The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-04-05
APPEALS WIRED 10 WASHINGTON
 ON LABOR BILL
Legislature and Conner cial Organizations Ask
 Alaska Exclusion

Appeals to the President ana Congress to relieve Alaska from the burden imposed by the provisions of the Connery 30-hour a week labor bill were telegraphed from here yesterday to the National Cap ital from both official and unoffl- cial sources. The Territorial Leg |, iSlatlre telegraphed a memorial i passed unanimously by both Houses and approved by the Governor. The | Alaska Territorial Chamber of Com merce and the local Chamber of Commerce both joined the lawmak CTS in their plea for exemption.
 Unanimously it was declared that the Act, applied to Alaska, would leave industrial and economic ruin in its wake, closing canneries, mines and numbering. The appeals were telegraphed last night and no re- sponses had been received today
 Legislature Cites Facts
 It took but a few minutes yes terday afternoon for both branches of the Legislature to rush through a memorial on the subject. It was passed in both the Senate and House by unanimous votes under suspended rules.
 Last night it was wired in full < to Washington, addressed to the President, Congress and the labor committees of each branch of that body, as follows:
 Your Memorialist, the Legislature of the Territory of Alaska, has learned with consternation that AL aska is included in the provisions of 8 Bill introduced into the Con- gress of the United States, by Rep- resentatipe- Connery, k n as House Bill No 2867; and,
 Your Memorialist respectfully re- presents:
 That more than ninety-five per cent of all laborers in Alaska are employed in seasonal occupations and that the average working hours for the year do not exceed four hours per day;
 That more than twenty five thou sand of these laborers are engaged in the fishing industry covering a coastal distance of more than 5000 miles; that fishing operations in Alaskan waters are, by regulation of the Bureau of Fisheries, arbitrar- fly limited to a period less than sixty days for each season which obliges the fishing industry to con- centrate the years effort within that short period involving the pro- duction of some fifty million dol lars ($50,000, 100000 worth of fish cry products; that eighty per cent or more of the revenues of the Territory are derived from the fish ing industry; that many of the companies have operated at loss for the past two years and the enactment of the proposed legisla- tion would compel them to discon- tinue operations, and the Territory of Alaska would be bankrupt and unable to support its schools, de- pendents and indigent persons, and to continue other essential activi- ties;
 That more than six thousand laborers are engaged in the placer mining industry in Alaska, cover ing an area of 59O,000 square miles; this work is also seasonal and la borers are employed not more than one hundred and twenty days dur ing the year; most of the mining is carried on by individuals or small companies in isolated places who employ less than ten persons each and it would be impossible for them to continue mining under the pro- posed schedule;
 That the remaining wage earners. not exceeding two thousand per- sons are engaged in lode mining and other industrial pursuits throughout this vast Territory and their employment does not exceed an average of fifty hours per week:
 That workmen who are engaged in seasonal vacations will be de- prived, under the proposed law, of the employment to make it pos sible for them to sustain themselves and their dependents and will be forced to leave the Territory and seek employment elsewhere;
 That the extension of the pro- posed enactment to the Territory of Alaska would be ruinous to our industries; our canneries would be compelled to cease operations; most of our mines would be closed, un- employment would be greatly in creased, and our Territory reduced to a state of bankruptcy and our people to want.
 Now, Therefore, Your Memorial ist, the Legislature of the Terri tory of Alaska in the eleventh reg