The Daily Alaska empire., 1943-01-27
PRESIDENT, CHURCHILL CONFER AFRICA
Governors Complete
 Message 10 Legislature

turn to the industry Of ships ano barges which have been borrowed for military purposes, on the sup ply essential material for the in- dustry, and on the availability of skilled labor. Likewise it is impos- sible to foretell with any degree of accuracy what the tax returns from liquor sales will be: they were high during the first part of the last biennium, but factors relating to the wSr are curtailing the sup ply and limiting the hours in which liquor may be sold; and there may be further restrictions Therefore it may well be that the estimates of possible revenues with in the next biennium presented tc you err on the side of conserva- tism-but it is probably better tc err on that side.
 Problem of Revenue
 After the Legislature has formed its collective judgment of what the revenues of the next two years may be and how much they seem likely to fall short of requested appropriations, in other words after ascertaining the size of the prospective deficit, the Legislature will have to decide whether these requests should be cut and if so how much. If reductions insuffici- ent to balance the budget cannot be agreed upon, then securing ad- ditional revenues will be necessary
 Tt seems clear that some GUS tomary expenditures can be sub- stantially reduced For instance al the last session, the Legislature ap- propriated $600,000 for the bien- nium for the construction m q maintenance of roads and air fields. Most of these were in the interior and related to the gold mining industry. AS this industry is suspended for the duration, and as the Federal government is now engaged in a program of airfield and highway construction beyond anything which has ever been seen in the Territory it would seem reasonable and appropriate to cut these Territorial expenditures. This year, therefore, the Board of the Budget transmits the Territorial Highway Engineers request for only S348, ,000 instead of the $600,000 ap- propriated two years ago. In this connection, it should also be pointed out that although gold mining is suspended, vigorous effort is being made to develop strategic minerals program which has the hearty approval and support of everyone in the Terri tory; when the appropriation for roads and airports is under scru- tiny it may be well to consider it in relation to this new develop ment which offers considerable hope and prospect for a future diversification of our mining in- dustry.)
 Counties Cut
 "A drastic reduction in the ap- propriation for bounties is also presented for your consideration and decision. At the last session, eagle and trout bounties were elim- mated by not appropriating bounty payments. although the laws au- thorizing these bounties remain on the statute books At the last ses- sion, $l65,0O0 was appropriated foi bounties on coyotes and wolves and $80,000 for hair seals. Tn ( Board of the Budget has this year recommended the elimination of the bounty on hair seals and coy otes, leaving $75,0OO for wolf boun- ties; this would effect a net pros- pective saving of $l70,0o0, should the Legislature approve the sug- gested cut.
 These two proposed savings on roads and bounties together total $422 900. Some other savings are no doubt possible, and their de- termination rests with the Legis- lature.
 Tn addition to the above pos sible savings, the Territorial treas ury at present has a rather sub- stantial surplus ($8O1 ,OO7.2O as compared with $637 7,693.25 in 1940) principally because the war has made impossible certain expendi- lures appropriated for: $l75.O0O ap- propriated for the Pioneers Home Extension could not be spent be- cause priorities could not be se- cured on construction materials new school construction and repair could not be done and some roads could not be built for the same reason; the S9l Al residue in the bounty appropriations apparently is available because the usual boun- ty hunters were too well employed (Continued on Page Three)