Make Alaska a State , Says Col. William B. Greeley, U.S. Forest Service, July 13, 1921

Wants Alaska Made a State. . . Chief Forester of United States Condemns Long Range Government

Washington, July 13—Warning against the development board plan for Alaska and advising that the territory be made a state as soon as she is qualified, Colonel William B. Greeley, chief of the U.S. forest service, says the proposal for the board plan “may well be challenged.”

Colonel Greeley has been in Alaska and made an exhaustive study of her resources which he calls the greatest asset the United States has today. The statement is of the most timely nature because of proposed plans for President Harding to take his summer vacation in the territory this summer and publication of figures showing ow the white population fell off 23 per cent in 10 years. Colonel Greeley deplores red tape methods as having strangled progress in the territory and says:

An effort is now being made to create for Alaska a local commission, or development board, which would take over the duties and authority of the various Federal executives, together with the administration of all public resources in Alaska, working solely under the direction of the secretary of the interior. This proposal may well be challenged. After all, the national interests in Alaska are paramount. Alaska represents, in her marine fisheries, her enormous agricultural areas and her resources for growing meat-producing animals, one of the great food sources of the United States. In her vast forests ie a practical solution of our paper shortage.

“The United States has painstakingly, by many years of effort, built up national policies for the use of publicly owned timber, publicly owned sources of food, coal and oil resources, water power and migratory birds, from the standpoint of public welfare in the long run. It has built up specialized organizations handling these varied resources with the best technical experience and skill the country affords. Should it now, by one stroke, cut off a vast region containing one-sixth of our total area from the uniform and consistent application of these public policies by the specialized organizations created for the very purpose of their accomplishment? I think not.

From The Charlotte News, July 13, 1921. Col. Greeley lost the argument. Alaska didn’t become a state January 3, 1959.