The Alaska daily empire., 1914-10-02

DtlthdNO " ANAAA @hasNeN'f
 House of Representatives,
 Washington, D. c.
 My Dear Judge:
 regret very much that you were unable to pass through Juneau on your late journey from Fairbanks to Seattle as I particularly desired to have heart.to,heart talk with you concerning the bill introduced by you in the House and By Senator Jones in the Senate providing for legisla. | tive assembly etc. for Alaska. As suG- gested by you when you were last in Juneau, wrote to your Secretary re- questing him to send me copy of the bill. He promptly complied with the request, but for some time after receiving the copy l was unable to examine 1t at all critically, and even now have not been able to consider | it eXhaustively. There are, however, several features of the bill to which wish to call your attention, even though the observations which shall make have probably all been weighed carefully by you ere this and you have doubtless determined whether or not they are entitled to any consideration my only justification for making them lies in the fact that home rule for Alaska is so obviously the just and proper thing and is so dear to my heart that have felt that there should | be the utmost frankness between those who desire that end, and that candor on the subject ought not to be and will not be construed as carping crlti- cism and 1t is in that spirit, and that spirit alone, that write this letter. have gone over the matter with Mir. John w. Troy. than whom, as you we'll know. there is no truer friend of home rule in Alaska. He agrees with me that the changes ought to be made and he coincided with me in the op- inion that I ought to write to you as the duly elected Delegate from Alas ka submitting my views with the idea of getting the bill amended if you think the contentious I make are we'll taken. I trust this letter will not be | too late in reaching you.
 Ought Not To Pass.
 Generally-I think the bill ought not to be passed in the present form, but that the same should be amended in the following particulars at least. l have before me the Jones bill, which I understand is the name in the Sen ate of the bill introduced by you in the House. and the following refer ences are to the Jones Bill, viz:
 inssan Citizenship.
 First: Referring to Section 3, page ?, conferring the rights of citizenship on those who were Russian subjects on March 30, 1867, and on their des- cendants, the following inquiries sug. gest themselves to me, viz:
 Are not the Indians and Eskimos who now live in Alaska the descend. ants of those Indians and Eskimos who were living in Alaska on the date mentioned, and were not the latter Russian subjects? If so, does not this section confer the right of citizenship on all the Indians and Eskimos now in Alaska regardless of whether or not they have abandoned their tribal relations and adopted the habits of civilization? Does 1t not make amen able to jury duty and does 1t not con- fer citizenship on the various nomads, upon the tent dweliers, the salmon smellers, the witch doctors, the almost pristine sayages which one sees on the banks of the Yukon and Panama, and on the seashores? Ought not the bill to be so amended as to exclude these people-at least for the present and while adhering to their present mode of life?
 Congressional Approval.
 Second: Section 4, of the Bill, line 22, provides: "that all the laws of the United States establishing civil gov. ernment in Alaska and extending the laws of the United States thereto, shall continue in full force and effect until altered, amended or repealed by or with the consent of Congress" Now Carters Code, which is practically the whole body of laws for Alaska, is entitled "An Act making further pro- vision for a Civil Government for AL aska, and for other purposes" and if no part of that act can be altered, | amended or repealed without the con sent or approval of Congress, how are we going to be in any better condi- tion under a local legislature than we now are, so far as the Code is con cerned? If the Bill passes In that form we could not change in the slightest degree even a minor detail of practice in the Court; we could not touch the Code until Congress approved our ac- ton.
 Third: Section 2 and 27. It occurs to me that the date for the election of members of the legislature and for the election of the delegates should, Tor the first election under the bill,