VALLEY FRONTIERSMAN
PRINTED AT PALMER, ALASKA, EACH FRIDAY
Entered as second class matter on Oct. 21, 1947, at the post office at
Palmer, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Viola Daniels .Editor
Barbara Carter .
Mrs. Jack Thatcher
Wasilla Correspondent
.. Valdez Correspondent
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Mailed to all points in Alaska and the United States
No printed material in the Valley Frontiersman may
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DANIELS—In the Lion’s Den
This week Americans celebrated "I Am an Ameri
can Day" Or, as it is sometimes called, "Citizenship
Day." It is a day set aside to welcome new citizens
into the American way of living, and also a day in
which we, who have always been citizens, recognize
the rights and privileges that are ours as citizens of
the United States of America.
It also apparently is a day of which the territorial
board of administration has never heard, or at least
one which its members fail to recognize. We're sure
that if they were conscious of the full meaning and the
complete responsibility of American citizenship, they
would never have set in motion the dictatorial and un
democratic actions of which they have been guilty in
the past few weeks.
It's supposed to be something that couldn't hap-!
pen in America—the will of the few imposed on the
majority without thought or feeling for the wishes of
that majority. It's the popular opinion that in America
such matters of major policy are decided by vote of
the people.
We've always felt, here in America, that when we
elected leaders to office, those leaders were morally
^bound to represent the wishes of the voters who placed
them in office. It's a basic principle of Americanism,
we thought—in short, the American way of life, this
principle of majority rule. It's the one reason most of
us are particularly proud to feel we're Americans—
because the very name American suggests to us that
we're all a part of a whole which we ourselves have
helped create.
Yet when a five-man territorial boqrd, four of
whom make their homes in the same Alaskan city, can
arbitrarily overrule the wishes of a legislative body that
represents the whole of Alaska, then we feel we've
strayed a long way from the principles that "I Am an
American Day" are supposed to express and bring
home to us.
We refer, of course, to tne ooara ot aaminisrra
tion's recent decision, in the face of expressed legis
lative disapproval, to construct a new territorial office
building in Juneau. "The new capitol" southeastern
papers are terming it, and in effect that is what it will
be, for Alaskans are not rich enough to finance the
construction of buildings that cost more than a million
dollars, unless there's to be a degree of permanence
about their use and location.
That the board's action is arbitrary and not the
will of the people is plain. When the bill authorizing
the appropriation of $660,000 (and not the $1,200,
000 it's now grown to be) for construction of a terri
torial office building passed the house of representa
tives, it was forwarded to the board of administration
with a house directive that the building be located
"north of the Gulf of Alaska."
The board's action is undemocratic and dictatorial
in still another respect. They're spending our money
—yours and mine—$60,000 of it, to buy land for the
building's site in Juneau. Yet there are several cities
in the Third Division, Palmer among them, which have
offered free land for this building. We're certainly
not having much of a voice in the matter of how our
money is being spent, in respect to this building.
Now this is what we think should be done. We
think the people of Alaska would have real cause to
celebrate "I Am an American Day" this year, if our
territorial board of administration will just agree to
one democratic principle of this government they rep
resent. We're not making a case for Palmer, nor for
Anchorage, nor for any other city, in this editorial.
We're just asking the board of administration's mem
bers to be good Americans and to settle this in the
way Americans should. We're asking that they let the
people decide where the new building should go.
We'll abide by the decision of the people. We be
lieve the wishes of the majority should decide these
questions. We're not afraid of an election. If the
people of Alaska want the capitol in Juneau, in
Palmer, or in Anchorage, then we say, that's where
the capitol ought to be, But we do think the people
ought to have a voice in deciding where that capitol
will be—particularly with statehood just around the
corner, when we'll be asking them to decide on many,
many other policies that will vitally affect the future
of the state of Alaska.
So, may we suggest, Governor Ernest Gruening,
secretary Lew Williams, attorney-general Gerald Wil
liams, treasurer Harry Roden and territorial highway
commissioner Frank Metcalf—let the people of Alaska
decide where their new capitol is to be.
Library Dinner Nets Enough > $350, Mrs. Martin Olson an
For Needed Floor Covering nounced last week. The balance
The recent benefit dinner, giv- in the floor fund, after all bills
en to finance the purchase of were paid, was $187—“just about
floor covering for the new Wasil- what we needed to do the job,”
la Library, grossed more than Mrs. Olson said.
Albrecht Family Returns
Dr. C. E. Albrecht and family
returned to the Valley this week.
Mrs. Albrecht and daughter plan
to be here until September, but
Dr. Albrecht can be here for only
two weeks at this time. He said
he expected to be “in and out of
the Valley” all summer long
S.O.S.
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