RED TAPE IN THE GOVERNMENT OF ALASKA.

By FRANKLIN K. LANE.

The Need for Centralized Responsibility and Accountability.

Heretofore we have done little more in Alaska than keep a few policemen stationed at closed doors. Now that we are to open the doors we need more than a police force.

We have committed ourselves to a new policy of development in Alaska.

Instead of allowing the vast riches of that great territory to be exploited at the haphazard will or whim of individuals and corporations intent only upon quick and large profits for themselves we have set our faces to the task of developing Alaska and its resources in a large, sane, and conservative manner suited to the magnitude of the interests at stake.

As the first step in the new policy we are going to build a railroad. This decision, and the building of the railroad, however, are only the first step.

In his message to Congress last December, President Wilson said of the Alaska railroad that it "is only thrusting in the key to the storehouse and throwing back the lock and opening the door. How the tempting resources of the country are to be exploited is another The resources in question must be used, but not destroyed or wasted; used, but not monopolized under any narrow idea of individual rights as against the abiding interest of communities."

matter.

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NEW PROBLEMS WITH OPEN-DOOR POLICY.

Practically all the land and natural resources of Alaska are still the property of the people of the United States. Until now we have only protected these riches against monopoly and waste, and the most cumbersome departmental machinery has sufficed. Heretofore we have done little more in Alaska than keep a few policemen stationed at closed doors to prevent breaking and entering. Now that we are to open the doors we need more than a police force.

Our work there now is to be broader and more complex. Mineral and other resources must be opened to use; the lands must be opened to settlement. There must be such administration of the laws as will give prompt and ready assistance, unhampered by red tape and unnecessary delays, to honest settlers, while protecting fully the rights of the Nation against monopoly, fraud, and waste.

We are to encourage the building of industries and commerce and the making of homes and farms in the new Territory.

To do this we must plan and build systems of roads and trails to connect the railroads, seaports, farms, and towns.

We must plan the location of towns and provide facilities for settlement.

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Fuel and power must be made available for domestic and industrial purposes.

Revenues must be provided without discouragement to settlement and industry, and there should be no bar to efforts for simplifying and bettering taxation methods.

NEW MACHINERY NEEDED.

There must be new and simple machinery for the successful working out of this program. There must be organized administration of the higest efficiency in order that "the abiding interest" of the people of the United States may not only be fully protected and conserved but that the development of resources and industries incident to the opening of the Territory may be encouraged and regulated with justice to all and along lines carefully calculated to give the greatest lasting good to the greatest number.

The new policy is not to invite a few men to exploit the cream of Alaska's riches, but to develop all the resources and possibilities of the Territory harmoniously, for the best interests of both the people who go to Alaska and the people of the United States who own this great public domain.

Alaska's problems are largely peculiar to Alaska. Our present system of government there is heterologous. Instead of one government in Alaska we have a number, interlocked, overlapped, cumbersome, and confusing.

In their zealousness for the particular parts of the public welfare they represent the long-distance representatives of bureaus located in Washington are apt to lose sight of the fact that they all represent the same interest and purpose.

There is a government of the forests, a government of the fisheries, one of the reindeer and natives, another of the cables and telegraphs. There is a government for certain public lands and forests, another for other lands and forests. Each of these governments is intent upon its own particular business, jealous of its own success and prerogatives, and all are more or less unrelated and independent in their operation.

Success of the new policy depends very largely upon the administration of the laws in the Territory.

Experience has demonstrated that efficient administration is best secured by centralizing responsibility and authority in the hands of a small number of men, who can be held to strict accountability for the results of their actions.

The proposed development board for Alaska follows this modern and well-tested plan for securing efficient administration.

THE PRESENT SYSTEM.

The following statement of the duties and responsibilities which various bureaus and divisions of the several departments of the Government are now charged in the administration of Alaskan affairs suggests the possibilities of red tape and circumlocution in the handling of public business of the Territory.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

Forest Service.-Controls use and sale of timber, homesteads, mineral rights, power sites, etc., in Chugach and Tongass National Forests, with combined area of more than 25,000,000 acres.

Biological Survey.-Has charge of bird reserves, controls scientific investigations and experiments in propagation and development of animal life.

Experiment stations.-Maintained for encouragement of agriculture, experiment and demonstration of farming methods, crops, cattle breeding, etc.; sells crops grown on experimental farms.

NAVY DEPARTMENT.

Maintains buildings, has conducted coaling station, and made tests of native coal; sends vessels to coast in course of cruises; maintains and operates wireless telegraph stations along coast.

WAR DEPARTMENT.

Road commission.-Controls building of roads and trails with funds appropriated by Congress and set aside from license receipts. Engineer Corps.-Controls surveys, estimates, and work on river and harbor improvements.

Signal Corps.-Controls construction, maintenance, and operation of cable between Alaska and United States, and inland telegraph lines and wireless telegraph stations.

War Department also maintains barracks and troops in Alaska.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

Controls collection of customs duties, internal revenue, income tax; supervises and plans construction of public buildings; maintains Revenue-Cutter Service; makes public health regulations; maintains Life-Saving Service.

Controls mail service.

POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT.

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.

Bureau of Fisheries.-Protects seals and foxes and sells sealskins and fox skins on Pribilof Islands; controls leasing of certain islands in Aleutian group for fox ranching; employs wardens and makes regulations for protecting of fur-bearing animals; supervises and regulates fisheries, canneries, etc.

Census Bureau.-Takes the decennial census.

Bureau of Lighthouses.-Constructs and maintains lighthouses, fog and light signals along coast.

Coast and Geodetic Survey.-Charts and channels, rocks and obstructions to navigation along coast.

Steamboat-Inspection Service.-Inspects and licenses steamboats, engineers, and officers of steamboats.

Navigation Bureau.-Makes and enforces navigation rules and regulations.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

Controls court machinery, marshals, United States attorneys and commissioners, and generally administers law and justice in the Territory.

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.

Has charge of enforcement of immigration laws.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

General Land Office.-Controls entry, patent, and disposal of public domain; controls and disposes of timber on public lands outside of national forests; disposes of applications for homesteads, millsites, mineral claims, trade and manufacturing sites, townsites, coal and oil lands, and rights of way in public lands; controls water power and power sites outside of national forests; handles accounts and returns of surveyor general's office.

Geological Survey.-Investigates mineral formations, coal and oil fields, water supply and stream flow, hot springs, etc.; makes topographical and geological maps of territory.

Bureau of Mines.-Supervises inspection of mines and mining; enforces mining laws.

Bureau of Education.-Supervises education of Eskimos and other natives, and reindeer industry among natives.

Secretary's office.-Supervises care and custody of insane; handles general correspondence as to Alaskan affairs; disburses appropriation for protection of game by wardens appointed by the governor, under rules and regulations of Departments of Commerce and Agriculture; acts as clearing house for general Alaskan matters, and performs other functions not specifically charged to other departments.

RED TAPE IN ADMINISTRATION OF LAND LAWS.

Division of authority and responsibility, under this system, combined with the effort to direct administration at long distance in compliance with general regulations designed for the United States as well as Alaska, naturally results in much red tape and confusion.

Especially is this true with relation to the administration of the laws for the disposal and protection of the public lands and natural

resources.

There is one procedure for making homestead, mineral, and other land entries within the national forests; another procedure for making such entries in lands outside of the forest reserves.

Water power and power sites within the forest reserves are leased and operated under permits from the Forest Service; there is question as to whether authority exists for disposal or leasing of water power elsewhere in Alaska.

A citizen who wanted to lease an island for fox farming, carried on a correspondence with three different departments, for several months, in an effort to learn which had jurisdiction and authority to make the lease. it was finally decided that none of them possessed this authority.

Certain islands along the south coast of Alaska may be leased for fox farming by the Department of Commerce; adjoining unreserved islands may not be leased, but may be acquired under the general land laws from the Department of the Interior. Still other islands are reserved for special purposes, under the control of the Department of Agriculture.

Vast areas in the forest reserves are entirely untimbered, but are held under the regulations of the Forest Service, while timbered lands in other sections are unprotected.

DUPLICATION OF FIELD FORCES.

Mineral claims within the forest reserves must be investigated and approved by the Forest Service before the General Land Office may grant patents. It has happened that three separate investigations of mineral claims have been made by field officers of the Forest Service, Land Office, and Geological Survey.

Only a few townships in Alaska have been surveyed. Homesteads within the forest reserves are surveyed by the Forest Service without cost to the entryman. Homesteaders on unsurveyed lands outside the forest reserves must pay for their own surveys.

Timber in the national forests is sold at auction, under rules and regulations of the Department of Agriculture. Timber on lands outside these reserves is sold under wholly different rules and regulations, made by the Interior Department.

Roads and trails within the forest reserves are built by the Forest Service. Roads and trails outside these reserves are built by a commission of Army officers.

Some of the timbered islands off the coast of Alaska are included within the forest reserves. Other islands, equally well timbered,

are not.

TIMBER LAWS BADLY COMPLICATED.

The general laws forbid the exportation of timber cut off public lands in Alaska, but permit exportation of pulp made from such timber.

Under the rules of the Forest Service, arrangements are being made for extensive timber sales from the Alaska national forests this summer, and there is no prohibition against export of lumber cut in these reserves.

On the unreserved public lands settlers and miners have the right to free use of such timber as they need, without permission. In the national forests permits must be granted for such cutting, and applicants must wait for approval of their applications before taking timber.

Timber on the unreserved lands is sold upon application whenever there is demand for it. No timber can be sold in the national forests excepting under regulations which require large sales to be made at auction, after advertising.

Outside the reserves there is practically no regulation as to the cutting or forestry of timber.

In the national forests timber must be paid for before it is cut. On the unreserved public lands applicants are allowed to cut timber