Statement
of Jack McCord
Independent candidate for election to the
.... w
Alaska State Senate from the Kodiak
Island and Aleutian election
precincts 13 and 14.
WHAT HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED
WHAT HE STANDS FOR AND WILL
WORK FOR
By way of Introduction to those who have re
cently come to Alaska, Jack McCord lives at McCord,
Alaska on Sitkalidak Island. He lives on a homestead
that he entered and occupied under the homestead
laws and has proved up and received patent for his
acreage. Under the Bureau of Land Management, he
has a grazing lease on Sitkalidak Island. Jack McCord
has lived in Alaska for more than 50 years. He came
to the Kodiak District 38 years ago. He knows Alaska
ia general and the district he seeks to represent. He
is a member in good standing of the United Fisher
men of Kodiak, Alaska and the Kodiak Livestock
Grower's Association.
Here is what he has in the past
accomplished for his district
and the whole of Alaska:
Spent more than four years at his own expense
to secure legislation in Washington!, D.C. that resulted
in the passage of an act providing for fur farm leases
in Alaska, and the Alaska grazing bill which provided
for the leasing of the public domain for the grazing
of livestock. The President of the United States re
cognized the services of McCord by presenting him
with the pen with which he signed the Grazing Bill.
In 1927 the President of the United States commis
sioned McCord to visit a‘ the islands of the Aleutian
Chain in the company of a representative of the De
partment of the Interior, so that the president could
be informed before answering the requests of Mc
Cord that pertained to the development and opening
of the Aleutian Island region. McCord reported to
the President at the White House, December 12, 1927,
with the result that five islands including Unalaska,
Umnak and Sinak were taken out of the bird reserve
and placed in the Public Domain for development
under the land laws.
The residents of these islands were liberated from
the bondage of the old Alaska Commercial.
Previously McCord appeared by invitation before
a subcommittee of the President’s Cabinet with a
request that a subsidized mail contract be let and
that more adequate transportation be established
from Seward to Dutch Harbor and the Aleutians. He
urged calling for bids that would result in a vessel
being placed on that run that along with the mail
would carry freight and passengers. Then in the of
fice of the Postmaster General the arrangements
were made that placed the steamer “Star” on that
run. This was a beginning of recognition of the needs
of the District in Alaska known as the “Westward.”
In the early 20’s McCord went to the states with
power of attorney from Alaskans who had staked oil
claims on the Alaska peninsula. As a representative
of the Alaska claim holders and not the oil companies
be interested the major companies in sending geolo
gists to this, our district, to study the possibilities
for production of oil. Then thru the westward devel
opment of which Jack McCord was general manager,
the Standard Oil Co. of Calif., Association Oil, the
General Petroleum Corp.. and the Honolulu Consoli
dated entered into a contract to drill the claims of
the Alaskans. McCord went to Washington, D.C. ac
companied by the vice-president of the Standard Oil
and the manager of General Petroleum. The three
met with the Secretary of Interior, with McCord rep
resenting the Alaska Claim Holders, and then and
there established liberal regulations helpful to the
development of the resources of Alaska, which regu
lations stand for the most part today. In recent years
the President of the United States withdrew five is
lands in the Kodiak District from occupational settle
ment, presumably for military purposes. The attorney
for the Bureau of Land Management used the written
appeal and personal appearance of McCord in Wash
ington, D.C. to modify the Executive Order (8344)
so that these islands could again be available foi*
settlement and development
McCord appeared in Washington before the De
partment of Interior, Dept of Agriculture, and De
fense Administration and secured inter-departmen
tal letters declaring that this Westward District was
in a strategic military area and that meat was neces
sary as a defense supply and that livestock growers
in the Westward District should be considered and
supported.
What I stand for and will
work to accomplish:
The people of this elective district live mostly in
villages throughout the islands. It is my belief that
happiness is wealth—whatever brings pleasure and
security and therefore happiness to this population
is the real purpose of all legislation.
These villagers are mostly the descendents of the
original people who occupied this great land before
the advent of the Russians. They are the Blue Bloods
of the Island district.
We live in a district in which the revenue that
comes to our people is derived mostly from the prod
ucts of the sea. Fishing and grazing are the two main
industries of the Kodiak-AIeutian area. We hope for
the development of minerals, including precious
metals and oil, but at present we must rely mostly on
the fishing industry. It is my purpose as your repre
sentative to make it possible that long-term loans can
be made to bonafide Alaskan residents of this dist
rict so that individuals or with a combination of
their friends they can establish operations either
small or large that pertains to the fishing, processing,
and sale of sea products. I will be guided in all that
pertains to the fishing industry by the United Fisher
men of Kodiak, Alaska, of which Union 1 am the
senior member.. In that which pertains to the live
stock industry I will be guided by instructions of
the officers of the Kodiak Livestock Grower’s Ass’n.
While the abolishing of fishtraps has heretofore been
considered the most important duty of your legisla
ture it is now agreed by both Democrats and Re
publicans that these traps will automatically be gotten
rid of under statehood.
Then, since the fishtraps will be outlawed, boat
transportation around the islands becomes No. 1 or
that which should be provided for immediately. This
candidate wants it to be known that it is not desired
in any way to curtail the services of local airlines.
The progress in air travel should in no way be les
sened. Bonuses, if necessary, should be granted to
insure this quick transportation so much needed in
our isolated districts. However, it is just as import
ant, and more important, to restore the boat service
around the island that will enable the villages and
scattered residents to receive their freight and sup
plies that is so needed to sustain their homes and
at a transportation rate that their economy will stand.
The planes cannot haul their fuel oil and return their
oil containers and airplane rates for their supplies
cannot be endured. The boat service that these vil
a\\\
lages so enjoyed for over a quarter of a century must
be returned at once.
Sea lions and hair seals are destroying millions
of fish. They are robbing and destroying the nets ot ,
the fishermen. There should be a bounty that would*
lead to the extinction of these destructive animals.
The schools in the village should he enlarged to sup
port the ever increasing population. Power and ligM
should be made available to the villages through
rural electrification whereby the community will not
be double taxed by a taxation on the property. Roads
and trails should be constructed around and adjacent
to each village, the money to be expended in such
work to be paid only to the residents of the village
or those adjacent thereto and the work should be car
ried on at a time after fishing season so that those
who were not so lucky in getting a catch eould get
some revenue from construction as a benefit few5
themselves and neighbors.
The legislators from this Westward District should
constantly keep before the State of Alaska and the
Nation the importance of maintaining the military
installations that now are, and for all time will be,
necessary for protecting Alaska and the Nation. (Be
cause of their geographic position, I am in favor of
outlawing the Jones Act so that we can invite freight
ers from British Columbia in competition with those
steamship companies that now charge us a freight
rate that’s most destructive to the economy of our
westward living and industries. Our freight rates
must be decreased.
I propose moving the Capitol of Alaska from Jun
eau to a site in the Anchorage and Palmer district,
convenient to the International airport, and at the
same time deed territorial and Federal buildings in
Juneau to the University of Alaska for a needed
Southern branch of the University.
I am now and forever against legalized gambling
in the State of Alaska. You cannot help the economy
of the people of Alaska by robbing the people of
Alaska and at the same time bring in their midst the
undesireables that always associate themselves with :
gambling casinos.
I am 100% for civil and equal rights for all.
This new State of Alaska would require a serious
and consecrated effort on the part of its legislators
while the Territory of Alaska is upgrading into the
great and new State of Alaska. We have over 100 mil
lion acres to choose that will pass from the nation to
the state of Alaska. I humbly suggest that in my over
50 years of residence in Alaska and having tramped
over its terrain on foot and mushed over it with dog j
team, and having explored and mined in the Arctic
and Interior and on the coastal regions, and having
worked continuously in the development of its natural
resources, that I am qualified to represent the Kodiak
Aleutian District, present and secure that which
you most desire. I will be proud to receive this honor
from you, my friends and neighbors. May I climax
my statement'by expressing to you my belief that no
state or nation can bring peace and happiness to its
people and secure the best future for the younger
generation unless those chosen by the people to enact i
the laws of the land recognize and declare allegiance
to the Supreme Being. |
The voluntary assistance of Mrs. Jack McCord, I
president of the National Association of Women Lave- I
yers, and for six years assistant law director of Clevt- |
land, Ohio, will be valuable to. all our representatives T
in framing legislation of benefit to our district
(Paid Political AdvO : 1
'! •*;'*■ *«
Vote Independent — Vote Jack McCord for the State Senate