THE GOVERNMENT OF ALASKA
Excerpts From A Speech By The Attorney General Of Alaska
•. *. * (The government of Alas
ka may best be described as an in
verted democracy. We are ruled
not by the majority, but by a min
ority. When we have elections
those who receive the smallest num
ber of votes get the office—the judi
cial and executive offices.
This is not an extravagant state
ment; it is demonstrably true.
Although we have a legislative
department responsible to the public
the entire judicial as well as the
entire executive department is sn
perimposed upon us from without
appointed by the President or his
appointees. All these appointees are
at present selected from among
those who have been repudiated by
the public at the polls, if any such
be available, otherwise from among
those who have given political sup
port to those who have been so re
pudiated.
The federal officials of Alaska- •
and by these I mean the officers
and employees of the judicial and
the executive departments, consti
tute a separate political party.
They do not belong to the minority
party—they are the minority party.
They are the directing heads of the
general opposition to the popular
will.
Those familiar with Juneau know
that the federal officials also consti
tute the social and political vortex
at the capitol. Into this vortex all
lighter individualities are drawn as
by suction. One of the public amuse
ments at the capitol is to watch
how so many of those who come to
make law^ soon lose their heads in
this swirl and become unaccount
able for their own actions.
That is nothing new, nor is i;
unique. It is only a manifestation
of the fawning instinct which is a
perfectly normal expression of what
!s known a3 the herding instinct in
the animal kingdom and as mole
cular adhesion in the mineral king
dom. We see it come to the sur
face everywhere when some person
meets with exceptional success in
one line or another. It is the im
pulse of small things to sink their
own individuality in and become a
Part of a stronger body. These
tendencies are world forces. They
can not be eradicated but must be
taken advantage of and utilized for
the good of society.
By reason of these forces, as soon
as the legislators have been at the
capital a few weeks, many of them
proceed, in order to demonstrate
their loyalty, to throw themselves
down and spread themselves out
over the ground before the feet of
those they consider of greater im
portance, hypnotized by the pomp
and heraldry of power.
The Legislature has authority,
and it is its duty, to establish an
independent executive machinery for
the Territory. But it has not done
so. It has authorized the federal
officials to also, act as territorial of
ficials, and every dollar of revenue
raised in the Territory has been
placed by the legislature in the lap
of Federal officials to disburse
through such agencies as they may
select.
Nor is this anything new. The
older territories had the same
trouble with the fawner: * * * *
It was out of an abundance of
historic experience guided by com
mon sense that Congress wrote into
the Organic Act of Alaska what is
known as Section 11 thereof. It
reads as follows:
‘That no member of the legislat
ure shall hold or be appointed to
any office which has been created,
or the salary or emoluments of
which have been Increased, while he
was a member, during the term for
which he was elected and for one
year after the expiration of such
term; and no person holding a com
mission or appointment under the
United States shall be a member of
the legislature or shall hold any of
fice under the government of said
Territory.”
These provisions should he en
forced not only , in letter hut in
spirit. The purposes of Section 11
are perfectly plain. The main ob
ject was to keep the federal and
territorial functions separate and
apart and to have them discharge 1
by separate and distinct officers.
The last clause provides that no
one “holding a commission or ap
pointment under the United States
shall be a member of the legislat
ure or hold any office under the
government of said Territory.”
This is neither more nor less than
an order upon th- Territory to or
ganize its own government and pro
vide its own officers to execute its
laws, and it is a denunciation of
the present system of bestowing ter
ritorial functions upon the federal
officials.
But this section goes farther. It
anticipates attempts at federal inter
ference with the legislative work
and seeks to prevent it. It also seeks
to prevent a legislator from profit
ing directly from any appropria
tions he makes out of territorial
funds.
I have referred to the fawning
instinct as an element of human
nature which under our present
system of government has a tend
ency to divert loyalty of legislators
from their constituents and give it
over to the minority party. But let
us not forget that avarice at times
plays a part In shaping legislation.
It frequently happens that legis
lators after session is over receive
appointments to offices over which