ture elected by the people of Alas
ka.
If Senator Dunn had voted for this
American plan of self-government
in Alaska, the bill would have pass
ed; if Howard had voted for it, al
so, it would have been passed over
the Governor’s veto, and would have
become a law. But both of them
kept faith with the Tory opponents
of a Democratic form of govern
ment, and defeated it.
It was thought for a time that
Senator Dunn would finally vote
against free government in Alaska.
But the Juneau Empire and Stroller’s
Weekly, both supporting the non
public interests, “puffed” him in
their editorials and by copying his
tirades against the bill, until Le
forgot that an Irishman ought to
vote for home rule. In his last
great windmill speech against self
government he declared that he had
Deen approached by some evil dis
posed person to vote for it. He
likened the “approach” to that
event in sacred history where the
Savior was conducted to the moun
tain top and shown all the king
doms of the earth he might control
if he would fall down and worship
the devil.
There was really some basis of
truth in this tale of the Ruby Je
sus, too, for during one of his pre
vious outbursts he declared the
Comptroller Bill was being sup
ported by men who wished to se
cure the appointment of one of its
supporters as Comptroller in case
the bill passed. One of his brother
Senators, however, assured him
that he was mistaken, that the elec
tion of a man to serve as Comp
troller until the general election ty
the people in 1928, was not agreed
upon, and that if he (Senator Dunn)
and his friends would vote for and
pass the bill, they might name the
man to act until 1928! Dunn re
fused to bow down and worship the
devil of self-government; he refused
to support the bill even though he
and his friends could name the
Comptroller to serve until the gen
eral election in 1928. The tnith
was that he and Howard had yield
ed so far to the control of those op
posing self-government in Alaska
that they were no longer free to
vote for the public interest.
If Senator Dunn, of Ruby, or
Howard, of Anchorage, had favor
ed a plan of self-government in
Alaska, either of them could ha‘re
secured it; by voting for the Comj •
troller Bill. If either of these men
had opposed a government in Alas
ka by Federal Bureaus, he could
have destroyed that system by vot
ing for the Comptroller Bill, and
thus freed the people of Alaska
from control by a group of appoint
ive Federal officials, who are re
sponsible for their actions only to
the Secretary of the Interior in
Washington, D. C. One single vote
would have laid the foundation o?
self-government in Alaska and de
stroyed the appointed Federal Ma
chine which now controls the des
tiny of the people of the Territory;
Dunn, and also Howard, had that
vote at his disposal, by the grace
of the people of their respective
districts, and refused to cast it for
self-government. They deliberately
betrayed the people of Alaska and
cast their votes in favor of an ap
pointive Federal Bureaucratic Gov
ernment therein.
A PUBLIC NOTICE
The American plan of Territorial
Government for Alaska will be pre
sented the next legislature for its
adoption. If the people of Alaska
approve of self-government and op
pose a Federal Bureaucratic control
of their local affairs, they must
look to the patriotism and character
of the men whom they elect to the
legislature, and see to it that no
Tory in disguise shall be elected to
betray them.
JAMES WICKERSHAM
LABOR LEGISLATION
Much complaint has come from
canneries apd salteries about© fraud
practiced upon laborers, both men
and women, imported each spring
from the States. These people alga
a contract binding themselves foi
the season, induced by certain re
presentations which are not em
bodied in the contact.
The signed document provides
that the employee shall have free
transportation north in the spring
and south in the fall provided he
remain all season. But this con
tract also provides that the super
intendent of the work shall be the
sole judge of whether the employee
does his work properly, and that
the employee shall have no right to
question the justice of this decision.
Hundreds of employees are thus
discharged every 3ummer when the
work becomes slack, on the pretext
they are unsatisfactory. They have
signed away their rights to appeal
to the courts. These people as u
rule, are left stranded. They re
ceive no transportation back to the
states and cost of transporting
them north is deducted from what
they have earned.
11Y WAY OF ILLUSTRATION
When this bill was before the
labor committee—Gaffney in the
chair—the Attorney General, as an
illustration, called attenion to on**
case where a man and his wife
hired out for the season to do the
cooking at a cannery. The two had
arrived in April and had signed up
for the season, which meant until
October. As soon as the Superin
ten dent’s wife arrived they were
notified they were unsatisfactory,
were sent away with the cost of
transportation deducted, and the
newly arrived wife became cook and
received their pay. The aggrieved
had no redress because the contract
provided that the Superintendent
should be the sole judge of whether
the employee did his work.
It was ofund that three years ia
succession the Superintendent had
practiced the same fraud upon the
cooks hired for the season.
But the Gaffney—Lowmen com->
bine said by their votes that no re
lief should be afforded: “No good
man was ever discharged."
—a. j,