The Alaska daily empire., 1913-03-11

NNOulluuON AASh'A '-oN 'f
 have a general similarity, no two have been exactly alike and wide diverg- ence will be found in many cases up on critical comparison.
 conqress Never Gives Territories All
 Power.
 Congress could not, if it would, and if never has attempted, to confer any exclusive power of legislation upon territorial legislature The Constitu ton of the United States has placed the supreme power in Congress, ana i'm aid of it's constitutional duty Con gress extends a limited portion ot US power to the local body, having al- ways the reserved constitutional pow or and duty to control or even destroy | the legislative work of the territorial body. Congress may legislate dlrectly | for this territory upon all subjects | which it has given the territorial body power over: it may repeal any act ot the territorial legislature; 1t may | make a void act Of the territorial body | valid. or a valid act void. Congress has the constitutional right to repeal the act creating the territorial legisla- ure and to repeal every law passed by it. |
 While the powers of the territorial legislature are thus conferred by Con- gress. and may be withdrawn in its discretion, vet while they exist and are exercised in accordance with the the organic act they are as valid and constitutional as those exercised by Congress itself Your body is al branch of Congress, organized by 1t m aid of it's constitutional duty to make
 lin this. as in all other territories, and when you act within the terms Of the organic law of your creation your enactments are as valid and binding as the laws of Congress
 In this. as in all other territories, there is the dual legislative power al- ways existing Congress has created the territorial legislature without aD- dicating it's constitutional duty to the. supreme control and has in all cases provided by law for the election of Delegate in Congress from the terri tory and has given him most Of the powers and privileges of a representa- tive in Congress- The delegate from n territory is not a constitutional off cer. and only acts through the power conferred by a law of Congress. His power is similar to that conferred up on the territorial legislature and may be withdrawn by an act of Congress. ] The law provides that a delegate shall ] have and exercise all the powers Of representative in Congress except that he shall not vote,
 Harmony Between Delegate and Leg
 islature.
 By the command of the people of the ] Territory of Alaska, l represent them i as Delegate in Congress, the National ! Legislature. while you represent them | in the Territorial Legislature, lt is as i clearly our duty to consult and cooper ate in securing needed legislation for our constituents in Alaska, as it is ! for the members of the two houses Of ,he local legislature to do SO have come from the capital of the nation to | the capital of our territory with only ! that object in view-because it is my duty to do so under the law and the command of the electors of Alaska, ] My presence here, at your request, is an a acknowledgment of our mutual submission to that law and duty. l I wish to consult and cooperate with | you. as l have right to do. in securing needed legislation from the two legis- 1 lative bodies having power in this ter ritory.
 Legislative Development in Alaska.
 For forty-five years, from 1867 to ! 1912, Congress was the only legisla- tive body having power in Alaska. The people had long demanded local law making body. but Congress was not convinced that the time had come to create it. Beginning in 1897, the hardy mining prospectors in the north began | to uncover the rich placer deposits of Nome. Fairbanks, and other interior camps and a permanent population settled the interior valleys and mining camps A tremendous growth took place in the production of wealth ere ! |ated from the natural resources of the | territory and men of big business be- gan to look with longing eyes upon them.
 The United States paid Russia $I2OO
 
 pended for all purposes in maintaining government here from 1867 to 19ll,I both inclusive, $2S,6l6,674.25, making total cost to the United States of $35. .S16,67425, or lesss than $650,OOO per annum.
 During those forty-five years the miners of Alaska have taken from her mines more than $200,OOO,OOO in gold and other minerals; her fishermen have taken in sea and fur products more than $222,OO0,OOO from her wa ters-she has yielded in actual cash production more than $446OOO,OOO, | leaving a balance due to Alaska be- tween actual government expenditures and actual cash production of more than $410,000,00O or nearly S10,000,00O | per annum profit.
 This tremendous production quick | ly excited the cupidity of those in con trol of big business and the Alaska | Syndicate, the Alaska Fish Trust, and | other similar colossal aggregations of wealth turned to Alaska as field wor- l thy of exploitation. An organized eff | fort was perfected to siege and monOp- | olize transportation, trade, fisheries, | mines, and government in Alaska. In the east a new school of political thought took this opportunity to launch a scheme for controlling the un- developed wealth of Alaska, by ser ies of executive land reservations and the passage of laws to hold and lease them under the United States as na- tional landlord On the one hand We are threatened with private monopoly by the most gigantic financial power in the world, on the other with a gov ernment monopoly equally dangerous Both rob the settler and laboring man of any hope of securing any part of the vast undeveloped wealth of the territory; both threaten to control not