The Wrangell sentinel., 1948-12-24
THROUGH THE SENTINEL PERISCOPE


 year will get a half holiday on Friday day before Christmas - to catch up with Christmas shop ping. Executive order has been is- sued from the White House est ting aside the half day.
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 Juneau. despite it's traditional gripe that things are just about to go to pot, is bursting at the seams with growing pains. Its No bus mess government - is getting bigger than the old gold mining town can handle. The Alaska Field Committee of the Interior Depart ment has set up housekeeping in Juneau, the Reclamation Service has moved in; Alaska Road Com mission, Public Roads Adminis- tration and Bureau of Mines are expanding their operations in the Territory, all with headquarters at Juneau, and recently the Coast Guard announced it would estab- fish it's Alaska district headquar- ters in the Capital if Juneau would dig up 14,000 square feet of office space and some living accommoda- tions for Coast Guard families. One Juneau real estate operator said he had a list of more than 30 famil ies who wanted to buy homes in the Capital. In most cases Pa works for the government and is trying to find a house for Ma and the youngsters. As a result real estate prices are just a little high CT than Mt Juneau which sticks its rocky head up back of town a. bout 4,000 feet. and there are no places to be had Some Juneau bus mess men are now getting their heads and finances together to build building for the Coast Guard; probably will accomplish it. too, particularly in view of the fact that Uncle is virtually under writing the project by guarantee ing to take the space. One of these days the Federal government will kick the Federal building there up a few stories and spread out on the balance of it's block. It's in the works. and then there won't be enough space. There never is. The business of government - big bus mess and getting bigger - is be- ing pretty good tc the old Joe Ju- neau-Dick Harris mining camp. The Juneau Chamber of Commerce, however, one of these days prob ably will get around to passing a resolution giving the government heck about something. That will be preserving the Juneau tradition while those welcome government dollars keep flowing over the Jun eau counters.
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 Gov. Gruening, now in Washing ton, is expected back around the first of the year.
 $&a&
 Back of the call for the special esssion of the 18th legislature in Juneau January 6, is an attempt to get away from last minute, of- ten inadequate, legislation in the closing days of regular session. It is felt by veteran lawmakers and Territorial officials that a session devoted exclusively to considera- tion of the Territory's financial af- fairs will pave the way for more intelligent approach to all Alaska's problems when they come before the legislators in their regular course. In the past the procedure usually has been to let the mates of Territorial revenues slide along until the closing days of the ses- sion on the theory, we'll see how much we need" For example, the 18th legislature woke up in it's closing days of the session finding it needed between ten and eleven million dollars for the biennium if it was going to meet the appropri- ation bills it already passed. It was too late to put through well-con- sidered revenue measures with the result that the session folded up with an unbalanced budget and with laws on its statute books that were impotent because there was not sufficient money to carry out their provisions. One of h e thoughts in calling the special ses- sion is to alternate this situation.
 Primary, of course, is the em- ergency the direct result of an un- balanced budget The Territory ewes money, somewhere in the neigh orhood of three quarters of million dollars, it can't pay. The new legislature is faced with find ing ways and means of raising the money. To borrow from ear-mark- ed funds. amounting to some two million in the Treasury would be just putting off the day of reckon ing. If the Territory is to maintain the sort of government most of it's citizens appear to desire, revenue measures must be passed. It will be impossible to O. k. all, or any major portion of budget request