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In 1978 when I finally had the opportunity to move to Alaska I 

 left a solid career in a large corporate bank to move to this last 

 frontier to make my home. I took a job with a small community 

 bank and rapidly began learning about the local economy first- 

 hand. What I discovered was a strong but fragile economic inter- 

 relationship. Maybe a better description would be an economy simi- 

 lar to a stool with three legs. These three legs are timber, fishing 

 and tourism. The economy has strength because all three of these 

 legs of the stool have some long-term markets from all over the 

 world. 



At the same time the economy is fragile because the legs of the 

 stool are subject to more than just the normal forces of supply and 

 demand present in a rational market. The timber leg in particular 

 is subjected to outside pressures which threaten to cut it off I 

 know that all of you at some time in your life have had the occa- 

 sion to sit on a three-legged stool. If you recall such an occasion 

 you remember that the three-legged stool was quite supportive and 

 possibly not always comfortable. It met your basic need for seating 

 at the time. 



Now try and picture in your mind's eye that same occasion with 

 only a two-legged stool. Unless you are very close to the floor and 

 can support your weight and keep your balance with your feet on 

 the ground, the two-legged stool would have been entirely inad- 

 equate for your basic seating needs. This is exactly what will 

 happen to the economy of southeast if the restrictive legislation 

 supported by Senator Wirth and Congressman Mrazrek should 

 become law. The local economy will suffer tremendously and poten- 

 tially collapse entirely if the timber industry becomes too severely 

 restricted. 



Over the last eighteen months a tremendous amount of uncer- 

 tainty has been interjected into our local economy involving all 

 three legs of the stool. The out-right threat of losing one leg entire- 

 ly has already had devastating economic impact locally. People are 

 no longer planning on building or expanding or even dreaming. 

 Most of us are simply trying to survive and preserve a way of life 

 in a land we all love dearly. Because of this very real uncertainty 

 several large local businesses in Ketchikan that I am personally fa- 

 miliar with are sacrificing quality leadership and personnel to deal 

 with diminishing monetary returns. Many other good people are 

 simply leaving the community to go elsewhere as opportunities 

 arise rather than stay here in the land they love and risk their 

 family security on the uncertainty of a questionable future created 

 by the whims of a capricious Congress which is influenced more by 

 the dollars contributed to campaigns by environmental political 

 action committees than by the wishes, needs and priorities of the 

 people it supposedly represents. 



I come before you today as a victim of this very real economic 

 uncertainty. I am most probably going to have to leave this com- 

 munity and this great land in order to continue to make a living 

 and provide for my family. I ask you gentlemen, if some outsider 

 came to your home town and took away your job and told you give 



