to further the Alaska
railroad appropriation, that would aid in the establishment of
these “monopolies”! ^
rermcious rouucai Acnvuy
' Telegrams exchanged between T. J. Donohoe and Secretary
Lane are quoted to show that the Alaskan' Engineering Com
mission was used by politicians to swing the vote of the rail
road employes Against him in the elections. Of course there
is nothing in the telegrams to show this, and the fact that An
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