The Daily Alaska empire., 1948-09-15
YOU ARE THE.
 MA5TER OF OUR FATE

porters in Juneau for their discrim-
 mating support in the Democratic
 primaries of my candidacy for Ter ritorial Engineer.
 | Despite the great majority I re-
 ceived in the Interior having carried the three interior districts by 20OO votes I was defeated in the totals for the Territory by the narrow margin of around 100 votes. This defeat was due to the opposition majority in the First Division. It was due altogether to the political finagling and deceit by the pro- fessional Administration politicians of Juneau. Here is what was up against:
 CD The support of my opponent
 by the Governor and his admins
 tration Democrats. This of course
 was allegedly. in vilation of the
 Hatch Act and the Governors word
 to me that he would be neutral in
 the primaries. Of course he wasn't.
 (2) The incumbent Engineer has a great advantage. In a campaign
 he can cover the half million square miles of Alaska on any pretext. his
 expense and salary paid
 (3) The Territory has presented him with his own private political machine-the Alaska Patrol, He ap- points the patrolmen. They owe allegiance only to him. They sour the roads of Alaska wearing gaudy uniforms. In beautiful limousines, | fitting from road house to road house, they carry the word of their master. It is a neat private political
 machine and useless for other pur-
 poses. This service must cost at least s100.000 a year. Let the pen-
 sioners, pilots, farmers, prospectors,
 miners and fishermen ponder where
 the tax money goes-
 Under these circumstances it is a marvel that I came so close to ylc- tory in the primaries. Apparently the professional Democrats resented my personality and my objeetives as they had for years in the past when their covert opposition created delay which has resulted in the present aborted Military Highway l and destruction of it's efficiency as
 a supply route.
 They were powerful enough to
 throw me out of the Democratic
 Party. My years of training and ex-
 perience and accumulated knowledge
 were cast aside. My real long range
 objectives were to be lost among
 the trivia of minor. irrelevant opliti- cal purposes. My real objectives
 were to be lost in what may we'll be EAlaska's most critical time. For,
 without adequate and efficient land
 transport. Alaska still is in des- perate plight. She is still strate- gic island.
 The Republican Party realized my position and agreed with my Pri-
 mary statement ENGINEERING IS NOT A POLITICAL ISSUE. They gave me the unprecedented honor of a place on their ballot. In this issue they stood above parti- san politics. Actuated by Alaska's desperate plight this was an action that reflects to their eternal credit.
 Under all the above circumstances II felt honor bound to accept.
 Otherwise I would betray all those
 who supported my plans for the
 solution of Alaska's great problem
 basic to everything -transporta- tion. After all am running for Territorial Engineer. I have en- gineering objectives. am trying to
 create a highway system-I am not running for the job of Chief of the
 Rural Police" in the effort to build up a personal political machine at
 the expense of the citizens of
 Alaska.
 T In Southeast Alaska Funds are , generated for the needs of the area by taxes on the gas and oil con- 1, sumed by marine engines. Of course
 such taxes should be spent in the r areas in which they are raised, and for the special purposes arising from , the needs of a sea-faring popula-
 ton, landings, wharves, harbor pro lection, etc. These funds are ridi-
 culously inadequate to the needs.
 They should rot be diverted to
 frivolous purposes nor to functions
 such as the Patrol, properly belong
 ing to the Department of Justice
 and certainly no part of the duties
 of an engineer
 Why should it be necessary In
 Alaska, territory, to raise funds to preserve order on the U. s. Gov , ernment lands and military high
 ways?
 The only iustifiable diversion of funds can occur only when, by the
 accidents of fortune, a whole com munity is made destitute. Under such conditions necessary roads,
 docks and other facilities may be built by resident labor This is cer-
 tainly better than charity and could be efficiently handled. am heart-
 fly in accord with such q policy In this communication I have tr;od "a v,,aLa rv,v rocition clear