The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1927-03-29
OPPONENTS HIT
TERR, INDUSTRIAL
INSURANCE BILL.
]. A. Hellenthal and Others
Declare Measure Would De-
stroy Territory S Industries

A bin that. if enacted into law.
would benefit neither employee nor
employer. would prove the ruin Of
established industries. prevent the
development of new industries, put
4 mortgage on the property of Al
askans, create an officer with an
autocratie power that Boss Tweed
IN his palmiest DAYS did not possess,
was the summarizat J. A. HELEN
thai made of the Industrial Insurance
measure H. B. No II which was
the subject Of a public hearing held
last night by the House Committee
On Labor. Capital and Immigration
H. l.. Faulkner and K. +. Robert
son presented the committee with
written statements bearing ON the
measure but neither made any com.
mont on the measure.
HellenthaI's Talk Feature
Mr. Hellenthal's talk. which lasted
about one hour and 45 minutes. was
he feature of the hearing. 1t was
directed mainly to certain provisions
If the measure lie analyzed its de-
Fects in striking manner and i'm
0ressive terms Some of them. I'M
lDEDltNlN, .fbulu IN iiIi tt ny dliltiii
ment bet his main criticisms, that
conditions in Alaska were of such
4 nature as to make impossible cf
ficicnt and economic administration
of such system as that which the
bill would entail could not be cor
rected by amendment.
Chairman Thomas Gaffney. Of the
Committee, opened the meeting by
calling for defenders of the measure
to present their case for the n"ces-
,ity or desrabliiy for change from
!he present system. When no one
he then offered opponents
of the proposed law an opportunity
TO present their objections.
This later led to IL somewhat pain
ful difference l~si'te the Commit
tee and the author of the measure,
Representative Paul The latter, at
ter Mr.. IIellenthal has concluded his
inalvsis of the measure, rose and
The Chairman. Mr.. Gaff |
ney declined 10 give him the floor, |
saving that those who opposed the !
measure should first complete their
adding that until they |
had finished the Committee would |
uct hear Mr.. Paul.
]. p. DAILY who said be had some
to maka adverse 10 The |
measure said he would like first 10
hear Mr. Paul's statement suggest |
ing the Chairman permit him TO
When Mr.. Gaffney then said |
he might go ahead with his state
ment under these conditions, NJ. |
Paul, declaring he had been "gratei-
tiously insulted,' declined TO MAKE
any statement of any kind and then
left the hall.
Reviewed IN Detail
Mr.. Hellenthal reviewed the bill
in detail, taking up section after
section which he asserted were de
fective unworkablc, undesirable, cost
". unfair to both employee and EN-
poyer etc He gave it as his opinion
that certain of the provisions were
patiently unconstitutional and said it
was an open question whether or
not such measure was valid under
the Territorial constitution
It invaded the functions Of both
district and lower courts. he said,
and drew attention to certain sec
tions in support of his contention.
tax on permanent industry. now in
a state of decline in Alaska, and
create liability which would keep
on growing. Once started, such !
system could not be ended since un-
der it's provisions the Territory would
incur responsibilities which had TIC
be continuing for years and years,
recurring machinery and funds to
meet them. 1T would put mortgage
on every piece Of property in the
Territory" he declared
"If our mines become exhausted
and our fisheries depleted, and there
are those who believe our fisheries
can be fished out, who will pay off
this mortgage2" he asked. And then
he pointed out that it would remain
for those permanent citizens Of AL
aska, property owners. to pay III
debtedness incurred under compul-
(Continue! on Page Eight.)