Alaska Can Avoid Other States’ Errors
In Determining Form of Local Gov’t
By The Alaska
Statehood Committee
The structure of local govern
ment lies entirely within the prov
ince of each state in the American
federal system. Therefore, with
the achievement of statehood, Al
aska is faced with the necessity
of determining what form or
forms of local government should
be established within its bound
aries. It is a matter that undoubt
edly will claim much attention
from the delegates to the Consti
tutional Convention at College,
for the basic structure of local
government is. essentially a con
stitutional matter.
There is little uniformity in
present state practice with respect
to local government. Seemingly
the only constants in the picture
are the county and municipal
structures, providing two basic
levels of local jurisdiction. Powers
vested in such units vary widely
among the states and sometimes
within a state as the result of
municipal classification.
Some state constitutions grant
virtually complete control o^er lo
cal government to the legislature.
Others give local units constitu
tional status and vest in them
broad legislative and administra
tive authority.
Rhode Island has no counties,
but does have townships. All oth
er states have counties, and in
every instance but one, county ;
and municipal jurisdictions over- !
lap.
Many states have such addition
al governmental units as town-!
ships, boroughs, and a great var- \
iety of special purpose districts,
e.g., public utility districts, sani
tation districts, school districts,
fire districts, irrigation districts,
and many others. There are well
over 165,000 local governmental
units of one type or another in the
United States. %
The general problem of local
government is one of the most
controversial issues facing the
states today. In almost all states
the situation is confused, and few
citizens comprehend the complex
conglomeration of governmental
structure that has grown up over
the years through a process of ex
pedient accretion designed to meet
certain needs without relation to
basic structures or policies.
In those states whose legisla
tures have full and discretionary
authority over local government,
it has become customary to seek
special acts and even constitu
tional amendments to provide sol
utions to all sorts of local prob
lems. Constitutions and statute
books have become cluttered with
all sorts of special local provisions
through which run few threads of
consistency or general policy. In
the process, local citizens fre
quently have little voice, for all
too often decisions made at the
state capital have had their basis
in the “horsetrading” activities of
interested legislators or pressure
groups.
On the other hand, advocates of
rigid state control of local govern
ment have often found their case
supported by evidences of mis
management and corruption in
local government.
The absence of suitable stand
ards for the establishment of lo
cal government units has created
a great variety of problems in al
most all states. Principal difficul
ties have arisen in the vicinity of
large population centers where
scores and hundreds of small com
munities have incorporated to se
cure governmental services, but
where too often no local jurisdic
tion has authority to address its
efforts to meeting common needs
and problems of the entire area.
Provision of municipal home
rule by constitutional or legisla
tive enactment has in many re
gions greatly strengthened local
government by vesting consider
able authority in locally elected
legislative bodies to resolve their
own problems. It has in many
cases obviated the necessity for
state legislatures to concern them
selves with great masses of local
bills at each session, or to enact or
amend municipal charters when
ever some change in local struc
ture is called for.
However, municipal home rule
is a possible solution to only one
of the problems of local govern
ment in many states, for it often
leaves untouched the many func
tions assigned to other local juris
dictions • such as counties and
townships and the variety of inde
pendently elected officials who
often function at such govern
mental levels.
Alaska is a vast and diverse re
gion whose pattern of settlement
little resembles that which ~ oc
curred in many parts of the U.S.
Outmoded local governmental ar
rangements proven to be stum
bling blocks to efficient self-gov
ernment in other states may well
be avoided here. Mistakes once
made in local government organi
zation have proved most difficult
to eradicate, and improvement* ef
forts throughout the U.S. have
rfiet bitter resistance. The great
variety of special purpose districts
that have sprung up in many
states reflects little more than the
effort to get around governmental
forms that have outlived their
usefulness but which have proved
politically impossible to change or
abolish.
Alaska is presented with a most
fortunate opportunity to make a
clean start in the local govern
ment field. It has had no counties,
it has had no townships, its cities
are essentially compact and ho
mogeneous units, and much of the
vast region ha^ not yet been or
ganized for local government pur
poses by reason of federal govern
ment control.
With statehood, Alaska will as
sume many responsibilities that it
has not heretofore had. It will
have to organize its local govern
mental affairs not only to meet
the needs of settled communities,
but of areas yet to be settled and
developed. The opportunities are
great. Basically, the problem is
one of keeping the pattern of lo
cal government simple, providing
adequate opportunity for local
communities to manage their own
affairs efficiently and effectively,
and achieving a sound and realis
tic distribution of functions be
tween the state and the local gov
ernmental units.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim^
In the light of His glory and grace.
II CORINTHIANS 3:18 £
Hurricane Hilda
Weakened by
Cuban Mountains
MIAMI, Florida, OPi—Hurricane
Hilda, weakened by her encounter
with the towering mountains of
eastern Cuba, moved off that rain
drenched island into the Carib
bean Sea today with a good
chance of regaining her full
strength.
Reports from Cuba were sketchy
but storm forecasters here said
the eastern end of the island un
doubtedly was pelted with heavy
rains.
“Hurricanes always drop a tre
mendous amount of water when
they come in contact with moun
tains,” said Leonard Pardue, the
meteorologist in the Miami weath
er bureau. “Such rain would un
doubtedly cause flash floods.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there
was heavy damage in the Cuban
valleys.”.
Hilda’s top winds, which were
estimated at 90 miles per hour
when she moved into Cuba, had
dropped to 60 to 75 in squalls near
the center as she left Cuba at
Cape Cruz and entered the Carib
bean.
“It is very likely that the storm
will redevelop over the Carib
bean,” Perdue said. “It has been
our experience that a hurricane
hardly ever dies over tropic seas.”
A special bulletin from the
weather bureau at £an Juan,
Puerto Rico, reported “strong evi
dence,” meanwhile, that a new
tropical storm has developed in
the Atlantic 1,400 miles southeast
of Miami. A hurrican hunter plane
was dispatched from San Juan to
survey the area and a new ad
visory was promised when the
pilot makes his report by radio.
Father of Four Dies
In Float Plane Crash
ANCHORAGE, (#V—An Alaska
coal miner was found dead Mon
day in the wreckage of his float
plane about 70 miles northwest of
Anchorage.
The CAA said he was Raymond
E. Wagner, of Sutton. His plane
crashed while he was making a
low altitude turn near Lake Tato
dam. The plane exploded when it
struck the rugged terrain.
Wagner was the father of four.
Rubber
Stamps
Large assortment of styles
and sizes at reasonable prices
. . . Fast, efficient, courteous
service.
The
Nome Nugget
I
[« Nome, Alaska
Fairbanks Seeks Identity
Of Strange Disease
FAIRBANKS, LP>—Medical offi
cers here have called upon the
National Institute of Health at
Bethesda, Md., to help identify
virus which has stricken 15 resi
dents in recent months with an
illness resembling mild cases of
polio or meningitis.
Dr. Charles R. Marrow, acting
city health officer, said reports
are expected from the medical
center in a month or so. He re
ported no serious after effects in
any of the cases at Fairbanks.
Alexander the Great died at the
height of his career from a mos
quito bite.
It's grand
as a sauc&...a
salad dressing
and a spread i
Made by
KRAFT
from the
one ond only
MIRACLE
WHIP
and special
pickle relishes
Miracle.
Sandwich Spread
Couple Charged With
Heiress’ Abortion Death;
Mother in Institution
PHILADELPHIA, UR—A man
and his wife in whose apartment
Mrs. Doris Jean Silver Ostreicher
died have been charged with per
forming the abortion which re
sulted in the death of the 22-year
old heiress.
Mr. and Mrs. Milton Schwartz,
arrested Monday night, were ac
cused of conspiring with the dead
girl’s mother to commit the crime
of perjury at the inquest which
determined that Mrs. Ostreicher’s
death was “a homicide.” They
also were accused of being acces
sories before the fact of a crimin
al abortion.
The development was a surpris
ing finale to a day of much dram
atics in the highly-publicized case.
Monday afternoon the dead
girl’s mother, Mrs. Gertrude Sil
ver, was held in $1,500 bail for a
hearing, date not set, on a charge
she conspired in and was an ac
cessory to the abortion.
Mrs. Silver was unable to testi
fy at her scheduled hearing and
three psychiatrists testified she
was incapable of understanding
what was going on about her. She
will be committed to a mental in
stitution until such time as she
can appear and testify.
TUESDAY BASEBALL SCORES
American League
Cleveland 3-8, Washington 1-2
Baltimore 2-6, Chicago 0-9
Kansas City 6-6, Boston 5-7
New York 6, Detroit 0
National League
St. Louis 8, Brooklyn 2
New York 9, Milwaukee 1
Philadlephia 10, Chicago 0
Pittsburgh 5, Cincinnati 2
^or Bottle Gas
Dependable
Fuel Service °a
Phone Reliance
Main 152 Burners
GREEN’S
CITY FUEL & TRANSFER
Are \ou Ready
for
Winter?
Headquarters for
Mukluks
Parkas
Fur and Cloth
Fur Mitts
ALSO . . .
Wolf ruffs, wolverine trim, sinew,
alpaca lining, wind proof parka covers,
in bright colors.
Estimates Gladly Given
I
I