Land Of Promise
Or Captive Colony?
• Continued From Page One
very likely break down immedi
ately in a real emergency.
“We need lower shipping rates.
Present rates from here to the
west coast are fantastic. And we
need a stable year’round popula
tion as a source of labor that can
only come with development of
civilian activity.”
One Hearing Thorough
Such problems enter into and
dominate any discussion of Alaska
statehood. In examining them
some of this year’s Congressional
visitors followed the “normal”
, junketeers’ pattern, and some did
not. Among the former must be
listed the Senate public lands com
mittee headed by the white-haired
Omaha grain broker, Hugh But
ler. Senator Butler stated upon ar
rival that he was not in favor of
* Alaska statehood, that he would
hold only brief, informal hearings.
The itinerary disclosed that the
committee would spend four days
at Mount McKinley National park.
Alaskans proceeded to entertain
the Butler committee with some
relief. Just a day or two ahead of
this group had passed another
Congress ional group whose
strange passion for hard work had
been something of a shock.
This was a four-man subcom
mittee on public lands from the
• House committee on territories
and insular affairs. Its chairman
was Representative Fred L. Craw
ford, a Republican and a banker
from Sagniaw. Mich. With Repre
sentatives Jay LeFevre of New
York, William A. Dawson of Utah,
and Edward J. Jenison of Illinois
• all Republicans—the two Demo
cratic members of the committee
^ were unable to make the trip*, a
wire recorder, a secretary, and an
abundance of energy, the commit
tee arrived at Whittier aboard an
army transport and began majyr
hearings at Anchorage, the Terri
tory's largest town.
From there on through a 3,500
mile tour hearings were held early
and late. All testimony was trans
cribed, and will undoubtedly fur
n «h the largest body of source
material for both Houses of Con
gress to delve into when they come
to answer the big double-barreled
question:
“Is Alaska ready for statehood,
and if so, how far will statehood
go toward erasing the tremendous
harrier* to full development of
this now-vital territory?”
Anchorage Favors It
During three days of hearings
in Anchorage, the Crawford com
mittee found unanimous and per
suasive sentiment on the side of
statehood. Not a single opposing
witness appeared.
Considerable opposition appear
ed, however, at Fairbanks, where
the mining interests and A. E.
(Cap) Lathrop, the Territory’s ag
ing bachelor-capitalist, are known
to remain strongly in favor of the
! status quo.
Through the good offices of
General Craig and Lieut Cots.
Clayton Wells and M. M. Irvine of
his staff, the writer was permitted
to join the committee at Fairbanks
for a long swing by army plane
to Point Barrow, Nome, Kodiak
Island, Cordova and back to the
capita] at Juneau.
At the village of Barrow on the
springy tundra at the shore of the
Arctic ocean and 1,200 miles from
the north pole, several well-spok
en war veteran Eskimos discussed
statehood gravely. But they were
much more concerned with the
threatened closure of the only hos
pital in an area which has the
highest tuberculosis rate in the
hemisphere.
At Nome is was much the same
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story us at Fairbanks, though
statehood proponents were quick
to point out that mining interests;
have an economic stake in the
matter. Alaska, as a Territory, as
yet has no general property tax
and thus huge areas of potential
mining claims can be withheld
from settlement, where it might be
feasible, or from other usese with- '
out expense to the companies.
A single, five and one-hall-hour
flight, once again on instruments
and through icing conditions,
took the group from the rather de
cadent subarctic mining town
only 160 miles from Russian terri
tory back to the temperate climes
at Kodiak, where there is cattle
pasture the year around.
Industry Needed
In this lively town, site of the
navy’s main Alaska headquarters
and the “only community recrea
tional center in Alaska” there is
a loud and insistent demand for
the full rights of citizenship.
The same is true to varying de
grees over the whole southeastern
Alaska coast, which has the great
! est proportion of population. The
capital city, Juneau, has a strong
representation in the opposing
; camp because the Seattle-owned
fishing industry, like the mining
companies, doesn't like the state
hood idea at all.
I This is not to infer, however,
that all the Territory’s opponents
to statehood take their stand be
! hind their own pocketbooks. There
( is, for example, Charley Gold
! stein, 77, an internationally-known
Juneau furrier.
“What we need is industry- —
year ’round work to support a big
ger population. The prospect of a
big pulpwood development is the
most hopeful sign this Territory
has had in many years. We ne^d
industry, not statehood. Statehood
brings bigger taxes, and drives
■ industry away.”
To which sort of argument Mr.
Ernest Gruening, who is generally
considered already as the most
progressive governor the Territory
ever had, replies thus:
“The present situation in A1 is
ka, after so many years of Terri
torial rule, speaks for itself. What
foundation is there for hope that
the situation will improve without
such drastic change as actual
statehood?”
Land of Contrasts
He who attempts to make gen
eral statements about Alaska is
i likely to get tangled in his own
typewriter, because the region is
so vast and so full of antipodal
i contrasts, both in climate and
economy. Nonetheless some such
statements, based upon testimony
before the Crawford committee
and upon several dozen personal
interviews, seem to be necessary,
so here goes:
1— Alaskans as a whole are as
American as hamburger. They are
cosmopolite, excellent hosts, and
rapidly gaining an active political
consciousness.
2— Alaska, the Territory, is al
most as wide open and undevel
oped as it was when purchased
from Russia eighty years ago. An
area twice the size of the state of
Texas has only some 80,000 year
’round residents, something over
one-half of whom are whites.
3— It pays heavy tribute to ab
sentee ownership. Both the salmon
industry, largest in the Territory,
and the coastal shipping upon
which the Territory must depend
for its supplies and both almost
entirely Seattle-owned. Both are
monopolistic and subject to the
evils thereof. Ip a large sense the
Territory is, in the words of Dr.
Charles E. Bunnell, president of
ony of Seattle.”
Health Sanitation Bad
4— A tangle of literally scores
of federal bureaus in a govern
ment in which the Territory has
no full-fledged representa t i o n
wields arbitrary power over pub
lic and private lives of Alaska
citizens to a degree that would
cause virtual armed revolt over
night in Colorado or Michigan
5— Alaska has a health situa
tion that is a crying disgrace to
the federal government, which un
der Territorial status is mainly re
sponsible. The tuberculosis rate is
sixteen times that of the United
States among natives, nine times
among whites. A large part of the
population exists without medical
care of any kind.
6—Alaskans pay federal income
tax but get none of it back for
Territorial expenses. Road appro
priations allowed for other Terri
tories are non-existent here. Fre
quently even appropriations ear
marked by Congress for Alaska
have been arbitrarily diverted by
federal bureaus.
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