The Wrangell sentinel., 1948-06-04
THROUGH TILE SENTINEL PERISCOPE

Iue l. ;. Department or ABIl- culture was quick to seize it's ad- vantage Two years ago it's lex perts" had made an agricultural survey in Alaska and compiled a report which reached from here 10 there; at least far enough that it had the effect of causing Congress 10 pass a law turning over the az riculture experimental stations in the Territory to the |. s. Depart ment of Agriculture. They had been operated previously by the University of Alaska. The report stressed what a wonderful job the Department of Agriculture would do if it had the stations and indi- cated rather strongly that their op- eration under the University was far from efficient At any rate, Congress fell for it while Alaskans, headed by Delegate Bartlett, cried to high heaven that it was the worst kind of discrimination and step backward from the dong al legged federal policy of giving AL aska more home rule. Dr. Charles
  versity, declared it "unconscion- able, unwarranted, unreasonable and unconstitutional.
 This week a letter came from the office of the Secretary of Agricul- ture informing Territorial officials that Dr. Bunnell, who had served as Treasurer of the Alaska EXperi- ment Stations, was being replaced by one Jack E. Maze of Palmer and would Territorial Treasurer Oscar G. Olson in the future make all payments due the experiment stations to the new Teaursrer. Last Legislature appropriated $150,000 for experiment stations on a CO., operative deal with federal acts. Those were the Territorial funds the federal Department of Agri- culture hoped to get it's hands on to do the experimental station work it had cleyerly taken away from the Univeritsy. It was one of the most high-handed pieces of fed eral maneuyering to slap Alaska down ever perpetrated in the Ter
 
 Lambert, Agricultural Research Administrator for the Department of Agriculture, was up here last summer he assured all and sundry that his department would be only most cooperative and had no in tentiOn whatsoever of throwing it's weight around Obviously putting the boot to Dr. Bunnell as Treas urer of the Experiment Stations is Dr Lambert's idea of being most cooperative"
 Now will some Alaskan speak up against statehood, at any price, or do you like what might be called the Lambert treatment?"
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 With the present shipping agree ment on Alaska water transporra tion to terminate June 30. two bills are before Congress aimed to do something about the situation after that date. One, H. J. Res. 396 by Rep. Tollefson of Washington, would extend the present agree ment another year The second, H. J. Res 4O1, by Delegate Bartlett would extend the agreement for three years with good many changes in the present set-up. Pri- marily, Delegate Bartlett proposed having the Secretary of Interior pass on any agreements entered in- to between the Maritime Commis sion and the shipping companies, and he proposes the Secretary of Interior because that official has more to do with the welfare of All aska than any other person. Ex- plaining it before the House Mer- chant Marine and Fisheries sub committee the other day, the Dele gate put it this way:
 'I together with all other Alas ka officials who have had to do with the matter, have been some what less than happy, to put it mildly, over the manner in which the U. S. Maritime Commission dis charged it's responsibilities under Public Law 12 (the shipping agree ment). So far as I am able I in- tend to see to it that this agency does not have unrestricted author ity over us with respect to water borne transportation. l must say that the administration of Public Law 12 has made us Alaskans wary frightened and apprehensive as tc what might occur"
 Delegate Bartlett was referring