The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-05-24
NON-DIyIDED RESPONSIBILITY.

Secretary Redfeld when support ing the policy of prohibiting the Al aska legislature from taxing the Fisheries which were under the ju- risdiction of his Department of Commerce urged that to allow such, created a divided responsibility.
 But the same thing can be said of everything that the legislature handles and in no way is it SO strikingly illustrated as when the enforcement of the territorial laws is in the hands of purely federal of- ficials.
 The First Division is in this respect fortunate in having an attorney general right on the spot who can devote his attention to seeing that laws passed by the legislature are enforced, but conditions in the other divisions are different and since these laws are in the care, no- minally, of the federal officials their enforcement Is naturally matter about which there is very little federal concern.
 The federal officials have no d. yided responsibility. They are res ponsible to Washington and not to the Territory and hence as far as territorial laws are concerned thore is manifest q no lively anxiety 10 see that they are enforced.
 The case in point, and upon which loo much emphasis cannot De placed, is the eight hour law passed by the territorial legislature. Had that law been passed by Congress and from Washington reached this territory, we might expect that no such paltry evasion as the partner shiy agreement now in yogue would be for one instant tolerated. A note to operators resorting to this subt- erfuge warning them that the eighE hour law world be strictly enforced would no doubt be delivered anG with prompt results.
 We observed such a procedure in the enforcement of the Sunday closing law. That law was for years honored in the breach. note t1 saloonists warned them that the law would be rigidly enforced and although practically every house had been accustomed to violate that section of the code the note was quite sufficient to secure it's full observance.
 Now that Sunday closing law was not a very important one, The inn morality of it's violation lay not so much in the Sunday business trans acted being vicious but in the law being evadcd and not observed.
 There should be no difference be- tween the virtue of a territorial ana a federal law. The violation of one should be quite as much a matter of concern as the other. The eva sion under any pretext whatever should be considered as vicious as she other. And when tho violated law is a labor law, and because it i5 a labor law it is evaded and viol- ated with impunity. this gives such evasion a peculiarly anti-social ana Visious turn.
 The Industrial Worker sees nor any reason however to hold that 1T is because the eight hour law is territorial law that it is violated with impunity. The Industrial Worker believes that did this law affect property rights, did it affect employers to the extent that it af- fectod the rights of the workers, the health of the workers, the remune- ration of the workers, it would be no dead letter but would be vigor' uusly enforced. And because this is so and because it reveals class partiality upon the part of the ap- thorlties and an utter indifference ppon their part in the constant eva sion and general violation of the Act, the evasion and violation takes on a very serious and very vicious form for consideration. 1t betrays the utter callousnoss towards the discharge of ones duties in regard to the interests of the most import ant section of this community, and is one that calls for vigorous com ment.