The Alaska daily empire., 1913-03-11

laws have been passed by Oregon and other rapidly growing commonwealths wnlcn are not embodied therein.
 At the last sesion of Congress the Committees on Territories in the Sen ate and House were authorized to and did procure the complete recOdifca- tion, annotation, and publication Of the codes and all other Alaskan laws down to date. These new official codes are just now in print and ought to reach the members of this legislature in few days. Because of the pub lication of these codes and laws in of- ficial and highly satisfactorily shape, there is no necessity for the appoint ment of a code commission. The pas sage of such amendments as the e%. perience of a decade has shown to be necessary and progressive additions. is easily done; there is ar appropriation to publish these and such additional laws as may be passed. and you will thus have the laws of Alaska correct ed and amended to suit you in compact and highly desirable form.
 Hasty Legislation.
 On the second day of your session resolution was intro. duced of the grayest importance 10 the development of Alaska. It reads as follows:
 Joint Resolution No. I.
 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE
 SENATE, THE HOUSE CONCUR.
 RING, OF THE TERRITORY OF
 ALASKA:
 That the report of the Alaska
 railway commission, recently sub
 mittcd to the President and Con-
 gress of the United States. be, and
 the same is, hereby approved"
 The Alaska railway Commission was appointed under the 18th section Of the organic act creating this legislature, and when the report was sent to Con gress it was referred to the Committee on Territories, of which am amen. Der. and 10 a special committe Of three, of which was also a member. read the full report carefully and noticed the various aconclusions and recommendations with much interest. After a careful consideration or all available routes and harbors, the unan' imous report of the Commission ia. vors Cordova harbor and the Copper River route. Practically it fayors the acquisition of the Copper River Ky. and it's extension from Chitina 10 Fair banks.
 I greatly fear that if Con gress should now refuse to adopt the Cordova harbor and the Copper River route, the resolution passed hY l the legislature would be enectuaily the Seward or Valdez route.
 Congress passes most of it's legisIa' tion in the last days Of it's session. Nasty legislation is too often bad legis' lation In his message to the leglsla' ture the Governor called attention 10 the evil results likely to follow too specific endorsement. lt is most valuable suggestion and ought 10 be 1 followed in your resolution and me- morials to Congress. otherwise your action will do more harm than good to 1 the territory
 In conclusion, I wish to impress up' on YOU the fact that the organic act of your creation is not the end of the law, but only the beginning. If, in ! your JulSneul, u uCSS l'N 7''' as wide a range of power as you thlnk you ought to have, you must remember two things: First it can be extended by Congress when the need is iairly disclosed by that body. and. Second what you lack iH logislative power Congress has retained and may eXer- else. Legislation needed for the ter ritorv which lies hevoad yoUr power may still be enacted 5y ConGress For fortv-five years Congress has had all power: you now have much. and II vours is exercised with good judgment and an eye single 10 the welfare or AL aeka. it will greatly encourage Con- gress to extend vour power and sup. plement your efforts with additional Congressional enactment. If you will pav less attention to keynote speeches to gracing the halls of social func, ton and drawing emoluments. ana more to earnest effort in seeking now to enact necessary legislation for the development of Alaska. YOU will De i surprised to find out how much you car do and how pleased your consult uents will ho with your success