The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-04-04
CONNERY BILL MENACES TERRI
 TORY'S EXISTENCE.


 The Connery bill to establish a 3O-hour week in all industries if made applicable Alaska will bring ruin to its industries, close down it's mines gold copper and coal its salmon canneries and probably all fisheries activity put end to prospecting, sagnate business and psuperize the 60000 Americans who trying to build up self-supporting com monwealth in this the last American frontier. This is not an exaggeration. If anything it is under statement of fact.
 Our industries are 90 per cent. seasonal They compress into few short weeks the work for an entire year. and a majority of those engaged in them must in that space of time be paid a suffi- cent sum to provide them and their dependents with the necessities of life for the entire If by Congressional fiat, some 66 2l3 per cent addi- tionaI workers are required to be put on the pay rolls it can be accomplished in but one way-to reduce the average wage paid commensurately. Without so doing the industries could not continue to operate And if wages are cut in any such manner or by one half of that amount, labor can not exist
 In the mining industry, most of the some 1000 persons connected with it must enough in about 12O days of activity subsist and provide for their families for 12 months To state the proposition thus ought to demonstrate to any reasonable person it's utter impossbility
 The fsnerles give employment annually to ap- proximatey 25,oOO individuals That work is even more seasonal than the mines. The average salmon canning is well under 60 days. That industry produces in normal times between $45,000,00o and s5oooOOOO worth of canned salmon For the past two years as a whole it has shown net loss to the packers It could not inauguate 30-hour week work system without drastically reducing wages and if it did that a profit could be earned the earn ngs of it's employees would be less than some o the pttances paid in the sweatshops of Eastern cities But if that were not true even though the industry could afford to go the proposed Connery system, it couldn't possibly comply with the requirements during the coming season To house the additional thousands of workmen that would be necessary there are no existing accommodations. To construct them would be enormous task under conditions that exist in the Territory, and anyone familiar with them will readily recognize that it just couldn't be done in time for this years activities
 Theoretically, the proponents of the 30-hour week have solid ground on which to stand. They are seeking to create millions of jobs for the millions of idle and women throughout the country. In highly industrialized culture it probably can be worked out Economists to think it can. But it cannot be applied successfully to wilder ness country, to land where the untouched wild creeps down to the very threshold of the thin line of industrial plants that have been planted here by far-seeing men with vision enough to discern great State in the future and courage enough to battle adverse natural conditions that must be overcome before their dream is realized.
 The United States was not made great was not settled did not become the worlds greatest indus trial nation, on 30-hour week. It achieved its greatness because it's pioneers willing to work hard for long hours year after year, fighting back the wilderness conquering step by step, and laying the foundations of the United States of today on just that spirit of willingness to labor, to endure hardships and discomforts that constitutes one of the finest heritages given to any people.
 Just so must Alaska be developed if it is to develop. It cannot prosper, it cannot grow it can not even hold it's own, it cannot possibly survive as independent self-sustaining entity under the Connery measure.