The Alaska citizen., 1912-09-30
W|CKERSHAM MAKES REPORT
 IF HIS WORK

On Saturday night James Wicker. sham, recently elected delegate from this territory for the third time spoke 10 an enthusiastic audience at the Auditorium. After thanking the people of the town for expressing their recognition of his valiant ef. forts in their behalf in so substan. tial manner as they did last Aug ust and signifying his intention of making his home in Fairbanks. the delegate got down to business. The real motive of the meeting was to afford MT. Wickersham an oppor. tunity to explain to the many who did not understand it. the real value of the Home Rule bill But first the speaker took up the promises h. made the people in his first platform four years ago. He showed how h. had fulfilled them all He then took up the miners law and explained the way in which and the number of claims that could be staked by an individual in calendar month. and pointed out how. as it was passed, the law did away with the association evil
 Probably the most important par, of the delegates speech was that section of it devoted to the ex. planation of the power given the Alaskans by the passage of the Home Rule bill Section by sec. ton MT. Wickersham went over the bill. He expressed his deep ap- preciation for the work done on behalf of the bill by Mir. Flood. of Virginia MT. Houston, of Mississippi, Mir. Wid- emeyer, of Michigan. and MT. Willis. of Ohio. of the house of represents tivcs, and MT Smith. the senior sen. ator from Michigan. Mr. Chamber lain, of Oregon, and Mir. Jones, of Washington, for their work in be- half of Alaska in the senate He said that it had been a hard fight to get it through, but it was a law. He re- ferred to it as the greatest accom- plishment of his life. The Home Rule bill has never been thorough iy understood. In the first place the Alaskan legislature has the pow CT to make laws. There has not was made by the bigoted governor of Alaska as being absolutely es- sential to the development of the territory that the legislature at Ju- neau cannot make a law with the exception of the coal land difficulty. and that no state. much less territory could make laws that would detract from the power of the national con sress to legislate the land of the United States. There is not a single penny of expense attached to the running of the legislative bodies of Alaska that must be paid by Alaskans. There is not a debt that the men assembled in Juneau can burden this territory with There is a clause regarding the ex- else law and gambling in the Home Rule bill. MT. Wickersham ex- plained why that clause was there. The men who opposed popular form of government for this terri tory harped on the fact that were Alaskans given the power to create laws in their own behalf, were they given the power to regulate the liquor traffic and gambling in, the vice would sweep this territory and wash it clean of the semblance of responsibility To offset the i'm pression left by those prejudced and unfaithful citizens of Alaska who attempted thus to defeat the interests of the territory, Delegate Wickersham inserted the section giving to the government the power to make and enforce the excise laws MT. Wickersham pointed out that no territory in the history of the Unit ed States ever had a legislature en- trusted with more power than the first Alaskan legislature. He congrat ulated Alaskans on the obtaining of such good bill in the face of such strong opposition.
 In closing the delegate pointed out the fact that the burden was drop. ped from his shoulders to the shoulders of the people. He eau tioned the voters of the district to be careful of the men they sent to Juneau next March Poor laws, rad ical laws, would prove to the law makers in Washington that the con, tentions of Hoggatt and of Clark were right, and the Alaskans were not fit or capable of governing them selves. On the other hand compe progressive lawmakers would and could perform valiant service in be- half of thiS tarritorv