THE LIST LEGISLATURE
HOUSE BILL 17
Tthis) bill wafe introduced )by
William L. Paul and sought to
provide liens on property by the
watchmen thereof. At present
liens are provided for all sorts
of workmen who build, repair,
or improve property, and for those
who log, but no lien is permitted
in cases of canneries that have been
shut down for one or two years;
or of the mines in the same fix; or
other property. Such property
keeps its value entirely thru the
presence of the watchmen, and
yet under the law, these laborers
cannot file liens to protect their
wages.
This bill passed the House, Harry
Watson of Fairbanks being the
only vote against it. Mr. Watson
must have gotten his instructions
from Senator Harry Pratt, for it
was Senator Pratt who amended the
bill in the Senate so that the
right of lien now only applies
to the watchmen of icanneries.
This bill should be amended by
the next legislature for watch
men of all kinds of property
Should have the right to lien
property which has been preserved
entirely by their labor.
This bill afforded the first chance
for people to see what kind of
a man Harry Watson of Fairbanks
was. We found him to be the
sort of a man who always favored
everything and then voted the
opposite way. In this case he
voted against the rights of a
working man wJho took care of
mining property.
Harry Watson is now secretary
to the Governor of Alaska.
HOUSE BILL 18
This !bill was introduced by
N. O. Hardy, lone Democrat from
the First Division. It soon be
came known as the “Corporation
Sole” bill. The object of this
bill was to enable the Roman
Catholic Church and the Russian
Greek Catholic Church to organize
a religious corporation with only
one person. The present law re
quires three persons. There was
no other change proposed.
The history of this bill was
rather singular. It was first pre
pared for Father Kashayaroff by
his attorney in .Jun^au-j Th<en
it found its way into the hands
of Father Raccati, of the Roman
Church. Father Roccati took the
proposed bill to Senator Frank
A. Aldrich> now a candidate for
Delegate to Congress, and asked
Mr. Aldrich to introduce it into
the Senate. Senator Aldrich then
said to Father Roccati, “Father
Roccati, if jesus Christ himself
should ask me to introduce this
bill, I would tell him to go to
hell.” There was no' '(mistaking
the Senator’s language.
The bill then appeared in the
hands of the lone Democrat N
O. Hardy of Juneau.
This bill did not become a law,
it being defeated in the Senate.
HOUSE BILL 19
This was to build a school house
at Kenai, and appropriating $7
500. It being a school bill, it
went thru without opposition.
HOUSE BILL 20
This bill Vlas introduced by
George Moody of Fairbanks and
was designed to tax NON-RESI
DENT trappers out of existence.
It followed the lines of tbe fed
eral act. It was generally support
ed by the House members because
the principle underlying it was
correct, namely, that RESIDENT
trappers or workers should be
preferred to NON-RESIDENT.
When it came time for George
Moody to support a bill introduced
by William L. Paul and follow
ing the identical lines of Moody’s
bill only protecting RESIDENT
fishermen, Moody voted against
Paul’s bill. Possibly if Paul could
have delivered a bottle or two,
or even if during some sober
moment Moody could have been
induced to reason, he might have
seen that the two bills were the
same in principle.
This bill died for the reason
that the same subject was covered
much better by the federal act.
HOUSE BILL 21
This hill was to repeal the law
which permits Alaskans to indicate
their preference for the person
who shall be appointed Governor
of the Territory. It was intro
duced by Harry Watson, and is
a faithful picture of that man.
From the very beginning he bowed,
“Kow-tow” as the Chimes cal!
and scraped to POWER (spelled
with big letters). By this bill
he said that he did not believe
that the people of Alaska Should
be permitted to express in a law
ful manner their preference for
Governor.
The vote (8 to 8) was as
follows;
Against the people; Ben Grier,
N. O. Hardy, George Moody, Jos
eph Murray, Robert Sheldon, Will
iam Sherman^ Harry Watson, Chas.
Wilcox.
For the People; John Elliott,
Chas. Ferguson, William D. Grant,
Thomas Jenson, Andy Nylen, Will
iam L. Paul, H. H. Ross, Richard
Sundquist. “And so the bill was
lost.”
HOUSE BILL 22
This bill was for an act to define
and punish embezzlement, but was
so broad that it was defeated
in the Senate. This bill furnished
an instance wherein Joseph Murray,
and William L. Paul agreed. Paul
made the motion to strike that
section which would make it em
bezzlement for one partner to take
the partnership property. Joseph
Murray seconded the motion. It
carried. Such a provision is bad
in principle because the theory
of partnership is that both partners,
or all of them, own the property.
How then can you steal your own
property?
HOUSE BILL 23
OLD AGE PENSION ACT
This bill was introduced by
Willia.m L. Paul and was for an
act to amend the old age pension
laws to conform to well directed
criticisms of the Pioneers, support
ed by the Trustees of the Pension
Fund.
Under the old act, (introduced
by H. R. Shepard) there was noth
ing else to do but to quit pay
ing pensions when the fund was
exhausted. Under Mr. Paul’s bill,
plan now in operation^ namely,
that warrants shall issue to each
aged person, which warrant could
be used by the aged person as
a basis of credit, the warrant to
'be redeemed by the Territorial
Treasurer as soon as money became
available.
A provision was introduced by
way of amendment by Thomas
Jenson of Nome which permits
Indians or other Natives of Alaska
to receive pensions providing that
such native person is not receiving
aid from the United States govern
ment. This provision was strongly