The Wrangell sentinel., 1953-08-14
Senators Due Monday


 Headed by Senator Hugh Butler of Nebraska, Chairman of the con- mittee on Interior and nsular Af. fairs, a group of U. s. Senators, members of the committee, are scheduled to pay Wrangeu a visit Monday. According to our informa~ tion they expect to fly mp from Ketchikan following a hearing to be held there Monday morning and will be met here by the Coast Guard vessel Citrus to continue their trip on to Petersburg and Juneau from where they will go by air to An. ohOrage. Fairbanks and other In. teriOr points.
 The party is assembling in Seat. tie tomorrow and plans to fly up to Ketchikan Sunday. In the delegation according to reports from here and there, will be Senators Butler, Guy Gordon of Oregon, Frank Barrett of Wyoming, Clinton P. Anderson of New Mexico, James D. Murray of Montana, Earle c. Clements of Kentucky, George A. Smathers of Florida and possibly Henry Jack. son of Washington. They are accom-. panied by William c. Strand. Dir. ectOr of Territories, former Fair. banks newspaper mani Gov. B. Frank Heintzleman and Delegate E. L. Bartlett.
 The Governor and Delegate are flying down from Juneau to meet the party at Ketchikan. The latter flew to duncan tbie week from Washington with Jim Ryan. Bob's first interview in the Territory, incidentally, was to the effect that he had been misquoted. From that we assume the Delegate is a candidate for reelection.
 No hearing is scheduled for Wrangell so far as we have been able to learn but hearings on state hood, elective governor and allied subjects will be held in Ketchikan, Juneau. Anchorage and Fairbanks
 Meanwhile, Senator Butler has been catching up on his Sentinel reading and appears to look a little askance at an item we had in the Periscope sone time ago. But, here is his letter:
 ''I have recently had brought to my attention the issue of the Wran.~ gell Sentinel of July 17th. In the column entitled Through the Sen tinel Periscope," there is a discus sion of the proposal to abolish the cost of living differential and at the conclusion of this discussion there appears the following state. ment: "Alaskans can take it, Sen. atOr Butler, but they are not going to take 1t lying down."
 "I am frankly at a loss as to the meaning of this statement and would appreciate it if you would let me know what 1t was meant to imply. For the record. I am in favor of maintaining the present 25 per cent cost of living differential for federal employees stationed in Alaska re-. gardless of whether they are native Alaskans or brought in from the States When the House of Repre-. sentatives acted to strike out that differential. I took it upon myself to contact personally the Senate Ap~ propriatiOns Committee which was considering the matter. I urged the Senate Committee to restore that differential and the Senate did so at my urging.
 "The above facts are all matters of record.
 Tn the interests of fair play and of giving your readers full informa.. tion. I would appreciate it if you could publish this letter.
 ''I hope you or others may find fl possible to attend our hearings il KetchikOn. am only sorry it vii not be possible for us to visit Wran gell. I originally intended to, but several members of the group wanted to cut down the length of the triI and we have, therefore, had to re. strict ourselves to hearings in tn, four largest cities.
 With kindest regards.
 Yours very truly.
 Hugh Butler. Chairman
 The implication was. Senator, tha if anybody down around Washing ton could and would do something about what appeared to be discrim ination against A1askans in connec Af-.. LA. Ala Nfof .tns, acct 4