Valdez daily prospector., 1916-10-30
GRAND JURY
 MAKES REPORT. MAKES FEW RECOMMENDATIONS Document Covers Conduct of Various Federal Offices and Contains Vari- ous Recommendations - Protests Against Alexander Bill.
MAKES FEW RECOMMENDATIONS

To the Honorable Fred NJ. Brown,
 Judge of the District Court for tn"
 Territory of Alaska, Division Num-
 Der Three:
 We the Grand Jury. duly empan eled and sworn to serve at tine Sep tember, 1916, term of the above en- titled Court, respectfully submit this our final report.
 There have been submitted to us A cases on which we have returned .3S "True Bills and six Not True Bills" and during the course of our investigations we have examined one hundred forty-nine witnesses.
 Federal Offices.
 We have inspected the office of the U. S. Marshal and we find the work pertaining to his department conduct ed in very efficient manner. Under the direction of the present incum- bent F. R. Brenneman, we find sev- eral much needed Improvements have heen made during the past year; d new concrete foundation having becn put under the Court House building. without any expense to the govern ment other than the cost of material. the entire work having been perform ed by Federal prisoners.
 The walls and ceilings of the U. S. Court room have been sealed with fire proof material and the entire interior of the court house building newly painted. An efficient fire protection has been installed, electric power used for pumping purposes. The in stallation of some kind of alternate power for pumping water would be advisable in case of accidents shutting off the electric current.
 Under the present regulations prisoners held in the custody of the U. S. Marshal awaiting trial at the regular terms of Court. and who are acquitted at such trial and re- leased from custody. frequently have no means of paying expenses incl dent to returning to their respective homes. We would recommend that special fund be provided from which the 1T. s. Marshal could be au- thOrized to pay any expenses which in his judgment are necessary in re- turning these people to their homes We find, that in Investigating crime in the remote and outlying dis tricts, the marshal's office is more or less hampered in making an imme- diate investigation by reason of funds not being available. This frequently puts the Department to a far greater expense when the case comes up for trial. We would recommend some kind of an emergency fund from which deputy marshals could draw to cover any expense which in their judgment was necessary in the i'm mediate investigation of crime.
 In the Bristol Bay and Unga sec tiOns the deputy marshals have a large territory under their supervi- sion, and no means of transportation other than water routes. During the cannery season they have to depend almost entirely on the cannery launches for transportation, and dur ing the winter months there are no seagoing boats available. We would recommend that this matter be taken up with the proper Department and steps be taken toward securing one or more seagOing launches for the use of the deputy marshals in these sec tiOns.
 We have inspected the office of the Clerk of the U. s. District Court and we find the work therein conducted in very able and efficient manner We find this office equipped with a large fire-prOof vault for the safe keeping of records and valuable papers, and also a complete and up to date filing system.
 We visited the office of the U. s. biotl lCI httOiHcy anu were uHdDlc lO determine from the records the result of the recent workings of this office, owing to the fact that they had not been posted up to date. We were in- formed by the office that they were month behind in their postings.
 U. $. Commissioner.
 We have inspected the office of the U. s. Commissioner in the Valdez Re- cording Precinct and find the business conducted in an able and efficient manner. The two safes in which the records are kept we find are not large enough to accommodate all the re- cords. We would recommend the re- moval of this office to the Federal Building, or in case there Is not suf- ficient room in the Federal building that building suitable for the hous- ing of this office with fireproof vaults large en ugh to accommodate all the records D, constructed on Federal grounds.
 We would further recommend that the present method of paying U. s. Commissioners under a fee system be discontinued and that these off cers be paid a stated salary sufficient for fboir cunnnrt thnc oh1inu fho