By Mary Lee Council
Secretary to Delegate Bartlett
Congressional Appropriations
For Alaska
Appropriations made available
by Congress for the 1954 fiscal
year amounting to 140,387,330 for
Alaska activities may be reduced
through a cut in spending order
ed by the Bureau of the Budget.
It is expected that the Budget
Bureau will make a new estimate
shortly for spending by govern
ment agencies during the current
fiscal year.
Agriculture Department
The Rural Electrification Ad
ministration would have an est
imated $61/2 million available
for telephone and electrification
loans in Alaska which makes up
the major portion of the $7,968,
146 made available for Alaska
functions of the Agriculture De
partment. The remaining funds
would be divided as follows: $60,
498 for Extension Service work;
$121,013 for Experiment Station
work; $270,000 foe agricultural
research; $658,495 for the Forest
Service, including $430,600 for
protection and management,
$168,000 for roads and trials, $51,
871 for research and $8,024 for,
forest highways; $92,395 for Pro
duction and Marketing, including
$33,219 for the school lunch pro
gram; an estimated $105,745 for
the Soil Conservation Service and
$160,000 for the Farmers Home
Administration.
Civil Service Examinations
Delegate Bartlett has renewed
his efforts to have the Civil Ser
vice Commission establish com
petitive examinations in Alaska
for federal appointments.
In writing to Chairman Philip
Young of the Commission, the
Delegate stated his belief that
such examinations would be prac
ticable and equitable and pointed
to the fact that the main centers
of Alaska are no longer sparsely
populated, Alaska as of July of
last year having some 182,000 per
sons, according to the Census
Bureau. The Commission has pre
viously studied this problem at
Delegate Bartlett’s request but
has contended that competitive
Peter J. McGuire
Labor Day Founder
Peter J. McGuire first proposed
a general holiday for the laboring
classes, a day “which shall be
Laboi’s - an occasion devoted to
the industrial spirit, the great
vital force of every nation.” Mc
Guire, who was founder of the
Carpenters Union and a co-foun
der of the American Federation
of Labor, also fought left-wing
ideologies and union movements
in the latter part of the last cen
tury.
According to the record, it was
McGuire, at that time general
secreatry of the Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners, and a
delegate to the Central Labor
Union of New York, who pro
posed a motion at a meeting of
the latter group on May 8, 1882,
recommending that one day in
the year be designated as “Labor
Day” for the purpose of honoring
“Those who from crude nature
have delved and carved all the
grandeur we behold.”
He suggested the first Monday
jin September for the .holiday he
had in mind, “as it would come at
thg^most pleasant season of the
year, nearly midway between the
Fourth of July and Thanksgiving,
and would fill a wide gap in the
chronology of legal holidays.”
McGuire’s resolution was adop
ted and a committee was appoint
ed to plan a demonstration in line
with his suggestion of a street
parade, “which would publicly
show the strength and esprit de
corps of the trade and labor or
ganizations,” to be followed by
“a picnic or a festival in some
grove.” The first Labor Day oc
cured on Tuesday, Septeber 5,
1882, in New York City. In 1884
the first Monday in September
was selected.
examinations would be unwork
able. However, as Delegate Bart
lett has argued, those studies
were first based on the 1940
population figure of some 72,000
persons which has more than
doubled in the intervening years.
The vast majority of federal
employees in Alaska are placed
in what is known as Schedule A
positions which are subject to
removal simply through notifica
tion to that effect. In 1947 Presi
dent Truman issued an executive
order extending removal safe
guards to all employees with civil
service status serving in Schedule
A positions, but that protection,
with the exception of persons
subject to veterans’ preference,
was removed through a recent or
der issued by President Eisen
hower. Should competitive exam
inations be established for the
Territory, Delegate Bartlett has
stated, persons working for the
federal government in Alaska
would thus acquire civil service
status and the Schedule A desig
nation would be abolished.
Former Postmaster
Goes to Texas
Harry B. DeLand, Principal
Appeals Referee of the Employ
ment Security Commission, is re
signing from the Alaska agency
which he has served for five years
to accept a position in the Dallas
office of the Texas Employment
Commission, he announced last
week.
DeLand, a resident of Alaska
for 18 years, went to Juneau ten
years ago from Palmer where he
had been postmaster. Several
brothers live in the Matanuska
Valley.
Before joining the E.S.C., De
Land was Superivising Deputy of
the Department of Taxation. For
ESC he has served as Field Au
ditor and Chief of Field Opera
tions. Active in the International
Association of Personnel in Em
ployment Security, DeLand last
year was Executive Committee
man for Region 13 comprising the
Pacific Northwest states and Alas
ka. f
Mrs. DeLand, an employee in
the Juneau postoffice, will go to
Dallas later with son Frankie, 15,
and daughter Eileen, 11. Another
PALMER MAN
TAKES SEWARD BRIDE
Miss Christine Blatchford of
Seward became the bride of PFC
Rex Harriage in an evening cere
mony performed August 30 in
the Seward Baptist Mission by \
Reverend Carpenter.
For her wedding the bride
wore a white ballerina length
dress and carried a nosegay of
red roses. Lorranna Stop, maid
of-honor, was her only attend
ant.
Lawrence Anderson was best
man.
Following the ceremony the
couple was honored at a recep
tion.
Mr. and Mrs. Glenn Hardag^,
parents of the bridegroom; Mr.
and Mrs. Bud Billot and son
Michael and Mrs. Lloyd Lawton
and son Jeffery all of Palmer at
tended the wedding.
The bride and bridegroom are
spending a few days in Anchor
age before returning to Seward
where the bridegroom is station
ed.
daughter, Eloise, 18, plans to re
main in Juneau, where she works
for the Department of Public
Welfare.
Elective Governor Bill Will be Amended
luritHiUAW - The bill for an
elective governor for Alaska
will when and if it conies before
Congress, be amended so as to
defer the first election of a Terri
torial chief executive from 1954
to 1956. Senator Hugh Butler an
nounced during the Statehood
hearing in Ketchican last week.
| The Nebraska Republican, said
he would offer the amendment in
view of the fact that Governor
B. Frank Heintzleman only re
cently took office an dshould have
an opportunity to work out his
program through the term to
which he was appointed by Presi
dent Eisenhower.
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