side of that area. We opened up a little river boat service down there, and lost $32,000 on the river boat, but increased the railroad revenues by $35,000. Now, how much faster that is going to develop remains for the future to determine, but it has been healthy up to the present time. Mr. ROBSION. Is this railroad suspended much of the year on account of the snow? Colonel STEESE. Last year we were tied up in April once for about 36 hours and two or three times for 6 or 8 hours; we were tied up in June for two weeks just the day after the congressional party was there. The tieup in June was in the Nenana Canyon. Mr. ROBSION. What caused that? Colonel STEESE. It was due to flood conditions. The water went 8 feet higher than ever known before. We have two snow divisions where the rotaries operate continuously all winter. The snowslides do not usually tie us up very much of the time until the spring break-up, when there will be snow and rocks and trees and everything to come down. Last fall also we had a very bad storm. We have the second highest tide in the world at Turnagain Arm-a 45-foot tide, and last fall it was 6 feet higher than it had ever been known to be before. We had the glacial season just ending at that, with the high tide and great rains, and we had the greatest flood that we have ever had, so we were tied up about five weeks last fall. We have been operating all winter this year. We are now expecting to get our spring slides-we have one section tied up this week-but we have some further work on snow sheds to complete. has only been completed in the sense that trains can go through. has not been completed in that it is not brought up to standard construction throughout. We have a lot of work built, but not up to standard; we have a lot of ties that have got to be taken out and new ones put in for permanent construction. The line So far as agriculture is concerned, a great portion of the Territory is self-sustaining, and we have garden truck, root crops, etc.; there is now a grist mill there which is grinding wheat. I do not contemplate Alaska's ever shipping any agricultural products to the outside world. So far as mining is concerned, gold took an awful slump during the war and just immediately after, but our gold production this last year was about $7,000,000 and copper products jumped 30 per cent, up to $11,000,000. Mr. ROBSION. What about coal? Colonel STEESE. Well, last fall we got the first export coal off the railroad line. This is the first we have ever gotten. Mr. PEERY. It is under lease from the Government, is it not? Colonel STEESE. Yes; the Government gets a royalty from that coal, and gets a certain fee. It is public land, leased for coal purposes. Taking everything on the trade list for the whole, last year, it shows an increase of about 50 per cent, or a total of $90,000,000, showing that it is on the upgrade. Of that $90,000,000, exports were $61,000,000, leaving a balance of trade in favor of Alaska of $31,000,000, which is a very fine showing for 30,000 white people. There are 30,000 white people and about 30,000 natives, or about 60,000 people. The CHAIRMAN. What is the ratio of increase there? Colonel STEESE. There hasn't been an increase there-there has been a decrease since 1910 up to 1920. I think since 1920 we have had a little increase, but we have no figures to show it. That situation is this way, we now have in there as many people as we used to have. That is the laborers who worked on the railroad; we have replaced them by permanent population, people living there with their families, so that we are still suffering from the effects of that 1920 census, which shows a decrease over 1910. Of course, during the war, Alaska furnished the largest proportion of men to the Army; that is, her ratio in volunteer service men furnished was greater than any of the States. There being no local manufacturers, a great many people left Alaska to work in shipyards and at booming industries on the coast. Another thing that does not show in the census figures is the great number of the migratory population. We have 15,000 or 16,000 fishermen who come in during the fishing season and go out again to the west coast or elsewhere. Mr. ROBSION. There is no tourist business there, is there? Colonel STEESE. Last year the tourist business started because the railroad is completed through, and we handled some 1,000 or 1,200 tourists last year. Three hundred made the loop out over the highway and around. Mr. ROBSION. Is the native population increasing or decreasing? Colonel STEESE. It suffered very severely from the flu. Since then I think it has been getting along all right again. In some villages they were almost wiped out and in others there were very few left. There was very great distress. Mr. BRAND. Your mining business is gold and coal? Colonel STEESE. Yes, sir. We produce some coal for use on the railroad for the last seven or eight years, and all the power plants and domestic users along the railroads have been receiving coal for several years, but this is the first time we have ever been able to get coal shipped out. Mr. BRAND. There is plenty of coal there, is there not? Mr. PEERY. How is that? Is it a high or low quality of coal? Mr. PEERY. How high a percentage of carbon? Colonel STEESE. We have everything from lignite there to the highest grade of bituminous coal. There is no one formula to cover it. Mr. ROBSION. In some places it is over 85 feet thick? Mr. MANLOVE. Whose hands is it in now? Colonel STEESE. In the Government's hands, but some of it is in the hands of people who have taken up parts of it by lease. They have 2,540 acre leases, but they can not combine. Each man must operate his unit. The CHAIRMAN. We are getting a little out of line, gentlemen. Mr. ALMON. I read or heard somewhere something about our oil deposits or oil reserves out in our Western States, and in the interest of the country we would naturally be interested in having you give us something about the oil resources of Alaska at this particular time. Colonel STEESE. I can do that very briefly. In the Katalla district, over here, there has been a refinery operating for some 12 years. They have some 15 or 20 small wells from which they pump 5 or 10 barrels a day out of each well, and they refine that and sell it to the local market. They are not able to produce anything like the amount we use, and we ship in thousands of gallons from the outside. Mr. ALMON. They got title to that land, did they? Colonel STEESE. They got a patent to that land before the oil lands were withdrawn. That is the only oil land patent issued. The other oil lands were withdrawn for about 10 years. Mr. ALMON. Explain the oil lease business to us, please. Colonel STEESE. There was an oil lease law, under which the associated interests and the Standard Oil are drilling down here [indicating] in oil. The associated company got down about 900 feet and stopped last fall. The Standard people are down about 1,300 feet now and expect to bring in a well in the spring. There are oil seepages all along there, and they expect to bring in a well in the spring. Mr. ALMON. They are on Government land? Colonel STEESE. They have filed on this Government land under requirements of the oil leasing law. They are complying with the law in every respect, or will get out. Mr. ALMON. Was the law passed by Congress? Colonel STEESE. It was passed by Congress. Then there are other places where there are oil seepages and down here is Yakataga Reef, and way up here on the northernmost point, almost, of Alaska is oil near Point Barrow. Mr. ALMON. That is way up near the North Pole, is it not? Colonel STEESE. It is entirely inaccessible so far as transportation is concerned, and there have been thousands of entries filed up there, and a large area has been withdrawn for the Navy, and a dog team left here the other day to make that trip up there, about fifteen or sixteen hundred miles. The oil industry is devoloping to-day, but there is only one producing company and that is right here. Mr. ALMON. Is that oil leased under the Department of the Interior? Colonel STEESE. Yes, sir. (Thereupon the committee adjourned, to meet again Friday morning, March 21, 1924, at 10 o'clock a. m.) COMMITTEE ON ROADS, The committee met at 10 o'clock a. m., Hon. Cassius C. Dowell (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Atkeson, the committee will be pleased to hear you. STATEMENT OF MR. THOMAS C. ATKESON, WASHINGTON REPRESENTATIVE THE NATIONAL GRANGE Mr. ATKESON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I represent the National Grange organization, which, as an organization representing farmers largely, is, of course, interested in the question of roads, and especially in the question of better roads. It is a matter of historical fact that our organization began the agitation in this country for better Government assistance in highway construction. We were active in support of the old bond loan bill, which was the first bill ever introduced in Congress providing for Government aid in highway construction. We have followed that legislation all the way through until its final culmination, and at practically all of our more recent sessions the National Grange has indorsed as liberal Federal aid as the financial conditions would justify. Congress, of course, would have to settle that question, because you can not spend money without getting it in some way or somehow from somebody; but our organization is unqualifiedly in favor of the most liberal support that Congress believes it would be justified in making for the continuance of road work under cooperative arrangements between the States and the Federal Governemnt. Just how much should be appropriated annually is for Congress to determine. The proposition that is now pending before the committee, as I understand it, is to make an appropriation for three years in a definite amount. I am sure that I can not answer that question for Congress or for the taxpayers, or the question as to how much should be provided; but it seems to me that a definite program covering more than one year, and covering, perhaps, three years, or for a sufficient length of time to make possible the working out of some definite road construction plans, should be adopted. I am inclined to think that our organization favors this three-year appropriation or provision for highway construction. I think our organization favors the Federal Government covering by its provision a period of not less than three years, and with just as liberal appropriations as Congress may think the financial situation justifies. Whether that should be $100,000,000 a year or more or less, I would not feel like undertaking to even suggest. It would seem that $100,000,000 is not an unreasonable amount, and that we are spending other hundreds of millions of dollars much less to the advantage of the national welfare than would be the expenditure of $100,000,000 for road construction. I think that is all the time that I care to take. I simply wanted to state to the committee that the National Grange, an organization representing a membership of probably 1,000,000 people, covering the country from Maine to California, is in sympathy with the proposition of continuing highway improvement. If I were going to take more time, I might go into details as to how and where this money should be expended from the farmer's standpoint, but I do not care to go into that in view of the limited time at your disposal. I simply wanted to present to the committee the attitude of our organization on this subject. STATEMENT OF MR. GRAY SILVER, REPRESENTING THE AMERICAN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION Mr. SILVER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, if I may, I will read a resolution adopted at our annual convention on December 11, last, as follows: The amount of funds to be appropriated for highway construction should, with due regard to the condition of the Treasury, be adequate to carry out the Federal highway act of 1921, which called for a three-year program in conjunction with the States in building a system of roads. Congress should cause no delay in construction because of lack of or lateness of appropriating funds to carry out this program. I will just say that our people are whole-heartedly supporting this program, and that they wish to see it carried out. Whatever is necessary to bring that about, they are ready to support. If there are no questions, I am through. I thank you. STATEMENT OF DR. S. M. JOHNSON, GENERAL DIRECTOR OF THE LEE HIGHWAY ASSOCIATION Doctor JOHNSON. Gentlemen, the Lee Highway Association is working for the development of a southern transcontinental line of travel from New York State, through Washington, down through the valleys of Virginia and Tennessee, across the Mississippi River at Memphis, reaching El Paso, Tex., and San Diego, and thence up to San Francisco. It is the southern counterpart of the Lincoln Highway. In our work we have realized that the only way to get such a highway built was in cooperation with other organizations in working for the whole highway program and for the State program in each State. We held our last convention, which was our fourth one, in Washington on February 5 and 6. We requested the governor of each of the 48 States to send delegates to the convention, because we realized that there was not entire unanimity upon the matter of the continuation of Federal aid or of increased Federal aid. I was very much disappointed that the committee on resolutions of the National Roads Congress, which met in Chicago, was unwilling to indorse the Dowell bill. That was one of the reasons why we broadened the scope of our work so as to include the whole national program. The governors of many of the States sent delegates to our convention. The attendance on the convention was somewhat reduced by reason of the fact that it was held in the early part of the week following the death of former President Wilson. However, we had representatives there appointd by the governors of States and by chambers of commerce, and who were leaders in their communities, those delegates representing States that pay over one-half of the Federal taxes, including New York and New Jersey. I will not take time to mention all of them, but they came from as far as California. I had letters from Governors of States that were not represented by delegates in the convention, expressing their sympathy with the movement for a continuation of and increase of Federal aid. Therefore, I think that the resolutions which were adopted by our convention should have considerable weight in the consideration of this question, and those resolutions favored the provisions of the Dowell bill and also of the Colton bill. In addition to that, it favored an increase of Federal aid for this current fiscal year, so that with the funds appropriated and authorized, there would be not less than $90,000,000 available. There are a few things in our recommendations that were adopted by a unanimous vote. I might say that Governor Smith and Governor Silzer sent their personal representatives to out convention, and showed a great deal of interest in our work. Also, the Governor of Alabama and the governors of a number of other States sent personal representatives, and some of those gentlemen served on our committees. |