The Alaska citizen., 1910-09-26

The Chairman-JudEe. as 10 the power of attorney. you think that 'he method of location by power of attorney ought to be abolished?
 Mir. Wickersham- Mir Chair man. l believe this. that if a pros pector is going out to hunt for new territory. for new mines, he ought to | be encouraged. ant very frequently men of that kind have no means of going. They have neither grub nor money. nor anything else. They may have gone out and made an unsuc cessful trip. and get back without l funds. and unless they get some help l they cannot go out again. That is where the grubstaker comes in. He will say to the prospector: Now l can not go out and do this work. but | | will grubstake you. and you go; three or four men will get together and assist one man who goes out and locates in that way. That ought not to be abolished That has been the handspring of the mining camps and efforts everywhere.
 The Chairman-Is not that in yolved in the power of attorney mat ter?
 Mir Wickersham - Yes. it is: and that ought to be corrected. My bill, think is too drastic in tha, respect. and I am going to ask the committee. when We get to it. to correct it in that respect
 Getting down to the actual sugges- tons made by Judge Pierce. and practically the only one that the assistant secretary of the interior offered this is how the Delegate showed his obstinacy in insisting on his bill or nothing:
 The Chairman-The suggestion was made to cut those association claims down to 40 acres. Have you considered that Judge?
 MT. Wickersham - That helps, of course
 "The Chairman - l am only sug- gesting this, as you know.
 Mir Wickersham - Yes. I know. Mir. Pierce suggested that. As l say. that helps. My own judgment is that the claims ought to be limited to 20 acres, but I shall not make any serious objection to that
 Instead of it being fact that Judge Pierce as is insinuated in the News-Miner article, advocated the $500 assessment work on an asso- citation claim. careful perusal of the Record will show that he never made the slightest suggestion of such thing. In letter from R. A. Ballinger, secretary of the inter for. to Chairman Hamilton. of the territories committee, and which was indorsed by Mir. Pierce before that committee, the statement is made:
 Tt is believed that the limitation of the area which may be included in single location and the conse- quent necessity of the expenditure of $1o0 per annum in labor or i'm provements upon each 40-acre tract will not only promote the develop ment of the mineral but tend to dis courage indiscriminate location of the lands or monopoly in the making or holding of locations"
 This was practically the only sug- gestion offered by Judge Pierce and it will be seen that he left the as sessment work to be done on 40 acres at $1OO.
 Delegate Wickersham, so far as the Record shows, tried his best to get enacted into law those amend ments to the mining law that the consensus of opinion ill Alaska has insisted are necessary. That the mat ter had not been properly represent ed to the committee before is ., who said:
 This is the first time, practically, that this condition has been brought to the attention of Congress. l know that l have been on this com mittee for a number of years, and it is the first time that the mining laws have been seriously brought to our attention and these difficulties pointed out"
 The Record further shows that he was opposed at Washington by such men as Spring and others, who, obeying the dictates of whomsoever at the time was hiring them threw every possible obstacle in his path These men have taken advantage of the fact that the members of the territories committee have little chance of posting themselves on conditions existing in Alaska, and they depend on their biased asser- tions offsetting to certain extent the statements made by the duly ac- credited delegate.
 The only hope for remedial legis- lation at Alaska depends on the hands of the Delegate being upheld, and the time has come when the