The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-02-16
SHARPE iN
 ANSWER TO
 LEGISLATOR
Says Mause' 5 Committee Had Only Two Bills
 All Session


 Territorial Commissioner of Labor Walter Sharpe. in a talk last night, delivered the following answer to the talk made the previous night by Rep. Joe Krause, Chairman of the House Labor Committee, concerning charges of delaying the passage of labor legislation.
 "Tke Seventeenth Session of the Legislature met January P, l945. Ihe following day, the second day Of the session, and the first day for the introduction of bills, Curtis Shattuck introduced House Bill No. 1, which has to do with a revision of tte Workmen's Compensation Law.
 House Bill No. was referred to the Labor Committee in the House. The Chairman Of that Committee is Joe Krause House Bill No. II was also introduced on the first day for the introduction of bills. House Bill No. II has to do with Wage Col llcctions and gives to the Department of Lator power to enforce them. Now thcse are the only two House Bills referred to that Committee so far this session -
 T believe that my comments at the Territorial Federation of Labor Convention were justified. House Bill No. 1 lay in MT. Krauses Com- mittee until the l6th day before he called a committee meeting on 1t. I attended that Committee meeting. MT. Krause made absolutely no com- ment about having received any opp inion from the Attorney General. MT. Krause knew the contents of this bill at least nine months before he came to Juneau for this session. I have letter from MT, Krause dated June 26, l944, asking why the legislation being proposed by me had not been passed long ago; prov- ing that he had seen the bills or he couldn't ask the questions he did in his letter. He had plenty of time to suggest changes long before he came to Juneau, and he was in- vited through this organization to do so. MT. Krause is a legislator, paid to come to Juneau and write our laws. Where are his Labor Laws If he isn't satisfied with what was proposed? He admits that the present Workmen's Compensation Law needs revising. t7f
 At this Committee meeting on February 6, the 18th day of the pres- ent session, Mir. Krarlse did not offer any objections to the bill. The 'cnly question that he asked me was whether or not I thought there was anything harmful to Labor in the bill. Evidently after nine months of supposedly Knowing the bill, he couldn't tell, es'
 Referring now to that part of MT Krause's talk, where he said I rush. ed in desperately with two major amendment. I will let you judge that for yourself I brought in six lines to be added to the Title of the bill which would repeal all the existing Workmen's Compensation Acts, and renumhered the bill, starting with Section l, instead of numbering the bill as it was in the Compiled Laws. Why such simple matter is so con- fusing to MT. Krause is something that only MT. Krause can answer. I not only renumbered the copy of the fbill for MT Krause, but also re- wrote the Committee Report that he had all garbled up. This sudden worry about 5000 sheets of paper which MT. Krause asserts would be necessary to rewrite the bill, even if lit were necessary, but it isn't, isn't very good argument when we stop to consider that the bill now in the hopper has consumed well over 50,000 sheets. It is an absolute reversal from the original stand MT Krause took as to the form of this bill for the form he thought nec- essary would take twice as much paper as the form in which this bill is now written.
 Mir Krause wants to remember that experts are being brought into the Territory to write certain types of legislation but so far no experts on Labor legislation have been i'm ported. It is very easy to recom- ment, but it is another thing to get these recommendation in bill form, introduced and passed.
 T invite an inspection of the Daily Journal of the House to prove the statements made by me at the Territorial Federation of Labor con- vention. If there was anything to conceal in this bill I would never have distributed it throughout the Territory for revision and comments by the various. Labor. organization, J S