Trevor shook his head. "If the people of Alaska waited for a
Government railroad, they'd die of old age and be buried where
they died, for lack of transportation. The Government owns
telegraph-lines here, but it charges us five times the rates of
the Western Union. No, Miss Appleton, we're not ready for
Government ownership, and even if we were it wouldn't affect the
legality of what has been done. Through fear that the Heidlemanns
might profit this whole country has been made to stagnate. Alaska
is being depopulated; houses and stores are closed; people are
leaving despondent. Alaskans are denied self-government in any
form; theories are tried at their expense, but they are never
consulted. Not only does Congress fail to enact new laws to meet
their needs, but it refuses to proceed under the laws that
already exist. If the same policy had been pursued in the
settlement of the Middle West that applies to this country, the
buffalo would still be king of the plains and Chicago would be a
frontier town. You seem to think that coal is the most important
issue up here, but it isn't. Transportation is what the country
needs, for the main riches of Alaska are as useless to-day as if
hidden away in the chasms of the moon. O'Neil had the right idea
when he selected the Salmon River route, but he made an error of
judgment, and he lost."

"He hasn't lost!" cried Eliza, in quick defense of her friend.
"Your breakwater hasn't been tested yet."

"Oh, it will hold," Trevor smiled. "It has cost too much money
not to hold."