The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1927-04-16
CAFFNEY MAKES
STRONG SPEECH
ON CONTROLLER
Veteran Legislator Attacks
Controller Bill-Praises
Gov. Parks's Message


on the celebrated Controller Bill and
it was expected that a vote would
be reached this afternoon. Passage
Of the measure was expected
representative Gaffney, Nome, had
delivered the principal address
against the measure at mid-after-
noon. 1t was carefully prepared ad-
dress, impressively delivered and car
,ied sustained and logical argC
ment against the measure which h
Seornfully termed a piece Of rain
bow-ehasing, job-creating legislation.
Ross Opens Debate
Representative Ross. Fairbanks.
opened the debate with short talk
approving the measure. He denied it
was a radical departure from estah-
lishment forms of Territorial gov
eminent Heretofore. he noted. the
Legislatures OF Alaska have utilized
existing machinery in governmental
administration. In this manner many
duties have been piled upon the
Governors and Secretaries of the Ter
ritory, many of which must perforce
by entrust I'd to clerks by reason of
their multiplicity. 1t was not fair
10 overburden these officers he
argued. and it was right and pro
per for the Legislature to create
new offices to take care of new
duties.
Please for Governor
Mr.. Gaffney delivered his address
from manuscript from which, how
ever, he departed upon several oc
casions. Once he picked up Il print
ed copy of Gov. George A. Parks
biennial message to the Legislature
and quoted passage after passage
from ii which. he asserted, con-
tanned the most forceful arguments
fiGesihle to pc uttered against the
measure.
Il suppose you would call him a
bureau chief" he declared. Il wish
to God we had many more men of
his type in Alaska" He cited the
Governors figures on cost of Govern.
mental administration, six per cent
of the total revenues and challenged
proponents Of the bill and business
men generally to lower this in either
government or business. They never
tell you in figures how much il
costs to run their political scheme
All. No, They never touch figures in
detail. Only a mass of glitterng ger.
cralities to blind the unthinking pub
lie"
Points to Differences
And after reading again from the
Governors message. he declared:
What dstint difference between
Gov. Parks and Mr.. Wickersham?
Let us compare the homely bur
logical deductions in the message of
our Governor. Here every phase Of
Alaska's conditions are laid bare.
every sphere of the Territory's in
dustries are analyzed, every prob
lem confronting us receives the most
minute and searching scrutiny. Solu-
lions for the many intricate phases
of our social. political and industrial
activities are offered with Il clearness
and vigor characteristic of the rugged
honesty and fearlessness of our
Executive. He warns against expert
mental legislation. meaning undoub-
tedly measures like the Controller
Bill and other measures of like ilk.
His youthful and highly technical
mind deals not with visionary pro-
jects but with cold realities. He sees
Alaska, her people and conditions as
they are from a closeup picture, hav-
ing traversed the Territory from one
end to another last summer. His long
continuous residence his associations
wit hthe "roughneck" as we'll as the
business man or professional man,
gives him the background on which
to base his opinions. And like the
rugged mountains of the country
whic hood destined him to preside
over, he stands unawed and unalter-
able in his sound convictions by the
political billiards. that bowl around
his head
Tribute to Wickersham
Mr.. Gaffney opened his address by
paying a compliment to the master
mind of Mr. Wickersham" whom he
described as the principal proponen
of the measure But he asked, "Is
it not possible he may be mistaken
in the wisdom he is seeking to bring
about? 1t is not possible that in his
political retirement he has estranged
himself from the intimate knowledge
of interior and northwestern Alaska
with he was once so closely in
touch? Evidently his mind does no.
visualize that the days of the in
divdual in that vast stretch of coun-
try from Seward to KotZebue Sound
is a thing of the past. That Were
it not for capital, the flourishing
camps he once knew in the heydey OF
their success would be as dead as
Siberia where they have so many
Control Boards they manage to keep
that mineralized country a wilderness
Or, probably. living in the Panhandle
of Alaska, his political vision is cir
cumscribcd by the narrow strip of
land that extends from ley Strait to
the Canadian border Or. it may be,
chatting under the restraints of poll.