NATIONAL
"The All-Alaska Weekly"
‘Our Motto is truth and accuracy’
EDITORIAL
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EDITORIAL
"Politics" Is Everywhere . . .
Probably the most insidious expression rampant in
Alaska today relates to "politics". Bureaucrats, and poli
ticians on the outside looking in, are forever filling the
air with high sounding phrases about "keeping politics
out" of various portions of our State Government.
It was refreshing to learn that Lowell Thomas,
Jr., in his Lincoln Day address to local Republicans,
effectively exposed such hypocritical thinking.
Thomas rightly explained that "politics is simply gov
erning ourselves".
He said that people should get over the idea that
politics is a "dirty word". He pointed out that whenever
two men get together to talk, a certain amount of "poli
tics" takes place.
It should be perfectly obvious to any thinking Alas
kan that you can find "politics" in practically any line of
endeavor. A businessman and his employees, for example,
engage in various forms of "politics".
Your school system, unions, service clubs, churches,
neighborhoods ... all involve some "politics". Even a
department of the State Government, headed by a Board
instead of the Governor, would be laden with "politics".
When the ousted head of the State Highway Di
vision cries "politics", he is really saying he would
have preferred to run his own little empire in his own
little v/ay, without any supervision or budgetary con
trols. His attitude is typical of most bureaucrats.
Through years of government service, most bureau
crats have come to relish the game of pulling the wool
over the eyes of elected officials like Governors and Leg
islators. After all, elected officials come and go at the
whim of the electorate.
Not so the bureaucrat. He is the shrewdest politician
| of the bunch. If he can cry "politics" often enough and at
J the right times, he will eventually secure the insulation
i snd dictatorial control he needs to perpetuate himself jn
1his own little empire ad infinitum.
If ever there is to be a valid criticism of the Egan Ad
I ministration, it is that our Governor has indulged in far too
little "politics". If anything, he has let the bureaucrats have
their own way too much of the time.
In this reqard, his firing of the head of the High
c | way Division is as refreshing as the time President
Truman fired General MacArthur. When the voters
elect a President or a Governor, they expect him to
RUN the government, not be run BY the government.
It's about time that the Republican and fellow-travel
ing Democratic Legislators down in Juneau realized what
a disservice they are doing to the State of Alaska. Wasn't it'
just a short election campaign ago that these very same
people who now defend the work of the State Highway
Division were its foremost critics?
But then that was before Governor Egan fired Mr.
Sherard, wasn't it? Now these same election time critics
have out Mr. Sherard on a gleaming white charger.
It couldn't be political expediency, could it? Or
maybe just (pardon the expression) plain old "poli
tics"?
Caught In
The Sluicebox
(Continued from Page 1)
the place. (Wonder if he’s a
sourdough yet?)
Ya know, the daddy of our
Country celebrate.? his' birth
day tommorrow. George Wash
ington wuz shore a smart feller.
He give the folks in our gov
ernmint lots of good rules to
foller.
He said to avoid gittin mixed
up with foreign countries. He
said we shouldn’t never tell lies.
He said the military should
stick to defendin the country.
All the polatishuns and gener
uls has bin stickin to them rules
ever since, especially lately.
Course, once in awhile a pol
atician slips up an gives an ole
fashioned anser like Frank
chapados did this week when
he said the figger on the de
pressed area bill dint mean
nothin cuz his finance commit
tee wud come up with its own
figger for the bill after they
looks into the matter.
But Smilin Jim saved him by
only quotin the first half of
Frank’s sentence. The way Smil
in Jim said that Frank said it,
Frank said the money dint mean
much, like it wuz jist a drop in
the bucket.
Then Smilin Jim (after chop
pin down the cherry tree an
not tellin nobody about it)
climbed up on his white charg
er an said Frank wuz a bad guy
for not worrying enough about
the pore taxpayers money.
The funny part about this
George Washington story is that
if Smilin Jim worried half as
much about the pore taxpayers
of this State as Frank Chapados
does, he wud be halfway to be
comin a good legislater.
Spcakm about depressed area
money, see where ole Jack has
ast Congriss for two billion of
it. (I wuz shore he dint come
up for election for two more
years!)
OPEN LETTER: Dear legisla
tors, Please hurry up an pass
the Governer’s bill what sez we
don’t hav to pay for our auto
license plates yet. Nobody up
here has the thirty bucks right
now. Love, Buckwheat.
See ivhere Smilin Jim, the
frend of the tourists, wasn’t
successful in try in to chop off
part of the money for the Cen
tury 21 building. (Guess he
missed the News-Miner editor
iul where they finally has come
out in FAVOR of Century 21.)
Due to popular demand an a
good seasonal market, we has
come up with another of our
SPESHUL KITS. This one is
made especially for legislative
investigating committees, an is
called ... i he . . .
BUCKWHEAT INVESTIGAT
ER KIT: This kit contains the
followin items ... (1) A flamin
speech to start off the investiga
tion. Jist fill in the blank space
where you names what it is you
is gonna investigate. Press re
leases is included as a Buck
wheat Extra. (2) A book of j
trick questions on all subjects
other then the one under inves
tigation.
(3) A make-up kit for com
mittee members in case they
git good enough to go on TV.
(4) An Americun flag to hide !
behind in case you git a wit
ness you can’t rattle what is
givin the wrong ansers.
(5) Two hunert professional
meeting attenders to guarantee
the press will say you hav a
“packed committee room.” (6)
Press releases for both republi
can an demacrat committee
members to make charges an
counter charges in case you has
a run of dull witnesses or things
go bad.
And finally, while they lasts,
(7) A committee Report giving
the findings of the committee
an askin for an additional ap
propriation to “continue the im
portant work of the committee”.
C'riie Washington
Merry-Go-Round
•y DREW PEARSON
Khrushchev's greatest fear is that Red China will de
velop an H-Bomb; Truman visits Washington; Wyoming
Senator at bottom of list.
WASHINGTON—Three important4
! factors are behind the current thaw
j in the cold war and the Moscow
Washington maneuvering to get
USA-USSR relations on friendlier
ground.
FACTOR NO. 1—is the awesome
prospect that Red China will soon
have the A-bomb.
This is just as worrisome to Ni
kita Khrushchev as it is to JFK.
Most Americans have missed the
significance of the fact that Mos
cow, in all the millions of rubles
in aid and hundreds of advisers
| sent to Red China, has given no
| advice or aid for developing Chinese
I A-bombs or Chinese missiles. And
; the Chinese are quite griped
about it.
Today, with Sweden reported
having the secret of the A-bomb,
also Israel, it can be only a matter
of time until Red China has it too.
FACTOR NO. 2—Kennedy and
Khrushchev both have right-wing
political problems at home.
Khrushchev's opposition from the
Stalinists and Kennedy's vitupera
tive opposition from the right wing
are well known. Less well known is
opposition to Kennedy policies
from inside his own State Depart
ment. Career men down the line
have fed out information to the
press, directly contradictory to Ken
nedy’s hopes for a cold-war thaw.
FACTOR NO. 3—Both Khrush
chev and Kennedy want peace.
I am convinced from talking with
Khrushchev that he wants peace,
first, because he knows all too well
atomic war could mean the virtual
death of civilization: second, be
cause war would mean the end of
his program for lifting the living ]
standards of the Russian people: i
third, because the Russian people; j
suffered tragically in the last war '•
and don’t want another.
Kennedy, who personally knows |
the suffering of war, doesn’t want
to go down in history as a war
president. He once told me: ‘'I don't
want history to record that Ken
nedy and Khrushchev set the world
on fire with atomic war." And there
was a ring of deep sincerity in his
i voice.
To translate the above factors
into achievement will require a lot
of negotiation, patience, and under
standing. However, the factors are
definitely present to permit a per
manent peace.
Harry S. Truman, full of beans
and complaining that there aren't
enough days in the year or hours
in the day, came to Washington this
week in honor of an old friend. Mil
ton S. Kronheim, who received the
‘‘Heart of Gold” award from the
Variety Club.
‘‘I’m glad to see Milt Kronheim
get what’s coming to him,” Truman
said of a man who has done more
for Washington, D.C.. than almost
any other current citizen.
Truman was in a mellow mood—
so mellow that he even sent his re
gards, via Georgie Jessel, to Dick
Nixon. Harry had paid a call on
President Kennedy, was given a
White House limousfne in which to
get around the capital, and had the
President come out to the limousine
to see him off.
i
i
“I lived in that great white jail
on Pennsylvania avenue for seven
years," he told the luncheon crowd.
“I think they still like me here.
When I go home Mrs. Truman says,
‘It'll take about two weeks to get
you straightened out.’ ”
Note—Why not give any ex-Pres
ident of the United States the privi
lege of living in Blair House, the
official government guest house,
during their visits to Washington?
There are only three living ex
Presidents, and they should not
have to stay in hotels when they
come to the nation's capital.
Capital Chaff
Some printers capitalized the
words “American Oil Company” in
a recent column referring to Ameri
can oil company intrigue in the
Near East on the side of the Arabs,
thereby giving the impression that
the column referred to AMOCO.
Actually AMOCO, or the American
Oil Company, was founded by Jacob
Blaustein and has not been active
in the Near East on the side of the
Arabs. The American oil companies
referred to in the column were
those which own ARAMCO, the
Arabian-American Oil Company...
Though Congressman Ralph Hard
ing of Idaho attended the transpor
tation lobby's cocktail party in the
Senate caucus room, he is a strict
Mormon and doesn't drink . . .
George Jessel, whom Truman once
called “The Toastmaster General.”
says he speaks for Catholic and
Protestant charities in addition to
bonds for Israel. “With the Mos
lem,” adds Georgie, “I'm not so
close.” . . . Biggest compliment Jim
Hagerty ever got came recently
from FCC Chairman Newton Min
ow. former law partner of Adlai
Stevenson, the man Hagerty helped
defeat. Minow told Hagerty. now
Vice President in charge of News
for the American Broadcasting
Company: "If there were more TV
executives like you I wouldn’t be
criticizing television.”
Bottom of the List
Wyoming's waggish Sen. Gale Mc
Gee told friends mournfully the
other day about his struggle for
status and seniority.
As an associate professor, he was
tolerated but not accepted by the
professors. He struggled mightily
to become a full professor, he re
lated, only to discover he was still
hopelessly outranked by the deans.
Rather than seek higher status
at the University of Wyoming, he
ran for the Senate. He came to
Washington, feeling important, with
17 other freshmen senators in 1959.
Under the seniority rules, those
who had served previously in the
House were put ahead of him. That
took care of half a dozen. Then
former governors were given prior
ity. putting him behind a few more
notches.
The seniority of the remaining
senators was figured according to
the dates their states were admitted
to the union, or by alphabetical
order if the states were admitted at
the same time.
McGee of Wyoming ended up in
last place.
MASONIC TEMPLE
Masonic Temple, 809 First Ave. Dial GL 2-2836
Tanana Lodge No. 162 F&AM
2nd Degree, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7 P.M.
Elmer A. Lanstra Worshipful Master
Forbes L. Baker, Secretary
Midnight Sun Chapter No. 6, O.E.S. .
Second Friday of Each Month
Pearl Scherer, Worthy Matron
Mary Helen Chaddon, Secretary