The Alaska daily empire., 1918-10-05
wickersham Thinks Soldiers Shouldn't Vote.

(CHARLES A DERRY. in Cordova Tmes.)
 Wickersham newspapers and partisans have con tended persSently and brazenly that Charles A Su- ger was not elected Delegate in 1916; that James Wickersham duly elected and that the court de clsion of Judge Jennings attempted to rob him of the office In the recently published reports of an al legged Congressional committee action sustaining the former Delegates contentious which are now tard-
 fly admitted to have been premature it was stated Indl the ueclSon hinged upon the ''sodier vote" at Fort Gibbon, and not upon the 69 included in the disputed precincts of Choggiung Utica Deering bohnlheld Nushagak and Vault And those at all i lanlilaf WIth the situation wonder why Wickersham should expect reversal of Judge Jennings decision upon the strength of the rejection this vote.
 "lckersham in the role of contestant for the seat of Delegate Sulzer averred that the Fort ibbon precinct was established for political purposes at the lnslahce or Delegate Sulzers friends in order that the soldiers might vote, and that 34 soldiers of the united States army at that post did vote ut the 1916 election. He claimed that these votes were illegal and should be excluded from the count.
 The fact of the matter is, however, that Fort Gb- bon precinct in existence in 1914 at which cleo ton Delegate Sulzer was not candidate In that year (l9lD 2S votes east at Fort Gibbon and 22 of these were for Wiekersham. In 1916 there were 50 votes cast, and 34 of them are alleged to have been east by soldiers
 In opposition to Wckershams contention Dele gate Suzer argues that the has not proved that any one ot those who voted for Sulzer not qualified voter The contestant made the alepa- ton that all the soldiers who were disqualified idEihs made that assertion, the burden him to prove it, but this he has utterly failed to do
 The soldiers who voted at Fort Gobon swore that they were qualified each swore in his vote at the time, and stated that had read the command lng officers notice tspecfying the rights of soldiers as Voters), and that after duly deliberatng he had concluded that he citizen of the United States and entitled to vote and that voted knowing that he was preeluded from claiming residence else where In order to make good his allegations it was necessary that the contestant (Wickersham) prove that these soldiers were not citizens of Alaska
 Delegate Sulzer eontended-and submitted court decisions to sustain the eontention-that the sol ders were legal voters and that their votes should be counted Courts have held that residence is a matter Of intention, and that soldier may esab- fish his domice at such point as he may see fit by taking the proper and appropriate steps to do SO This the Fort Gibbons soldiers did by swearing that their residence Fort Gibbon and thus precludng the possibility of exercising the right to vote else where.
 For be it remembered that soldier does not ose his citizenship by the fact that he becomes one of Uncle Sans defenders, whether it be in bleak Interior of Alaska or the fighting front in France The men who voted at Fort Gibbon only DOT
 on of the men stationed there and they did so af- ter consulting their commanding officer and dis trict attorney to their rights It seem that any decision which threw out the of these attempted either disqualify them on the ground that they soldiers that they were perIurers.
 It is not edifying spectacle that the former Delegate makes of himself i'll this phase con test, but it is with the attempt show that while the civilized and educated natives South eastern Alaska should be deprived of the vote the miserable squalid, uncivilized and ignorant Eskmos of Unaakleet and Nome entitled to have their votes counuted because they had been shown how to mark ballot for Wickersham