The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-02-11


 Ties of Alaska from the taxable field open to Alasken legislature of ne- cessity involves the question whcth- CT or not the Territory mas mctorial- iy benefited from the legislature at all. ,t; ,Sa.
 Naturally the most obvious thing to do would be to berste the fishe- ries but a trust is a trust, out to save where it can save and to es- cape with as much loot es it can from the territory without render ing any quid pro quo.
 Now everyone agrees that the fisheries of Alaska are exploited by a trust which has done absolutely nothing looking towards the deveI- opment of the territory; h,s taken no share in building roads, schools or conserving the very resources which returned to them such enorm- ous profits.
 And granting all that. granting that they have been immune from doing their share, what guarantee have the people of Alaska that the taxation of these fisheries for the benefit of the territorial treasury will also rebound to the benefit ol the Territory itself.
 And that's the real question in volved in this matter We all know abSut the trust and the corporations RIt .fominnate the fskcrios; have @e ant reason to think that the mo Ties so acquired will really benefit the territory. And therefore what actual good has been done by the Territorial legislature?
 Tn the first place the legislature has been an enormous expense Sa- laries and mileage have eaten into territorial funds which If judiciously applied to roads and trails and d beneficial mail service, to schools and educational establishments would have done far more good to the territory
 It is true that the legislature has not been to blame. It's field of ac- tion has been so restricted that it could hardly accommodate itself within the room allowed it by Con- gress. But even within the narrow confines within which it was privl- legged by Congress to disport itself, we cannot see that tho reeult has been so superbly trucft.7i ;o the country that anyone should get un- duly excited whom the field is sought to be a little more restricted Every session of the legislative body i1 guneau has been an expense to the Fisheries and one that as well o. ganized body they feel is an unjus; and very useless ono. They have had to be there by representation to protect themselves from a po3s- ibly unwarranted invasion of their monoplized field by politicians anxi- ous to acquire name and fame a; their expense.
 As applied to Congress, the fishe- ries doubtless feel that the lobby there is inevitable and the close connection shown by WicKorsham between the fishery bureau and the fishery trust proves that their work has not been entirely in vain and not wholly unproftable.
 But there is something exceeding ly exasperating year after yeGr to go to Juneau and to treat every petty politician as if he wore budd- ing statesman to entertain anl cajole as if the politicians there were also somebody! That's objec tionable to more than the fisheries; it's demoralizing from every point of view and it is not impossible that at length while their policies are suD- Sected to the test by the fisheries. the politicians may have so much to do resisting the cannerymen they might find little time to sub- ject other legislation to as careful scrutiny as they might otherwise do.
 In any event the important fact is this that the legislature has so little power that it Is now more an expensive means of dissipating energy than anything else and on ac count of this the crying need is either a complete curtailment of all