Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him Territorial Governor of Alaska in 1939, chunky, mercurial Ernest Gruening has campaigned vehemently for the abolition of his office. Last week, testifying at a congressional hearing on Alaskan statehood, he reiterated his reasons. Alaska, he said, can never really develop until it becomes a full-fledged member of the Union, takes part in presidential elections, chooses its own governor, and sends Senators and a Congressman to Washington to fight its battles.
"The history of Alaska," he said, "is a history of neglect as far as federal...