The Wrangell sentinel., 1944-02-11
 Statehood
 Talk Here

Striking out at the lack of CO., ordination between Federal and Territorial agencies in Alaska as the result of our inefficient form of limited Territorial gov ernment, retiring Secretary of AL aska E. L. Bartlett of Juneau ad- dressed the first Statehood for Alaska" dinner ever held in the Territory here last Monday night.
 "As Secretary of Alaska, under Presidential appointment, I have not only been a bueraucrat but l have had unique opportunity to ob- serve the functioning of our gov ernment," he said. It is an inef- ficient government; by it's very na- ture it could not be otherwise. Un- der the existing system it is bound to be a hit-or-miss propos- ition. There is not coordination a. mong the Territorial bureaus; there is not coordination between the Federal departments or even among the bureaus of the same Federal department This is not the fault of individual officials; it is simply a consequence of the sys- tenn. The result, however is that all Alaskans suffer"
 Momentous Event
 The momentous event, sponsored by the Statehood committee of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce. brought out a crowd of men and women who filled Civic Center to capacity. The Alaska flag and the 18th state idea were carried out in the table decorations arranged by women of the Civic Club, who also assisted in serving the excel lent dinner which had been pre- pared by Mrs. Helen Roaming and which was topped off with "State- hood" cake and Alaska" ice cream.
 Mayor F. G. Hanford was toast master for the historical affair and President H. B. Thornquist of the Chamber welcomed guest speaker Bartlett and diners, ex- blaming the objective of the Statehood Committee was to bring tc the public a complete picture of statehood, it's advantages and disadvantages From time to time the committee plans to have other speakers both for and against.
 Emphasizing that Alaska bows to no state or territory in pulehri- tude were the dashing young girls who served as waitresses: Misses Joan and Shirley Mccormack and Miss Frances Hanford.
 Replies to Arguments
 In his address Bartlett replied to many of the arguments which have been advanced against state hood, stressing particularly the taxation feature. Statehood, he said, would cost the people of AL aska approximately $4,OO0 900 an- nually, or roughly double the a. mount now expended. He brought out that much of this taxation could be raised by adequately tax ing some of the wealth which is now taken out of Alaska without paying any taxes.
 Too Much Goes Out
 Too much of our money goes out now in the form of dividends and accumulated wages and ac- cumulated nest eggs and not enough remains behind to aid in developing the country" Bartlett said. We live now as We lived al- ways in the past from the cream of our abundant resources. Do we no face the always present possi- bility of exhausting the cream? Should we not prepare for the fu- ture now by investing as a group, through our government, in the future of Alaska? Personally I most decidedly think so. Why do so many families move to the States either after putting by a competence or in many cases before doing so? Partly, it is, of course, in search of milder climate or more sunshine. But haven't we heard far too many times the req son was that they felt children were being handicapped by lack of recreational and cultural con- tacts or adults themselves were so handicapped? Alaska, they have said, was a fine place in which to work but there was no way to spend their leisure.
 ''This is a very proper field for government to enter, local, or ter ritorial or state as the case may be- We are confronted with a plain duty here a duty which we must perform whether We remain as a territory or become a state"
 Answers Juneau Chamber
 Tearing to pieces some of the i arguments in the report against l = IrN-.A.-olI rr.-. INI..--n