Territorial Museum, and joined in by Johnny Walk
er Troy, of booze fame.
Real thinking business men however will appreciate
the $5000.
Walter J. Fisher
“WALTER IN WONDERLAND”
“There’s a place where the ocean is rolling,
Where, the mountains all stand up on end,
Where the voices of statesmen are calling,
But what for I cannot understand.”
“There is shouting of higher taxation,
There is talk of a controller bill,
But it all seems to me a vexation,
And I want to get back to the drill.”
“There are orders and quorums and motions,
There are precedents, digests and bilte,
But I cannot keep track of such motions,
And I want to hike home to the hills.”
There are banquets with linen in splendor,
With much cutlery, china and glass,
But what it’s used for I wonder,
when I’M invited I pass.”
"There’s one dump where the white mule is flowing,
Where the members find pleasure and peace,
Where the lobbyists greet you all glowing,
And that's where I parked my valise."
"They are jovial, warm hearted fellows,
There are trap men and canners galore,
And they’re perfectly willing to tell us,
Just what we should say on the floor."
“They said that more men of my stature,
Were needed for making the laws,
That seiners were rough necks by nature,
And no statesman would champion their cause.”
“Yet I wonder sometimes why they helped me,
And called me a statesman of class,
And said there was something about me,
That distinguished me right from the mass.”
“Oh it’s wonderful being a statesman,
For two months you feel like a king,
But it’s tough going back to the hard pan,
The old pick and slio\el to swing.”
GOVERNMENT IN ALASKA—BIT
IEAUCRATIC .OR .AMERICAN—
f WHICH?
(Continued from Page 3)
pposed by the appointive Federai
Governor and Secretary, by every
'ther appointive Territorial Bureau
official, and all tlieir employees, by
the newspapers in Alaska, who con
sistently support the non-public
foreign corporations engaged in ex
ploiting Alaskan people and re
sources, by the aggregation of for
eign cannerymen and other lobby
ists who flocked to Juneau from
San Francisco, Portland and Seat
tle; swollen with plethoric purses
and insiduous, secret and power
ful arguments against a Free Terri
torial Government in this Territory.
All these Tory influences immedi
ately surrounded the weak mem
bers of the legislature, those who
could be controlled by promises of
jobs and subsidies, and by other
influences less honorable, and, with
the appointive Federal officials as
leaders, opposed the passage of the
bill.
THE VOTE AGAINST SELF
GOVERNMENT
The Federal Bureaus, the cannery
lobbyists and others who wish to
prevent the passage of any bill
through the Alaska legislature for
the better government of the Ter
ritory always begin their corrupt
ing work with the Territorial Sen
ate, for it consists of only eight
members. If these corroding in
fluences can secure control of four
Senators they can thereby prevent
the passage of any Act by the legis
lature, for it requires the affirma
tive votes of five Senators to pass
any bill through that body. The
control or four of these Senators,
therefore, prevent the passage of
any bill, even though the House
members be unanimously in favor
of it. Whenever the people of
Alaska see four Senators standing
solidly in favor of big interest le
gislation, or against the passage
of laws in favor of self- government
in the Territory of Alaska, they may
be sure that some interest beside
the public Interest is being served.
These opposing forces secured the
votes of four Senators against the
passage of the Comptroller Bill,
in every form in which it was offer
ed, viz, Senators Jensen, Pratt.
Dunn and Howard. The other four
Senators, Brown, Frame, Hunt and
Steel, voted for it on every occa
sion, l)u t the four negative votes de
feated (he passage of the bill, for
it needed five votes to pass.
After the defeat of the bill in the
Senate it was again introduced in
the House in a modified form to
meet the objections made against it
ny uuun anu Howard in tne Senate.
It passed the House with a vote of
nine ayes and seven noes. It was
then sent to the Senate, but How
ard, president of the Senate, In
an arbitrary and unlawful ruling,
sustained by the votes of the four
Senators who defeated it on the
first vote, refused to allow it to be
received by the Senate, even for
another vote, and thus by the votes
of Jensen, Pratt, Dunn and Howard,
the only chance for self-govern
ment against appointive Federal
Bureaucracy was ruthlessly and
shamefully slaughtered In a legists