“Our Motto is truth and accuracy”
"The All-Alaska Weekly"
» ATI ON A l
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EDITORIAL
)n
^c07,
SUSTAINING MEMBER
INCORPORATED
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA i
“For the cause that lacks assistance; for the wrong that needs resistance
for the future in the distance, and (fie ftood (hat u'C can do."
Home Owned. Controlled, and Editev.. Jessen's Wfceklv was established Jan. 22. 1942. i
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• • •
State Board System Farcial
In 1959, the First State Legislature enacted a State
Organization Act ideally suited for Alaska. The measure
established 12 principal departments, each headed by a
single individual appointed by the Governor and con
firmed by the Legislature.
The lines of responsibility were clearly drawn. The
Act provided as much insurance as is legislatively pos
sible against the empire building tendencies of profession-1
a! bureaucrats.
Under the Act, if anything goes wrong any
where in the executive branch of our State Govern
ment, then the Governor, elected by the voters of
Alaska, is responsible. If a department head fails to
adequately execute the duties of his office, the Gov
ernor can remove him.
This system is a far cry from the old "Board System"
that made an executive jungle of our Territorial govern
ment. Under that system, NO ONE WAS RESPONSIBLE. EV
ERYBODY COULD PASS THE BUCK. MANY DEPARTMENTS
WERE CONTROLLED BY THE PRESSURE GROUPS DIRECTLY
CONCERNED. RED TAPE AND CONFUSION WERE THE
RULE, NOT THE EXCEPTION.
We will grant that no system of democratic govern-1
ment can be any better than the people that are charged
with the responsibility for running it. A State Organization
Act cannot work miracles by itself.
In recent weeks, it has become obvious that our
Stare Legislature is beginning to bow to the Alaskan
pressure groups that fondly remember the old jungle
of Boards ^hat existed under Territorial Government.
ONCE rHE DIKE IS OPENED, IT WILL BE ONLY A MAT
TES CF TIME BEFORE COMPLETE EXECUTIVE PARALY
SIS SETS IN.
It seems perfectly ridiculous to place a Board that
’mee*: several times a year, for a few days each time, in
- charge of a department that is spending many millions of
dollars each month. In actual practice, a single individual,
appointed by the Board, is the man who runs the show.
Under the Board System this "insulated" individual
cart do just about as he pleases. A review of Territorial
experiences proves this fact beyond a shadow of a doubt.
i The people, through their elected Legislature an<T j
e!4cted Governor, have virtually nothing to say. The peo
p’d however, continue to pay the bills, which are gener
al® "empire sized". The pressure groups concerned win'd
upjfhaving virtually everything to say. ,
I The Board System on the level of local govern
■pent is a different matter. Your City Council and
Mchocl Board meet regularly and are in close touch
with what is going on. They levy taxes and perform
Viany other legislative functions, in addition to pro
viding executive supervision.
* Not so on the State level, where we are already pay
irvfor a Governor and Legislature to do these very things.
A»best, the Board System provides additional red tape
exptrssi^dypliqaf^n.
■ At worst, an insulated director and a pressure group j
rdm things to their own whim and fancy, while the tax-1
pfer pays the mounting bills. It is sheer hypocrisy to say
tjw d Board, meeting for a few days each year, can run j
avulfl-million dollar department of our State government.'
Caught In 1
| The Sluiccbox j
(Continued from Page 1)
All of which goes to prove
that famous old slogan of the j
Buckwheat Party that “polati
ciuns shore gits themselves
sonic strange bed partners oncet
in awhile.”
Oh, an then there wuz the
show what had Smilin Jim and
Disappearin Paul on it. They
was goin “tsk tsk” so loud you
could hear there teeth rattlin
about “a certain domacrat legis
lator” (if you don't identify em.
they is all guilty) what said
he wuz voting for a bill “cuz it
wuz an election year”.
Now we all knows this is an
unheard of thing to do in Amer- l
ica. You might know Alaska
would be the place where some \
stupid lawmaker would finally
make a true statement on why |
he ivuz votin.
Wal, anyway, Paul an Jim,
said they would never do a ter
rible thing like that. They wuz |
gonna “stick with there convic
tions” . . . like last year when
Disappearin Paul hisself spoke j
agin a certain bill an then voted
for it. When somebudy ast him
why he voted for it, he said "it
wuz gonna pass anyway.”
Continuin our legislative re- !
port, see where the Semite is i
gonna reconsider there action ;
on the Wage an Hour Bill. Seems !
the lobbyists wuz caught so flat
footed by the quick action in
passin the bill that the Semite
is now gonna hold a hearin on
the bill “so the peepul kin be
heard from”.
You know, lots of folks com
plain that they can't understand
by the news reports what is |
REALLY happinin down in Ju
neau. This is true an is a real
problum. The BUCKWHEAT
PARTY office of infermation
has come up with the solution. ■
It is called . . .
“TRANSLATION HAND-I
BOOK FOR WEARY TAXPAY
ERS’1 and will be on sale soon. |
Here is a few samples of how |
the handbook will work. . . !
STORY: “Alaska’s legislature |
spent a busy an fruitfull week in
which much was accomplished”.
TRANSLATION: “No bills wuz
passed but the legislators give
us plenty of news copy.”
STORY: “All was quiet on
the legislative front this week,
with little work being done ”
TRANSLATION: “The legisla
tors has been workin each nite
til midnight in committee meet- |
ins on important legislation, so
there has bin no time for any
speeches
blORi : “The vital legislation
passed with only slight amend
ment'’. TRANSLATION: “The
amendment cut the guts out of i
the bill”.
STORY: “The Senuter made ;
an impassioned plea for the peo- I
pie.” TRANSLATION: “He give
a real good campain speech ”
STORY: “The legislates vot
ed to reconsider action in pass
ing the bill so that the people
could be herd frum.” TRANS
LATION : “The lobbyists has
won agin.”
Meanwhile, here in Fairbanks
things has been real quiet. They
is so quiet the mayer even give
up his seat the other night to !
lecture the Pioneers about
parks, of all things.
PASSIN PRADE: Governer;
candidate Stepovich has been j
campainin at all the PTA meet
ins in Fairbanks . . . The ground
hog seen his shadow which
means wendil kay won’t an
nounce his future plans for at
least six more weeks . . . Won
der if the Army’s “Great Bear”
is russiun? . . . Fidel Castro is
prediction more revalutions, so
maybe David Newton Boyer wil
still git his chance to fight . . .
All the Alaska senuters is gon
na give up there reguler jobs
an go to work as shrimp pick
ers at a dollar an a half an
hour after the session is over.
cita Washington
Merry*-Go-Round
ty DREW PEARSON
George Washington set precedent on military influ
ence; Eisenhower reaffirmed principle; Rockefeller lady
friend returns to husband.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Strom"
Thurmond of South Carolina and
other right wingers who want to
put the American military ahead of
civilian government should read a j
little book. "Washington Bowed,”
by the ex-governor of Maryland.
Theodore McKeldin.
McKeldin served as governor at
Annapolis in the oldest state house
in the nation, where Gen. George
Washington relinquished his com
mission as commander of the revo
lutionary army.
The civilian branch of govern- j
ment, history records. wras at that
time woefully weak. ‘‘The Continen
tal Congress was without prestige,"
Governor McKeldin writes. "The
people had virtually forgotten that
a national body existed. The pre
ceding summer this national body
had been obliged to flee from Phila
delphia by reason of riots staged
by disorderly soldiers demanding
unpaid wages.”
The country was ripe for the same
kind of military upsurge that now
endangers France.
But on Dec. 23, 1783, General
Washington resigned in a ceremony
carefully arranged to reaffirm con
fidence in civilian government.
It was stipulated that "the mem
bers of congress would remain
seated and would keep their hats
on. They were not to rise or to un
cover to General Washington. When,
however. General Washington had
become Mr. Washington, then the
congressmen were to rise and lift
their hats. But even then, they were
not to bow.
"They were to maintain their
superiority to Washington, whether
he were soldier or civilian.”
Washington carried out this dic
tum to the letter.
“At every point,” recounts Gov
ernor McKeldin, “he conformed to
the rules of the congress, w'hose
members were keeping their hats on
in his presence. And so the cere
mony ended and Washington was
General Washington no more.
“The congress did finally rise and
uncover as a sign of respect to him.
And then Washington performed his
first act as a private citizen.
"It too was a recognition of con
gress' authority. He bowed.”
hisennower Warns
Dwight D. Eisenhower, a military
man for 42 years, gave a somewhat
similar bow to civilian government
in his last message to the American
people. On Jan. 17. 1961. three days
before leaving office, he warned
that never before had the United
States had both a great standing
army and a great industrial war
machine.
“This conjunction of immense
military establishment and a large
arms industry is new in the Ameri
can experience,” he said.
“We must guard against the ac
quisition of unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought by the
military-industrial complex. The po
tential for the disastrous rise of mis
placed power exists and will persist.
“We must never let the weight
of this combination endanger our
liberties or democratic processes.
Only an alert and knowledgeable
citizenry can compel the proper
meshing ol' the huge industrial and
military machinery of defense with
our peaceful methods and goals.”
That warning was issued one year
ago. A few months later, when Sen.
William Fulbright of Arkansas
pointed to the manner in w’hich in
dustry was infiltrating military
seminars with its own propaganda—
exactly as Eisenhower warned—the
preventive war clique in the United
States began to beat the tom-toms
against Fulbright as if he were a
Communist.
That clamor has subsided in Ar
kansas, where Fulbright appears to
be stronger politically than ever.
But it is a long way from subsiding
in Washington.
Rockefeller Romance
The lady for whom Gov. Nelson
Rockefeller was willing to divorce
his wife and relinquish his chance
to be president of the United States
now seems to have gone back to her
husband and is living very happily
with him.
The lady, wife of a doctor who
is employed with the Rockefeller
Institute, was reached last w’eek at
her New’ York City home. She had
just come back from a cruise to
Bermuda with her husband and
their children. Her husband was liv
ing in the hotise w’ith her and came
to the telephone. There appeared to
be no problems between them.
I Assuming that appearances are ac
curate, the question is: Where does
this leave Governor Rockefeller?
The public did not realize it at
first, but it was the governor, not
| Mrs. Rockefeller, who initiated the
separation. Mary Todhunter Clark
Rockefeller, his wife of 31 years,
had been in love with her husband,
her children, and her life generally.
She w’as not anxious for a change.
impecunious governor
For eight years, the governor of
New Jersey, Robert B. Mevner,
lived in a beautiful colonial home
| in Princeton, built in 1701 by the
family of Richard Stockton, a signer
of the Declaration of Independence.
The governor of New Jersey is
one of the lower paid state execu
| tives, and the estate, called -,Mor
i ven,” was given to the state as the
| governor’s residence by Walter
Edge, former governor and senator
from New Jersey.
There Governor Meyner lived, not
extravagantly but comfortably, with
his wife Helen. They had sufficient
I servants to trim the spacious lawn
and keep the two-hundred-year-old
woodwork waxed and polished.
| Today, the ex-governor of New
Jersey has moved to a small, unpre
1 tentious house in Princeton. His
law practice, which he has just
started, is uncertain. The big New
Jersey industrialists who once
sought his company seem to have
| interest elsewhere these days.
And his wife, Helen, has no ser
vant. She will bring in a cleaning
woman twice a week, otherwise do
the housekeeping herself.
Such is political fame—especially
for a governor who doesn’t feather
i his nest while in office.
MASONIC TEMPLE
Masonic Temple, 809 First Ave Dial GL 2-2336
Tanana Lodge No. 162 F&AM
2nd Degree, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 7 P.M.
3rd Degree Wednesday, Jan. 31, 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