Atty. Gen. Rivers
iGives His View
On New Hatch Bill!
—
Office nf Attorn'"' r' '—*’
Juneau. Ala
Oct^be" 2", 1/M5
Hon. E. L. Bartlett
Delegate from Alaska
Hou«e Office Building
Washington, D. C.
Subject: Opposing S 14'P *"» al-j
lowing Secretary of Interi'"* to
Lease public land in Alas’ a.
Dear Bob:
* Thank you for sending me copy
of Senate Bill 1461 introduce } by
Senator Hatch (by request* to au
thorize the Secretary of the Inte
rior to lease public land in Alas
ka. I note that you made no com
ments by way of transmittal. Al
though I know you have se^t cop
ies to other persons and accedes
in Alaska, my reaction should be
among the first as I am familiar
with the subject matter.
This occasion is reminiscent of
a bill introduced about six years
ago designed to withdraw all
lands from entry w thin 30 rods of
t any navigable or other waters ex
cept under leases from the Secre
tary of the Interior. The excuse
then recited was an allgeed neces
sity to keep land available for fu
ture public use as the need might
arise. The answer was that the
power of eminent domain could!
always be invoked for public pur- j
poses without hamstringing Alas-!
ka, so the bill got nowhere. In the j
interim other measures have been l
proposed, such as a bill to create
public purpose corporations under j
the Department of Interior, for
exclusive use and control of large
areas in Alaska. Needless to say
that bill did not become law. i
However, the process never ceases!
as evidenced by unjustifiably1
large reservations established by
the Secretary of the Interior un-1
der the Wheeler Howard Act, and
other encroachments too numer-1
ous to mention.
Now for S. 1461. It provides, in
brief, that the Secretary of the
Interior may lease any of the
public lands in Alaska except
those already reserved, limits the
terms of such leases, grants power
to make rules and regulations,
provides an ambiguous savings
clause and defines “Public Lands”
as hereinafter mentioned. Aside
from being consistent with the
Secretary’s long-standing cam
paign to impose a Federal leasing
system upon Alaska under his de
partment, S. 1461 is the worst bill
I have ever seen. Its approach is
obviously a deceit and a snare. It
starts out by expressing the pur
pose of promoting development of
Alaska. It then goes on to say
that:
“The Secretary of the Interi
or may lease or grant revocable
permits to use, for agricultural,
industrial, commercial, or any
other purposes, any of the pub
lic lands of the United States in
the Territory of Alaska in tracts
not to exceed one hundred and
sixty acres, any part of which is
now or hereafter included with
in a short space reservation un
der Sec. 1 or Sec. 10 of the Act
of May 14, 1898, as amended.”
Said Act as amended is compiled
in 48 U.S.C. Sec. 371 and extends
the homestead laws to Alaska
with the proviso that entries may
not be more than 160 rods in ex
tent along the shore of any navi
gable water and that a shore
space of at least 80 rods shall be
reserved from entry between all
i such claims. Since 1920, however,
the Secretary has had the power
! to restore such 80 rod shore re
1 serves to the open public domain.
WIEN Alaska Airlines
WISH TO ANNOUNCE THEIR
NEW LOW RATES AS
IS T E D BELOW
FAIRBANKS—NOME:
Passenger Fare, One Way .$54.00
Passenger Fare, Round Trip . 97.20
Excess Baggage, (Allowance 55 lbs.) per lb..34
Express, Under 50 lbs.34
Deferred Freight, Over 50 lbs.12
NOME—MOSES POINT
One Way Fare . 19.00
Round Trip . 34.20
NOME—UNALAKLEET
One Way Fare. 40.00
Round Trip . 72.00
FREIGHT RATES FOR 100 LBS. OR OVER:
. Nome—Golovin.05
Nome—Teller.05
Nome—Shishmaref .10
Nome—Haycock.10
Nome—Council.05
Nome—Moses Pt.10
Nome—White Mt.05
Nome—Candle.10
Nome—Deering.10
Nome—Wales.10
0
Special rates on ship loads of freight in excess of 2000 pounds, to
all villages with landing conditions suitable for multi-engine planes.
All freight rates subject to 3% government tax.
All passenger fares subject to 15% government tax.
10% reduction is offered on all passenger round trip fares, if
paid in advance.
Now you will see that the lan*!
guage of the bill which would au
thorize the Secretary of the Inte
rior to lease any public land in
Alaska for agricultural, industri
al, commercial or any other pur
poses “any part of which is now
or hereafter included within a
shore space reservation” is the i
type of ambiguous phraseology
obviously intended to mislead the
casual reader at the outset into
thinking that only such shoreline
reserves are meant to be put un
der the leasing system. But the
bill does not say so. In reality it
would allow the Secretary to lease
“any of the public lands of the
United States in the Territory of
Alaska” including “any part of
which is now or hereafter ‘con
tained’ within a shore space reser
vation.” Such meaning is forti
fied by the last section of the bill
which provides that
“As used in this Act, the term
‘public lands’ shall mean any
lands owned or controlled by
the United States, except lands
embraced within national for
J ests, national parks or moun
| ments, Indian reservations, or
l other Federal reservations.”
Additional equivocation is found
in that part of the bill which says:
“This Act shall not affect any
valid existing right, nor shall it
apply to any land below ordin
ary high-water mark. This Act
shall not be deemed to modify
or repeal any statute providing
for appropriation, leasing, or
other disposition of the public
lands or their resources in
I Alaska.”
The language that such Act
would not affect any valid, exist
ing right would protect entries al
ready made. How about future en
tries on land over which the Sec
retary may have exercised his
long sought leasing power? Why
say that this Act shall not modify
: or repeal any statutes providing
for the “appropriation” of lands
in Alaska? The Homestead Law
i speaks of “entry” or “settlement”
not “appropriation.” The mining
laws speak of “locations” not “ap
propriations.” Let us say, how
ever, for the sake of argument,
that the homestead and mining
location laws would not be legally
modified or repealed. Then what
do you have? You start out with
a large area of open public do
, main. Upon that public domain
the Secretary of the Interior "may
lease or grant revocable permits.”
He is not required to start leas
ing public land. Let us assume for
the fun of it that he is unaggres
sive and does not invoke such
power. Under such a state of sus
pended animation the public do
main would remain open for en
try and location. If that concep
tion is too fantastic, let is assume
that, as a matter of policy and to
minimize opposition, the Secre
tary will assert his leasing power
ftnly over small areas at a time.
In that manner the existing Land
Laws and Mining Laws would not
be modified or repealed. There
would still be an open although
diminishing public domain to
which they would apply. It would
not be long, however, until all of
the more habitable areas would
have been staked out by the Sec
retary as his locations for carry
ing on the subdivision and leasing1
business. It will be noted that al
though each lease would be lim
ited to an area not exceeding 160
acres, the Secretary would be al
lowed to invoke any purpose in
the premises, and would have to
hold available for leaseholds of a
similar nature, areas adjacent to
that of his first lessee in each sec
tion to protect the poor fellow
from a change of character of the
neighborhood. It might be argued
that the Secretary could only seg
regate land from the public do
main in chunks of 160 acres at a
time in dealing with ascertained
lessees, but the bill does not state
that limitation clearly enough to
prevent the exercise of such im
plied powers as would be reason
ably necessary to make effective
the salient program expressly au
thorized. So be assured that whole
localities would be segregated for
leasing in aggregates far in excess
of 160 acres, and that by recruit
ing a few dislocated persons from
the States as initial lessees, every
desirable area in Alaska would
soon be segregated for leasing for
one purpose or another. There
after title-minded enterprisers
would refuse to invest and title
minded settlers could wail with
out avail as the sympathy of an
oversized bureaucracy would then
resemble the tenderness of an oc
topus administering a fond em
brace.
As to developing Alaska: The
| authors of the bill may have over
| looked the fact that Alaska has al
| le^dy enacted a land registration
j law' designed to put back in circu
lation patented tracts which have
been abandoned. <Ch. 49 S.L.A.
; 1945) Such law should do away
j with the idea that it is better to
I lease than grant patents.
I If the Department wants to de
j velop Alaska, it should make the
I picture attractive by expediting
issuance of patents and selling to
] prospective industry and settlers
the opportunity for eventual titles
j instead of leases.
If the Department believes in
! Statehood, as it says, it should not
complicate transfer of the public
domain to the new state by spon
soring any such law as S. 1461.
j If the Department should sanc
tion an enlarged Organic Act au
thorizing the principal functions
of Statehood as preparatory to
such ultimate status, it should not
reduce Alaska's taxation powers
by cluttering up the country with
federally leased tracts.
I could enlarge upon the sub
ject at greater length, but the
point is well recognized by your
self and all other Alaskans. I have
extended my remarks thus far to
support you in the opposition to
S.1401, which I, as attorney for
the people of Alaska, would
recommend and urge.
Sincerely yours,
RALPH J. RIVERS,
Attorney General
for Alaska.
CHUCKLES
He—What lovely eyes you have!
She—I’m glad you like them.
They were a birthday present.
“Did your wife have anything
to say when you got home last
night?”
“No, but she talked two hours.”
“I guess I’ve lost another pu
pil,” said the professor as his glass
eye rolled down the sink.
Teacher —Tommy, name five
things that contain milk.
Tommy—Butter ’n’ cheese ’n*
ice cream—’n’ two cows.