The Alaska citizen., 1916-05-08

NtI 9INlfS
 Every section No 23 re
 served for tate buildings. char.
 table. etc.
 Reservation Of 100000 acres
 of forest lands in each division
 for state forest purposes.
 Leasing of all mineral lands
 which shall not be sold before
 January l 1885, to be held in
 trust for the state. and not more
 than $40 acres 10 be leased to
 any one person or corporation
 Five per cent from the sale
 of all public lands to be convert
 ed into a school fund
 "A grant of 100000 acres of
 land for aa agricultural college;
 same for a school of mines
 30O000 acres for state normal
 school. and 2O00oO acres for
 school of forestry.
 "The state shall b di'iaoi
 into two iudicia dIvis .ons U Do
 known as the southern and north
 ern divisions. the former to con
 sist of the First and Third di-
 visions and the latter of the
 Second and Fourth divisions.
 One judge, United States attor-
 ney. marshal and clerk fer each
 division. the clerks to have their
 headquarters In Juneau and
 Fairbanks. respectively, and court
 to be held in all of the main
 towns of each division thus
 created
 Provision is made for the
 election of 49 delegates 12 from
 each of the present divisions,
 and one at large, for a COnsti-
 tutional convention"
 Referring to the above editorial We are willing to compliment the delegate to the extent of saying that he is perfectly capable of hand ling all of the affairs of the terri tory of Alaska at the national capt tai without the assistance of those two United States senators and f0lu representatives. Therefore all the goOl they could possibly do for the territor! would be in national affairs. But na tional affairs concern Alaskans but lit tie when they touch on things pertain ing to the people of the territory at large, so why should Alaska, as a state, undertake the expense oi sending five other men to Washing ton to assist the delegate in dOin? the same work which he has amply proven that he is able to do him self, even though he has no vote; and why should the people of Al aska undertake to pay the largt legislative expense which would bC incumbent upon them if Alaska was a state, in order that the city ot Juneau might see legislative ses sion each year?
 It is not to be denied that the statehood bill contains many pro gressive ideas, answering the second statement in the editorial of tht Dispatch. But We are ready fo such progression; and is it right that 1t should be had at the en0r nous expense to the people whlcf would be involved?
 The sections of the bill providing for the various reservations, leases and sale of lands for school funds are matters of sound reasoning only We therefore agree with the Dis patch as regards them, for by sucf measures as named only could any part of the expense of keeping uI a state be taken from the necks of the people themselves.
 Other states of the union have their own courts in addition to tho United States courts. Therefore. ii we are going to have statehood why not go the whole way anC have our own judiciary? Its addeC cost to the people would certainly be but little more in comparison with what the cost of keeping g legislative body of our own would be, as well as paying the expenses of a corps of what can now be called five assistants to the dele gate.
 And Fairbanks would be the lit tie" capital, according to the way the Dispatch has it figured out That is, the headquarters of one ri the court divisions, as provided ir the bill and advocated by the coas, city paper, would be here. Wha' would Fairbanks gain except domi nation, as court headquarters, over a slightly larger portion of country We already have court headquarters here.
 It can well be said that both Fair banks and Juneau offer advantages as locations for the capital of Al