ALASKA, 1955 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1955 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRITORIAL AND INSULAR AFFAIRS Anchorage, Alaska. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a. m., in the public library, Hon. Leo W. O'Brien (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. O'BRIEN. The hearing will come to order. I would like to ask the indulgence of the committee, if I may, to make a brief statement at this point. I might say at the outset to the people from Anchorage that it is a great pleasure for me to spend what happens to be my birthday and 30th wedding anniversary in your fine city. My one regret is it is not my 30th birthday instead of wedding anniversary. One reason I desired to make a statement at this time is that a very charming and distinguished member of our committee, Congresswoman Green, of Oregon, will be leaving us this afternoon to return home for a very pressing reason, her son is to be married on Saturday. Some other members of the committee who are not with us now will be joining us later. Congressman Sisk, of California, is coming and possibly Congressman Chenoweth, of Colorado. The reason I wanted to make this statement is that I saw in a newspaper along the line several days ago a short editorial expressing the hope that the members of this committee had come to Alaska to search out the problems of Alaska to do something about them and not as tourists. I know that the tourist business is very important to Alaska, but I can assure you outside of the thousands of miles we have covered we have not been tourists. We have tried to work very hard. We have been in Alaska 1 week today. We visited Fairbanks, Nome, Point Barrow, McKinley Park, Anchorage, and other places. We have had many hours of public hearings. In fact, we even had a public hearing yesterday on the train from Fairbanks to McKinley Park, and our official reporter has hardly recovered yet from the task of hitting those keys along the way. Some of our members are ardent fishermen or hunters. They have not had the opportunity to fish or hunt, in fact very little opportunity to do any shopping. I must confess for those who look upon these trips as junkets that we have had some fun. We had a couple of rounds of ping-pong at Nome and a couple of rubbers of bridge. I would like to say to the people of Alaska that I would resent very deeply if any committee of Congress had the power over the affairs of my State which this committee has over your State. I assure you we did not seek that power. It was delegated to us. It was a responsi 17 bility we could not shirk. But we have tried to do our best for the Territory of Alaska and for the other places within our jurisdiction. I think that is the reason-primary reason that we are here now. I would like to say for the benefit of you people in Alaska that I have been amazed by the approach of this particular committee. As you know we have two major parties in Congress, and sometimes they do not get along. There has not been an instance on this entire trip where I was conscious of whether a particular member was a Democrat or a Republican. There has been a common search for your problems and a way to do something about them. One of the great values to me personally of this trip was the fact that we have received or will have received testimony before we finish in approximately 70 hours of hearings. We will have had testimony from 1 out of every 500 persons in the Territory of Alaska, in addition to which we have talked in the hotel lobbies and many other places. When I return home and am asked what I obtained from this trip, and I am sure it would be the response of other members of the committee, I would have to say that from now on my approach to the problems of Alaska would be the approach of a person to people rather than trying to solve those problems through the study of maps or dead reports. Now you frequently complain up here that you have no vote in Congress. That unfortunately is true. But I think that your Delegate, Bob Bartlett, has made up many times over for the lack of that vote. He has enlisted by the warmth of his personality, by his great understanding of the problems of the Territory, many times the vote that I, who have a vote, could command in Congress. And I would like to say publicly, and I am sure that the members of this committee agree, regardless of their politics, that they would wish they could represent their districts half as well as Bob Bartlett represents the Territory of Alaska. That is why today in this largest city of the Territory, with the full approval of the committee, I am going to turn over the gavel, which seems to consist of a fountain pen, to Bob Bartlett, who will preside in my stead over the hearings in Anchorage. Bob, would you take the chair? Mr. BARTLETT. I am indebted to you, Mr. Chairman, for your very kind words which are deeply appreciated. I would like to associate myself with everything you have said about the working habits of this committee, and we are going to try to demonstrate here in the next 2 days in Anchorage that we are here to work. Since there is a long list of witnesses to be heard, I think that the proper order will be to start in at this time. Mr. ABBOTT. The first witness, Mr. Chairman, briefly I understand, will be Mr. William Stookey of the chamber of commerce here. Mr. BARTLETT. Just before we go on to the witnesses I should like to have the opportunity to introduce to those in the room the several members of the committee who are with us. The chairman has mentioned Mrs. Green of Portland, Oreg., who unfortunately has to leave us today to return to her home State. Mrs. Green is on my far left. Next is Mrs. Gracie Pfost of Idaho who joined us at Nome on Monday after having come there via Anchorage. On my far right is Congressman James Utt of California, and next to him is Congressman William Dawson of Utah, the only member of the group who has been in Alaska before. Mr. Dawson traveled widely throughout the Territory in 1947, and as we were coming in from the airport yesterday he commented upon certain changes in the scene at Anchorage which have occurred during those 8 years. And of course, as you know, the man who first addressed you is a very able, efficient chairman of the Territorial Subcommittee of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Congressman Leo O'Brien of New York. I should like to have the opportunity here to express more than a casual word of thanks in behalf of everything that Mr. O'Brien has done for Alaska and for the other Territories as well since he became chairman of this committee. We might normally feel that a man from New York would not be too interested in Territorial problems. The very opposite has been the case so far as Mr. O'Brien is concerned. He has given freely of his time and of his great abilities in our behalf. And if all other Alaskans could have viewed his endeavors for us as I have been able to, I know they would want to join with me in expressing that thanks to him here on his birthday and the occasion of his wedding anniver sary. The committee functions with what we like to think is efficiency and capacity, not perhaps too much because of our own labors but because of our very efficient staff members, and three of them are with us on this trip. They have done a great job for us. There is Sid McFarland, consultant for the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, who handles the technical engineering matters before the committee. Would you stand, Sid? Then there is Dr. John Taylor who is the consultant on Territories. Will you stand, Jack? And the gentleman on my left in a gray suit, distinguished for many reasons including his size, and on account of the further fact that he is leaving us Sunday to go to Nevada to be married on October 1stGeorge Abbott. And we are greatful that the Air Force has taken such good care of us on this trip, and Colonel Libby has traveled with us as we have gone about the Territory and will be with us until the trip breaks up at Annette Island on October 6. Bill Stookey is the first witness. If you will come forward, Mr. Stookey. Would you please state your full name and address and any other information you might want to give for the benefit of the record, and then proceed in your own manner. STATEMENT OF WILLIAM STOOKEY, PRESIDENT, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Mr. STOOKEY. My name is William Stookey. I am president of the chamber of commerce. At this time I would like to welcome all of you members of the committee to Anchorage and to Alaska, and it is with great pleasure that we have you here, and if there is anything that we can do, the chamber of commerce, do not hesitate to give us a call. We are all looking forward to a successful meeting, and again if we can help you in any way, do not hesitate to give us a call. Mr. BARTLETT. Thank you, Mr. Stookey. Now George Shannon, the city manager of Anchorage. Would you please identify yourself, Mr. Shannon. Mr. SHANNON. I am George C. Shannon, city manager of Anchorage. Mr. BARTLETT. Do you have a prepared statement, Mr. Shannon? Mr. SHANNON. Yes, sir; we have several statements we would like to present. Would you like to have them ahead of time? Mr. BARTLETT. I think that would be fine. Mr. Shannon, do you care to read your statement or give us excerpts from it? Mr. SHANNON. I believe, Mr. Chairman, I would prefer to read it because we understand that the committee would like to have views and terms presented to it as source material later on, perhaps when these problems come to them in Washington. Mr. BARTLETT. Proceed to read it then, Mr. Shannon. STATEMENT OF GEORGE C. SHANNON, CITY MANAGER, CITY OF ANCHORAGE, ALASKA Mr. SHANNON. Mr. O'Brien and members of the committee, the city of Anchorage is deeply appreciative of your committee holding hearings in Alaska, and particularly Anchorage, in regard to general problems and suggestions on which there is related interest with the Federal Government. We are also deeply appreciative of the past work and assistance that has been given to the Anchorage community by the various agencies of the Federal Government in helping to develop Alaska and the assistance that has been given in the Anchorage area. We are hopeful that, as a result of these hearings, this assistance will be continued and adjusted to more nearly meet the requirements that your committee will find at these hearings. As an introduction to the city of Anchorage's presentation before this committee, I would like to take a moment to outline the necessity of close relationship between the city government and the Federal Government. Anchorage, just as any other city, exists only to perform public service for its people. The city should design its public services and community facilities to make its community a more desirable place in which to live. The city's population is made possible only through the economic opportunity that is made available in the community. Considerable effort is being made by the city and its enterprising citizens to develop a self-sustaining economy, and with it, will come additional opportunities to serve increasing numbers of population and more desirable standards of public service. The services of municipal government can only be supported by the revenues made available through taxes and service charges on the business interest and the people who benefit from these services, and the degree of service can be made available only in the degree to which there is a balance between municipal revenues and the number of people. In a city where there is a balanced economy, both the employer and employee make equitable contributions to the local government to provide the services which make the community an attractive place in which to reside and do business. Both the employer and employees have equal responsibilities in this respect. In the past and at present, the basic economic factor supporting the Anchorage economy is the Federal governmental operations within this community. The operations of the Federal Government are to perform a national service which is of benefit to the entire Nation. Every Federal service in Anchorage is providing a national benefit. Figures have been complied which show that a large segment of An |