THE GLEAM
JUNEAU, ALASKA
*
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1916
VOL. I, NO. 7
COMPENSATION
LAW IS VICIOUS
One of the most important meas
ures to be considered by the next
Legislature is the so-called “Com
pensation” Act, either for radical
amendment or repeal. That it will
not remain on the statute books in
its present form, we believe certain.
No more vicious measure was ever
passed by a well meaning legisla
ture, under the belief that they were
enacting a progressive, humane meas
ure.
No more successful piece of bold
and brazen lobby work was ever
pulled off. Mr. Sulzer, and the in
terested employers won their case
before the Second Legislature mere
ly by the misuse of names. They
called the law a “Workingmen’s
Compensation Act.’’ It is not a com
pensation law, but a law to limit
thel iability of employers against the
consequences of their own negligence.
During the last eighteen months,
■scores of crippel workmen have
been robbed under this law. The
families of those killed have been
mocked with a pittance, and in the
majority of cases with nothing.
The law as it now stands is in
deed very bad, that an adjuster
for the insurance companies patron
ized by employers in this vicinity
says it reminds him of the expres
sion of making a horse think he
letting him wear green goggles—that
it makes all the motions but in fact
gives the employee less than noth
ing. This is the opinion of the man
who represents the company which
insures against the claims of injured
employees.
Unless the law shall be repealed
in toto, it must be amended in all
the following particulars:
First, the law as it stands is si
lent as to medical treatment. What
good does it do a man to pay him
$1440 for the loss of a leg, if it
costs him $1500 for medical and hos
pital treatment?
Second, there is no means provid
ed for enforcing the law so that
the injured employee gets all the
small pittance the law gives him.
The way the law works—at least
with some of the beneficiaries of the
Continued on Page 6
WOMEN NEED
LEGISLATION
Can the third Alaska Legislature
do justice to Alaska women in the
matter of rights to which she is
clearly entitled, but which she is de
nied?
To the casual student of the his
tory of Alaska Legislation, it would
seem that these long denied rights
should be easily obtained. A wo
man’s suffrage bill was passed by the
First Alaska Legislature, and the
measure was adopted in both hous
es without a dissenting vote.
But as if that was the Alpha and
Omega of justice to Alaska woman
hood, the history of Alaska Legisla
tion favorable to womanhood closed
in the hour of its birth.
Except for the bare right to vote,
the laws of Alaska are in some re
spects as archaic to women as that
of any state in the Union,
There are, for instance, hundreds
of cases in this Territory where hus
band and wife have, and husband
and wife are, acquiring moerate for
tunes in the husband’s name by their
joint efforts. Under these circum
stances, if the husband dies without
a will, and the preparatio nof wills,
as a matter of human habit, is, as a
rule, deferred until the last moment,
when the execution of a will is no
longer possible. All of this proper
ty, jointly earned, becomes the prop
erly of the blood relatives of the
husband, upon his death; and in the
event that he ha3 no relatives, the
property reverts to the government.
Again, under the laws of the Ter
ritory, a father is, in the matter of
the inheritance of property, regard
ed by the law as the next to kin.
In the matter of the inheritance of
property, to the sons or daughters of
both. If a sister of a mother, or
any one else, for that matter dies,
leaving an estate to a child, and the
child dies before the estate is ad
ministered, the estate passes to the
father. If the father has ceased to
support and care for his family, if
he is a drunkard and a vagabond,
it matters nothing to the law. He
is the heir of the child and gets
the estate so left.
In our songs and in our sentiment,
Contiued on Page 5
CAN’T KEEP GOOD
MAN DOWN
What, for the want fo a better
description, may be termed the ec
centricities and idiosincrocles of Ju
neau newspapers is illustrated by the
following: A certain Juneau lawyer
who is no craven and declines to
truckle to the self-constituted “elect”
and the big interests of Juneau, rais
ed a question of law, until then un
determined in the Territory of Alas
ka, and argued it on a habeas cor
pus proceeding before Judge Jen
nings.
As in his wont, Judge Jennings
immediately saw the point and de
cided in in favor of this lawyer’s
client and Annie Jones was discharg
ed from custody and arrest; and what
was more important to the general
public the “Kangaroo Court” meth
ods of certain picayune officials of
Juneau were put at end. Now, the
newspapers of Juneau used this story
to the extent of a column but never
once gave credit to or mentioned the
name of the lawyer who raised the
point for the first time, argued it be
fore the upper court and scored a
victory; he was ignored, while other
lawyers who had clients under ar
rest and in jail by virtue of the
same methods, and who profited by
this lawyer’s work, were mentioned
as> representing their clients as
though they were entitled to credit
for the victory.
And the lawyer who won just
laughed, continues to pursue the even
tenor of his way, gets more and more
clients and bigger fees every day,
renders efficient servicve and pleas
es his clients. It’s brins, after all,
even if one does not personally ad
mire the possessor of them, that
count in life.
A foreign born class of eighteen
are now taking English and United
States Constitution at the night
school’s public classes.
An open mouth may catch the most flies
bui the shut one corralls the more iron men
Remember the wise old owl who lived in an
old oak tree.
Continued on Page 4