Mirrors of Juneau
The Legislature of 1929
By Various Writers
-X
WILL A. STEEL
-x
Senator Steel had the honor of
being elected to preside over the
Senate. He proved to be one of
the most independent men who
ever sat in our legislature.
The leadership that is so ne
cessary in legislative bodies was
supplied by him. In doing so
he demonstrated that he under
stands that this nation is found
ed on the “will of the people.”
He introduced the famous
“Controller Bill” which seeks to
give the people of Alaska the
right to elect their own officers.
Supporting him in this were
Senators Anderson and Sund
quist of the Second Division;
Senator Frame of the Third; and
Senator Benjamin of the First.
Opposing this measure of self
government were Senators Dunn
and Hess of the Fourth, and Sen
ator Dimond of the Third.
Second only to his fight for
self-government, was his fight
against Lester D. Henderson, the
political messenger boy of the
Governor’s Office, be he a Demo
crat or Republican, who has
managed our school system. This
man. for twelve years the Com
missioner of Education of Alas
ka, was the most important cog
in the bi-partisan federal ma
chine. When his job was threat
ened, his allegiance to both
parties became apparent when
such persons as Mrs. Harry Mor
ton of Anchorage, Senator Di
mond, Pat Gilmore of Ketchi
kan, Charlie Bunnell of Fair
banks, and the Bert Faulkner
Republicans wailed their loudest
in chorus. But thanks to the
courage of three men, Senators
Steel, Anderson an d Frame,
Henderson is no more.
Senator Steel’s school bill
provided without a maximum
limit a refund of 85 per cent plus
$30 tuition for outside students.
This was opposed by Mr. Hen
derson and his henchmen. Mr.
Henderson (on the plea of ecorn
omy) wished the limitation of
75 per cent.
Due to the great majority in
the House where Joe Murray is
the accepted leader, the refund
for schools was reduced.
But the point is this, (and the
people of Alaska should give him
credit) Steel tried to get a more
liberal allowance for our primary
school system but he was de
feated by the Federal political
machine whose slogan was “keep
down taxes” and (this very soft
ly) “for this will please our non
resident constituents.”
Senator Steel also introduced
a sanitation bill to regulate can
neries. Various cannery repre
sentatives said “We have no ob
jections to this bill because we
are doing those things already.”
and yet their friends in the
House led by Attorneys Foster
and Ziegler, killed it promptly.
When President Charles Bun
nell of the Fairbanks Agricul
tural College asked the Senate
to give him $232,000, Senator
Steel opposed him. The amount
finally granted was $105,000—
a saving of $127,000. This the
tax payers should also remem
ber.
Senator Steel also opposed
Representative Foster’s $5 head
tax for the pioneer’s pension
fund.
We are glad to announce that
Senator Steel has successfully
arranged his business so that he
will remain in the Territory and
that he will be a candidate to
succeed himself.
CHARLES BENJAMIN
-x
Senator Benjamin in private
life is a leading merchant of
Wrangell. He is not only a firm
believer in home rule but he is
also familiar with the fisheries
question, particularly as applied
to Southeastern Alaska, and he
is also a stickler for doing the
right thing towards all inter
ests. He believes that one way
to advance t'.i3 general business
condition of the First Division
is to make its people more pros
perous thru the one big indus
try that means so much to this
section. And this he would do
by giving greater employment
to local fishermen. To accom
plish this he concluded that the
er way was to exclude, as
far as possible, the non-resident
me in ich large
numbers from the outside to en
gage in this seasonal work. To
meet f.ys situation he introduc
ed a bill in the Senate, one that
lie thought might go thru an un
known quantity—the House—• by
placing a license of $150 on the
foreign trollers. The five Re
publicans in the Senate stood
back of the bill from the start
and of course it passed. Then
to our surprise it got thru tht
House where the prohibitive
clause was raised to $250, which
was immediately accepted by the
Senate and is now the law. Sen
ator Benjamin was one of the
implacable advocates of the
Board of Control Bill and quite
willingly held out to the end to
force the arbitrary House into
conceding their quite liberal
capitulations along the line of
giving the people the right to
run their own Territorial af
fairs.
Senator Benjamin, among
other measures, was quite will
ing that the women should have
a community property law and
strengthened the bill when it
came from the House, which was
agreeable to the women advo
cates. The improved bill went
to free conference and was ac
cepted by both conferees and
later by the Senate. But the
House had a change of heart
and allowed the conference re
port to die. The previous ex
perience of the Senator as a
member of the House stood him
in good need as he gave his voice
and vote to those measures in
the Senate that spelled prosper
ity and progressiveness.