The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1950-08-24

services amounting to $5628 paid out Of public money
part of which will be borne by the Federal Govern
ment through its matching fund contributions to the
Territory to help pay for the airport program Ihese
facts attested to in the official records OF the
Territory in the auditors office in Juneau Thus, Mr.
President we have here member of the legislature
who lis protng the results of legislative acts OF
the legislature in which he served. This is cir
cumstance which many members of the Senate Will,
quickly and with reason, assert is not the usual
course of events at ALL Nevertheless it is the fact
of the case covered by phoostatic documents winch
/ have in my possession
"Mr President, I inquired further into Mr. Nc
Cutcheons background and find strangely that he
is Also among other things, practicing attorney
who certainly knows the law, and is also the pres-
dent of the Alaska Arnes. 1t seems indeed strange
to me that Mr. McCutcheon, who served in legislature
which created a government agency and voted its
appropriation should have permitted himself to be
hired bv the same agency But further it seems most
Unusual that an airlines president vitality interested in
flying as private enterprise should have been hlreo
to act of all things as legal adviser to pubic
agency which is charged with supervising aviation
in the Territory in the publics interest Nor, Mr..
President is that all that have discovered in my
Inquiries about Mr. McCutcheon, high-ranking Ter
rory official who has profited from his legislative
endeavors. l observed at the outset OF my remarks
that the town of is located quite near the city
|of Anchorage Alaskas largest city, where the Gov
eminent has built two of the largest airports IN the
Territory one military and civilion 1t has also
been noted that there already was an airport at
Palmer withal smaller one the new one being
built at the present with the help of Federal
funds Meanwhile other towns, Mr.. President, are
and have been in much greater of flying facilities
of the tvpe which the Federal Aid Act seeks to pro-
vide I cite as examples the towns of Kotzebue and
Fort Yukon high up in the Arctic for which air trans
portation is virtually the only of communication
with the Territorial population centers and the out
side world Yet the records show, that the Palmer
airport was one of the first the list under the
program and that this construction is much further
advanced than any of the other airports. One ex-
nlanation for this which has been brought to my
attention is that the Mr. McCutcheon who is
the legal adviser to the aeronautica agency notWth-
standing the fact that he served in the legislature
which created the agency was one OF the FOUNDERS
and is presently stakeholder in the Union Bank OF
Anchorage. This bank I have learned, financed
the construction of the Matanuska Valley Hotel In
Palmer Thus Mr. President, Mr.. McCutcheon ana
his bank would private profits from the deve-
opment public expense, of increased air facites
at Palmer I find these facts disturbing and am
further disturbed to learn that the Governor OF
Alaska at an open forum in Palmer on July IA, placed
his personal stamp of approval upon this most unique
method of valung land for the purposes of estab-
fishing a claim for increased matching funds from
the Federal Treasury. I am told that the Governor
described the transaction as highly conservative
and intelligent piece of and that he termed it
completely correct and honorable"