The Daily Alaska empire., 1945-10-09

ernments long standing policy of rebating internal revenues in said possession. Internal revenues col lected by the Federal Government from the people of Alaska during the last calendar year amounted to something over eighteen million dollars This did not take into ac- count taxes paid by West Coast houses on business profits derived from a large volume of trade with Alaska. The Internal Revenue Col lector at Tacoma, Wash, has no covering revenues which are indirectly attributable to Alaska.
 It must be remembered, however, that income taxes during the last year were greatly above normal be- cause of large wartime payrolls and high tax rates Before the war, the total of direct internal revenue from Alaska averaged about five million dollars per annun. At present the population is somewhat larger than the pre-war population, but I have no doubt that revenue derived from Alaska will drop again far below it's wartime level.
 TIME LIMIT
 It is, of course, postulated that any program of rebates during a predatory period of enlarged self government would have definite time limit. For example, new Organic Act embodying the rebate idea should limit said feature to a term of, let us say, five years. During that time, the increased cost of local government could be met without any question of im- posing burdensonle Territorial taxes, and a fund could be built up for the Territory's own in- This would include Courthouses, Jails, Reform School, Sanitorium for the insane, and perhaps a capitol building. When Statehood is achieved, it is doubtful that the Federal Government would wish to continue housing all local offices as at present.
 Another thought is that the building of such institutions would not have to wait until Statehood was attained. As the money came in, the Territory could proceed to expend same, year by year, for the purposes mentioned, and could, by the time Statehood is granted, have the necessary structures already built and institutional procedures already operating. Thus, when the rebate period expired, Alaska would own the required capital plant fully paid for, and could no doubt meet the operational expense of State hood without hardship.
 From the Federal standpoint, it should be kept in mind that in a period of years the Government would come out ahead, as, from the outset, no further Federal ex- penditures for Territorial judiciary, etc, would be made.
 REPRESENTATION
 As to the political divisions called for in a new Organic Act, there would be several possible alterna- tives. The present four-divisional setup could be kept However, with all members of the Alaska Legisla- ture elected at large within their respective divisions, seldom are other than residents of the larger cities elected. This could be cured by breaking Alaska up into a greater number of Senatorial and Representative districts. For ex- ample, the population figure of 72,00O based on the 1940 census, would conveniently break down into units of twelve. Thus. twelve dis tricts could be created, from which Senators and Representatives would be elected. The larger cities such as Anchorage, Juneau, Ketchikan and Fairbanks have 5000 population, more or less. The fraction one way or the other would not affect the conception of districts consisting of 6,000 population, or major fraction thereof. Therefore, said cities could each be separate districts.
 Under such a setup, candidates would be elected at large only with in their particular districts. Accord ingly the larger cities would elect their own Representatives and Sem ators. The people in the outlying areas would likewise elect their own Representatives and Senators at large from within their re- spective districts, which would, of course, be geographically much larger than districts established in the more populous centers. Obvi- ously such arrangement would re- quire changing the size of the Alaska Senate. It now consists of 16 members, four from each divi- sion. With 12 Representative and Districts, as suggested, the number of Senators would have to be changed to either 12 or 24. On the assumption that a Senate of 12 members were provided for, each district would elect one Sen- ator and two Representatives. In- the Alaska House of