The Daily Alaska empire., 1951-06-06

ed editorals hailing the event, and congratulatng the University and Territorial officials who had ar ranged the program. We felt that the appearance Of these nationally figures at the University was an honor the graduating class, and an event that was bound to benefit the Territory by calling the na- tions attention to its importance and to its problems Unfortunately. when the commencement week rolled around, bitterly disappointed The governor command of the affair, and 1t turned into political rally. Speeches were political and they concerned controversial subjects. Political lines were drawn in arranging the program. The greduat- ing class got lost the shuffle and did Alaska, as far we were concerned.
 The following Tuesday morning, we pondered the advisabity of saying exactly what we thought ot the affair After considerable thought we decided agaSt bringing out our objections. For the sake of the Um- versty faculty and others who had worked so hard on the program and of the students who had been pushed around enough we decided to drop the matter and let the governors actions speak for themselves. In short the governor had made political football out of the affair and we decided against kicking It.
 Later we discovered that three of the Territorys six daily newspapers had condemned the proceedings The fact that these editorials appeared in print made news and we felt the people Of Fairbanks should at least be able to read what is being printed all over the Territory Since agreed with these editorials we said so when printed them
 A point has been brought up that one editor re- ferred to "anti-statehood Fairbanks We questioned that statement but it is not considered proper to eul another persons editorial so we leI It sOaio' Ai0 NeusM Miner hereby corrects that mistake on the mari of a visiting editor by acknowledging that in referendum held several years the city of Far hanks voted in favor of statehood, although ule Fourth Division whole did not
 The Nevs-Miner is proud of the manner in which ve covered the graduation exercise, even though we disapproved of the way it was being run We pup oizad tho affair fully and gave full news coverage well as printing many pictures of the events Any reader will recall that had paper on the streets less than an hour after the ceremony ended, glVlig fll impartial reports the statements o1 each guest neaker and printing headlines, the fact that Gov prnor Warren indorsed statehood. Unfortunately we d;dnt fare too well at the hands of the governor Ill nite of these efforts During his polltlcng at the racenton for Warren he suggested that we were not one of the Territorys FAIR" newspapers. In carry , ont our respective parts in the graduation eXer- cise we are convinced that inc Ne"S-HAiiioi wa" ~ and the governor was not talr
 We can s,m up our feelings on the whole matter in two points:
 1 It is unfortunate that the commencement eA u hecan,e enbroiled in political controversy but it was Governor Gruening, not the ne"spapeo, 1'le
 enuh,icans or any other group, that injected politics into the affair.
 9 We are convinced that Governor Gruening usea the University of Alaska to 1urther ceieaii poii'o ambitions which he harbors
 Furthermore we might point out that charges that we were "disgruntled" that Republicans were dannointed because the governor showed them up at the exercise do not hold water The charges are not true but even if they we still beheVe InaI
 I1niversitv of Alaska commencement eexrclse Is not the nlace for Governor Gruening to be dlsplayng HIS noitical prowess manipulating Ierfltorldi setVaiilo like puppets or showing people up