The Daily Alaska empire., 1936-02-13

Abraham Lincoln applied the rules of common sense to the pron- lems of government, Frank Foster, Juneau attorney said, in an eulosy of the Great Emancipator and a comparison of his acts with the present day
 Cur country is plunder mad he declared. Lincoln suffered a similar condition in his day. When throngs of office seekers visited the White House he observed, there you see something which in the course of time will become a great CT damage to the republic than the rebellion itself. Four years later, he remarked to Carl Schurtz. I am afraid this thing is going to ruin Republican government
 T might call your attention. to the fact of Lincoln's statements of belief and policy which were scrupulously carried into effect by him, to which record of perform ance I might contrast the fair words and high sounding phrases of the present administration with its record of repudiation of the pl lat form of 1882, extravaganza where economy was promised; so- cialistic experimentation where con- formity with the terms of the Constitution was pledged.
 Hits Bureaucracy
 T will however, direct your at tention to one phase of our present situation with which we people of Alaska are probably more familiar than are most of the people living in the States. That is government by bureaucracy Alaska has been chosen ground for experimentation by the Federal Government for many years. There was a time when we were governed wholly by carpctbag office holders and Fed eral officers responsible to Wash ington, alone. By earnest effort and loud protesting we have done something to cure this situation but not much. Our timber is still rotting and falling from over maturity and disuse, at the rate of more than a billion and half feet per year, and this in the name of conservation. A large part of our road work is being done by con- tractors from Spokane and Seattle who bring their crews with them Our fisheries are in the hands of politicians from the States ap- pointed for political reasons and without regard to a greater knowl- edge of fish than had been &C., quired from catching thubs in some fresh water lake We know the evils of long distance government.
 Claims Disregard State Rights
 Tn the States, a movement is now in progress through the Demo- cratic Administration, to cast aside the rights of the States and of the individual as guaranteed by the Constitution and to subject the whole nation to a system of bureau cratic control far more severe than that which has obtained in Alaska Hundreds of new bureaus are be- ing established at Washington with b,rpdradc of tho,,conIc of ,DaIi+;oal i appointees in charge, none of whom are required to show any fitness for office through competitive ex- animation. The only qualification required is that the appointee shall be Democrat. These rooters have but one idea, to maintain their positions at the public trough
 If Abraham Lincoln were here today as Chief Executive, I know that he would lose little time in sending these leeches back to their homes with an admonition to go out and earn an honest living.
 Tn this day of stress and storm, of conflicting opinions as to the proper and right road to follow, let us hope that another man of the | people may arise with the clear ness of vision and force of char acter of Abraham Lincoln, to guide our nation back to the funda- mentals of constitutional govern ment."
 In referring to relief as compared to pioneer days, MT Foster said
 Contrast the situation here in Alaska under the present day sys- tenn. When improvidence or hard luck brings the pinch of poverty, dc our citizens borrow a saw and ax and go to the forest and cut a few cords of wood or get fish line and hook and go to the sea for fish or do they go to the beaches for clans or to the woods for rabbits and otarmigan? Of course not. They swarm into the Governors office and get some British Columbia coal a acquisition for food clothing and rent and possibly few days work at good wages doing some useless or unnecessary task"
 NO CANADIAN COAL