The Alaska daily empire., 1917-02-16
DIVIDING ALASKA

Commenting upon the proposal to divide Alaska into two or more Territories, the Nome Industrial Worker, while t approves the proposition. has the following say regarding the agitation concerning it:
 The suggestion toundS itself upon the un-
 even development Of the country. They point
 that south and eastern sections of Alaska
 are developed out of proportion Co the rest:
 u has a higher population, great industries
 and agricultural resources which have not put
 in such an appearance in the interior and
 more northern sections of the Territory. Hence
 also the assesSabIe values are higher in those
 more highly developed sections, and the
 quence is that taxation which should be re.
 served for the development of those sections
 when ic comes. is used for sections where it
 did not originate.
 might be said of every Territory and state of
 the Union. There are some sections of them .r.r which highly developed and den5Cly popu-
 population is sparse, there no other indus
 tries and so far as can be seeo hardly any
 available resources.
 The Workers comparison Of conditions in Alaska with past and present conditions in other sections of the country is only partly true. Never before in the history oI the Nation have the settled portions the frontier been called upon bear the burden Of t- nancing as large uEdeveoped there is in Alaska. When Territories were created in Jhc past they were usually extensive than from 50000 Co I5OOOo square miles Most of them have been un- der 100000 square miles in and they were or ganized with ultimate statehood for the Territorial in view.
 Then in other Territories and frontier States there are county governments and most Of the c0i lected by the separate counties and expended in them under the direction of county authorities. Represen- ,aton in the Legislature is based populatonn. and those sections where the most of the people are To- cated have greater power in the Territorial Sta;e governments than the sections where the population is sparse.
 Things are different in Alaska. There are no counties here. Taxes levied by local author ties but by the Territorial government and they expended by the Territorial Legislature. Representa- ton in the Territorial Legislature is not based on population or development The Second Division, for instane, with it's I5OO or 16OO votes has the same representation as the First Division with than 5000 votes. The Legislature has been dividing the revenues equally among all of the Divisions irrespec tive Of where they are produced Hundreds of thou. sands of dollars produced by First Division industries have been expended in the other Divisions
 Further than that there is no question in the world but that eventually Alaska must be divided separated parts to understand each other with the understanding that is desirable among communities that parts of the same commonwealth. There fore. the developed portions of the Territory being forced carry the burdens of parts of it that will do their share toward the State in which the former will be located when the State is erected That being the case We believe that the aid needed iu the unpr0ducug sections of Alaska that will not in the end be in the State with of the First Division. for instance. should be rendered by the Fed eraI government and not by the First Division.
 There should be an early division of Alaska though The Empire is firmly of the belief that the First and Third Divisions should be in the same Ter ritory.