Valdez daily prospector., 1912-06-27
WIckERsHAM AND HIS CLAIMS.

Much mas been claimed by the
 friends of Judge WickerSham for
 their lead IFS great interest in the
 passage of the home rule bill.
 As matter of fact, Judge Wick
 ersham has had but little to do
 with whatever success or failure
 the bill has heretofore met.
 Originally the home rule bill
 was introduced by Representative
 Gale and was bitterly opposed by James Wickersham. The latter, when elected to Congress, had fallen out with his old-lime pO- litical tilikums, who, with him self, had opposed home rule, and
 later on, in revenge, he introduce ed in Congress d bill providing for sclf-govcrnmcnt in Alaska,
 greatly restricting the powers of he local legislature and provid- 1 ing further that no act passed by
 he local law-makimg body should become effective until approved by Congress. This measure then made of the Alaska legislature d body without power save iu rec "mmcn,l. In fact. il Was mol a law making body at all. but il Was rather an advisory body on Alas kan affairs in Congress.
 u iS easy lo conceive thai with such q l""iSlaliN" body and the l. -.l.
 in d.'aling with our local affairs of .WhaI lille benefit W'irkrrSham'S home rule bill would have been. Even thiS measure Mr. Wicker- Shant never sucr"rdrd in getting beyond Inc house calender. II was mol until the people gave Us a Democratic House of Representa- lives and ilS cummillrr on ter ritnrirS formulated the "Flnud l}lll.' that any attempt was made to give Us even d mOdicum of self rule; 1t was not until inc Flood bill, d modification and an am- plification of the Sulzcr mrasurc, was reported to the House, that it Was even contemplated that Alas ka should have any fair degree of home rule, and certainly prior to that time it had neither chance or hope of any measure of any kind bearing upon self govern mcnt, passing either the House or Senate or receiving the approval of the President of the United States, who, time after time, had expressed himself as strongly op- posed to giving us any form of government other than q con- mission.
 All this talk then about what Delegate Wickersham has done for home rule in Alaska is the vcriest tOmmyrot and is well in keeping with the many other things he has not done for this northern country. The many HuarrclS and bickerings of Judge Wickcrsham with men prominent in affairs al Washington, has made it impossible for him to pass any law upon any subject, br 1t ever so mcriioriuuS. Others may take up needed measures and cause them tO he enacted into law but the bill will not bear the i'm print of James Wickrrsham.
 Tn return him tO Congress is to defy those in authority and lo slap ihnSr who are in a position
 io aid Us. In business life none of the Wickcrsham followers would delegate an important and vital transaction in the hands of one whom hr knew io hr persona
 n"ngrata Ln the party with whom lie transaction was iO be made. How much more strongly then does It bclIOov" Us tO send rep rrScntaliv" in harmony with both he administration and Congress,
 when it. is considered that we can
 not do better than beg for what we gel and must so largely de-
 pend upon the good naiur" nf the
 general government.
 II may br fun iu hear of Alas
 ka'S delegate quarr"ling with Tom, Dick OF Harry: it. may please
 some to know that our delegate is
 doing his best Io kill inc road ap-
 propriaiion, or it may meet with
 the approval of others lo have
 our delegate lead in the approval
 of Roosevelt and Pinchot in their
 conservation theories, but, just the same, it dOcsn't pay, neither