Question

Read the excerpt from a New York newspaper about the United States’ purchase of Alaska.

Cash! Cash! Cash! - Cash paid for cast off territory. . . . Any impoverished monarchs retiring from the colonization business may find a good purchaser by addressing William H. Seward, Post Office, Washington D.C.

Which best states the excerpt’s point of view toward Alaska?

Alaska is too large to purchase.
Alaska should be sold to other countries.
Alaska has few natural resources.
Alaska is land that no one wants.

Answer 1

Alaska is land that no one wants.

The excerpt mocks the purchase as buying "cast off territory" and suggests only a desperate seller or buyer would be involved, implying the land is unwanted.