y/Ui£Y fX0N7J£XSAMN
Published' each Thursday,
Subscription rotes.. 5'0d month
Editor.Viola ..Daniels
. i \ *
No printed .nr ter.ini ' in the Vr 1 Icy
Front iersman may bo reproduced,
except by permission of the '.di
tor.
The following editorial ^ppe^red in a re
cent issue of The Alaska Sunday Press, pub
lished at Juneau, Alaska, following the in
troduction of a bill in the House of Repre
sentatives, which called for an appropria
tion of $660,000 for the construction of a
territorial office building in Prlnor.
The bill was the first ...move in P/'lmer's
bid for'location of the capital of the* state
of Alaska here. It was later defeated in
the Senate, for reasons explained -elsewhere
in this issue by Palmer’s Senator Walter E.
Huntley.
We feel this editorial,, which the Juneau
newspaper' captioned "No Time for Horseplay"
is so important that every Valley resident
should read it. Since wc feel it often is
unfair and that it shows a lack of informa
tion on the part of its writer, w./ hava ‘ta
ken the liberty of answering cer^*in p^rts
of it. Sone portions, unfortunately, cannot
be answered. In .the'-matet ial which-foil ows, ■
those remarks enclosed in parenthesis and
underlined, are the- editorial opinion of the
Valley Frontiersman.
"Last wee1', Reps, Jensen and Owen intro
duced a bill to appropriate $660,000 for the
construction of a. Territorial office build
ing in Juneau to remedy a deplorable' and
critical office housing shortage thr:tr-\is
seriously affecting- the conduct-- ■ of -their Ter-r
ritory's functions. With the increase of
personnel that is .necessitated to take care
of the augmented duties ■ and functions re
sulting from legislrti ,n rv-'ss d fay . the 'pre
sent- legislature, this condition is certain
to become aggravated.
"As Gov. Gruening told the House, it,will
be shameful if. the' legislature, adjourns
without having done something about it.
"Assuredly not' a member of the Legisla
ture who has’ had. occasion to call' upon the
various territorial agencies does not recog
nize the seriousness of the ' situation. It
was the purpose of Messrs. Jensen and Owen
to remedy■this1 when'they' introduced the of
fice housing- bill.■ They wore not looking
ahead to meet a condition that might arise
in the future,'-but to cope.with one that al
ready exists. . •• • ; , :
(However- it cannot be denied tht the ax
penditure of $660.000 for-..territor-ial.. o ficcs
V
. i nr would bt.
• •' wrt-i ghtv_argument
r.gainst the- transfer
of the c-*pitwt.to
some other_site, wi
thin the next ye"r or
two ._Ala’s Lea does not
> come by her hundreds
of th’cus^r.us of doll
ars that c asi.1.yaT
"It sc e-mod than a
majority of the Haviso
members were inclined
to frvor the pror •:.'.1
It is probable, h-d
it not been for the
strategy of "divide
them' and lick then’’
adopted by Speaker
St*111 ay Me Cuter eon,
the House would h*ve
passed the bill. or,
MeCutcheon, with hi*
tongue in his ebe .k,
offered an amendment
to change the loca
tion of the proposed
structure from Juneau
to Palmer. Franklin
then proposed Fair
banks. The latter
was eliminated *s ha
ving too inclement
climate and no water
a nd s e w a g e system.
And‘so the Palmer am
e n d men t wa s • d o p t o d,
with two First Divi
sion members voting
for it. Of cour :<l ,
Mr. McCutcheon isn't
nr ivc enough to be
lieve that the Senate
will p*ss such a-'mea
sUr c.
(If ITr. McCutch
eon"1-? .nciment scor
eei frtioT~l enough t~
ellcit tbc voToc’s of
Two First 1)1 vis Ion '
represent • t-ivcs , -who
mipTHT’be e x p<• ctcd To
f - vc r t hu j. i' one Toen
tity, it' must hrvo
secfhccT nretty" sensible
m f-!C'St« respects, "fr.
IlcCutch^on knows ?■'!
nu r 1 well, hoving the
h cTv .'■ntf'g v. r : ‘‘he docs/
of'living cn its'dooi
stef at Anchor »v-t-c
.just 50 rrdl-.s rvr\\ t
He's visited the
lcv often enough, ^ad
h-s been a legislator
in Juneau' long cn'"nrh .
to be a'blc to Inst- r
tly gr-r<;;n , v : -
vnntnjys in cl i nan.^
location., ^ cesoibvi
.itv to transport-' t.' nr ;
good f 1 v 1 ng u »• •- th v r ?
and the wi !• r. ■
outdoor recreation- 1
a civr nt ~Rc s i t off e r e
t& tir< ci lawmakers
as veil as to olhersT
(Next page)