The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1947-09-08
Statehood, transportation
Problems Taken Up Today
By House Subcommittee

DtlOIe lilt 11OuSt ouDSOuiiiiittct vi
Territorial and Insular Possessions
with Chairman Fred l.. Crawford of
Michigan presiding.
Also seated at the hearing table
, were Reps. Jay LeFevre of New
York, Edward H. Jenison of Illi-
nois, william A. Dawson of Utah
and Alaskas Delegate F. l.. Bart
lett.
/ Territorial Commissioner of Edu-
! cation James c. Ryan presented n
request to the committee that the
pending statehood bill be amended
to provide that at least four sections
in each township be set aside for
the state for educational purposes.
He pointed out that this was the
case in other states where the land
is of poor quality.
Answering questions concerning
education, Ryan pointed out that
the Territory is not short of teach
ers but that housing facilities are
inadequate, that salaries are higher
than in the States, but living costs
! are also higher
Allen Shattuck, representing the
Juneau Chamber of Commerce, also
presented a request for the setting
aside of five sections in each town
ship for the state with the proviso
that when these sections fall in the
National Forests they be administ-
cred under the supervision of the
u. S. Forest Service.
Hight Cost of Statehood
! Shattuck, representing himself,
also submitted testimony concern
| ing the cost of statehood. He as
serted that the tax load under state
hood would be too heavy to bear and
that before the last election voters
were influenced by misleading state
ments appearing in George Sund-
| borg's special statehood study news
paper.
| Shattuck said that 1t Is charged
! Alaskans do not pay taxes now,
but 20 States have lower per capita
taxes, and that under statehood the
per capita tax would be almost
double that of the highest now paid
Rep. Dawson suggested that be-
cause of the large native population
in Alaska which doesn't pay many
taxes, possibly about 10000 persons
would be subject to taxes. and that
by narrowing this figure down on
family basis, about 10000 persons
would have to bear the tax load
under statehood, resulting in pay
ments of about $3.50 per year.
Shattuck suggested that the Ter
ritory would have to adopt an in
come tax and a general property
tax in order to raise enough money
to meet the present deficit in the
Territorys finances. which is about
$4,000,000 for this biennium.
Delegate Bartlett pointed out that
the Territory in the past had petit
toned Congress to turn over the
fish and wildlife management to
Alaska and also to bring Alaska
under the Federal Highway Act
Figures for the support of the fish
and wildlife management and con-
tributions under the Highway Act
were included by Shattuck in his
estimates of the increased costs for
statehood.
CrawfOrd's Views
Rep. Crawford brought out that
Shattuck's figures would have TO
be higher in case the cost OF living
continues to rise. and lower in case
of a business recession.
Chris Hennings, Territorial rep
resentative of the CLIO. testified
that his organization favored state
hood at its last convention. He said
ne represented 10000 to $4,000
members who would pay higher
taxes for statehood
Thomas Moore. representing the
Alaska Territorial Federation of
Labor, stated his organization fav-
ored statehood at its last conven-
ton and said he represented 10000
workers. $500 of them Alaska resi-
dents.
H. L. Faulkner filed documentary
evidence with the committee and
gave oral testimony concerning the
transportation problem. He said it
is idle to discuss statehood or any
thing else until the problems of
transportation are settled.
Alaska's Financial Troubles
Regarding the Territory's present
financial troubles, Faulkner said he
represented the World War III Vet
Grams Board in a recent court case
in which the Territory sued the
board to get back S350000 loan
which the Territory made when set
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