'™£ NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XLVIII. No. 82. NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1946 PER COPY — I5c
WASHINGTON, July 10, —(/P)—
Alaska today informed the Mari
time Commission that freight rates
^n canned salmon should be in
creased but the Alaska steamship
lines ought to be refused a general
rate increase.
David E. Scoll, counsel for the
Alaska Development Board, and
Ralph Rivers, Attorney General
of the Territory, filed a brief fol
lowing recent hearings here on
proposals of the War Shipping Ad
ministration to increase rates to
Alaska.
The steamship lines involved
presented testimony that a rate
increase of about 68 per cent
would be needed to give them a
profit.
They said they did not want
the WSA to return their steamers
until the rate question was set
tled. If they were returned before
that they said, they would not op
erate the lines at the present
rates.
Scoll and Rivers say in their
brief that the canned salmon rate
should be equalized with rates
on other freight and said the
southbound rate on salmon was
too low.
“The record proves that salmon
^can and should bear some of the
extra cost of serving cannery
ports,” the brief says. “There is
no question of ability to pay
more.”
The brief contends that if ex
tra revenue has to be raised at
this time it should be raised on
salmon rather than on a general
rate increase.
Scoll and Rivers argue the Com
mission should define the nature
of Alaska’s shipping need, which
will enable Congress and the Al
aska Legislature to approve re
#medial measures.
They contend that the vessels
now operated on the Alaska run
should be replaced, saying 10
vessels operated by three lines
average from 19 to 76 years old
and new vessels would permit
Ifihore economical operation.
They further contend that not
withstanding the claim of the
carriers that they cannot and wil^
not resume operation of the ves
sels under existing rates, their
balance sheets showed a capital
surplus at the end of 1945.
"The consensus of the parties
(in the case) is that special legis
altion is required to provide Alas
g ka with adequate water trans
portation at reasonable rates and
^ charges, in order to secure a per
manent solution of this problem,”
the brief continues. "However,
before any such program for a
permanent solution of Alaskan
shipping needs can be really ef
MANILA HARBOR — Watching the French destroyer Somal in Manila harbor are (1. to
r.): U. S. Sailors T. D. Hughston. Dallas; H. G. Jackson, Wakefield. R. I.; R. Chepens, Cleveland.
►
s
25 Killed In Plane :
Crash, Hit Mt. Tom
HOLYOKE, Mass., July 10, — OP)
—Twenty-five army, navy and
coastguardsmen—the entire crew
and passenger list of a converted
flying fortress carrying the home
ward - bound servicemen from
Gander, New Foundland, were
killed last night when the plane
crashed against 1,200 foot Mount
Tom.
Salvage crews summoned to the
scene of New England’s worst air
disaster, labored today on the
mist-shrouded hill that rises,
abrupt and alone, above the Con
necticut valley not far from West
over Field in nearby Chicopee,
where the plane was to have
landed at 8:27 Eastern Standard
Time, last night.
fective, a more careful analysis
of the rates applicable to various
commodities and classes of traffic
must be made than was made in
this proceeding. Otherwise gov
ernment assistance will merely
perpetuate the inequalities and
inequities of the existing tarrif
structure.”
While the Maritime Commission
is considering its decision, Rep.
Jackson (D-Wash.) announced a
subcommittee of the House Mari
time Commission would begin
hearings in Seattle and Alaska on
the Alaskan steamship problem
as soon as Congress adjourns.
Army Engineers
To Hold Meetings
In Alaska Cities
SEATTLE, July 10, — (/P)—A sec
ond series of eight public hearings
to obtain local views on river and
harbor projects and improvements
desired by Alaskan residents will *
open August 2, at Cordova and
Valdez, Seattle District U. S. Ar
my Engineers said today.
Although the new Alaska En
gineer District with headquarters
at Anchorage directs military con
struction for the Territory of Al
aska, the Seattle Engineer Dist
rict continues to handle civil work
assignments of river and harbor
improvements and flood control
for Alaska. A series of eight
public hearings for southeastern
Alaska residents was held by the
Seattle Engineer district June 24
to June 28.
The schedule of hearings calls
for public meetings at 9 a.m. Aug
ust 2, Cordova; 2:30 p.m. August
2, Valdez; 9 a.m. August 5, Kod
iak; 9 a.m. August 6, Naknek for
navigation improvements on the
upper Kvichak river; 8 a.m. Aug
ust 7, Soldo via; 12.30 p.m. August
7, Homer; 1:30 p.m. August 8,
Anchorage; and 2 p.m. August 9,
Nome.
Harbor improvements desired
by local residents in the interests
of navigation will be discussed
at all hearings. At Anchorage,
Army Engineers will seek infor
mation and opinions on civil
Fish Packers Sue
For Equal Rights
—
FAIRBANKS, July 10, — —
Attorneys for the Kodiak Packers
and the government argued all
through the second day on the
packers’ petition on legality of en
forcing the Karluk Indian reser
vation fishing regulations.
The regulations, instituted un
der the Interior Depertment ad
ministration of former Secretary
Harold Ickes, would exclude all
non-Karluk fishermen from the
waters adjacent to the reservation.
Marvin Sonosky argued in be
half of the Department of Justice,
and W. C. Arnold of Seattle was
arguing this afternoon in behalf
of the packers, to be followed by
Sonosky’s rebuttal.
Sonosky argued that the case
should have been brought against
hte United States government, or
the Department of the Interior,
instead of against Frank Hines,
Director of the Fish and Wildlife
Service; that the question had
been foreclosed previously in the
Annette Island case, affecting
Mettakatla natives; that the pack
ers’ case did not set forth a cause
of action.
works development requested by
local interests including a small
boat harbor at Anchorage, navi
gation improvements for Cook In
let and possibilities of Cook Inlet
hydro-electric development to sup
ply power for the city of Anchor
age.
No Cargo For
Port Of Juneau
SEATTLE, July 10, — (/P)— No
cargo for Juneau will be received
in Seattle by the Steamship Aleu
tian, posted to sail Saturday, if
the work stoppage in that port
continues, officials of the Alaska
Steamship Company said today.
A three-day truce under which
Juneau longshoremen have been
discharging the SS Alaska and the
MS Clove Hitch, will expire at
8 o’clock Friday morning.
The longshoremen went on
strike in Juneau and Ketchikan
in support of their demand for
immediate payment of a 22 cents
hourly wage increase agreed upon
for Pacific ports. A 6-day truce
was declared in Ketchikan and a
3-day truce in Juneau. Both ex
pire at 8 o’clock Friday morning.
Operators said they were will
ing to pay the increase in pay,
but the required approval has not
been received from government
agencies.
Officials from the Alaska Tran
sportation Company said the SS
Tongass sailed from Juneau yes
terday, northbound, after dis
charging her cargo for that port.
The Northern Voyager of this
company has left Ketchikan for
Juneau and will be out of that
port before Friday morning.
Earthquake in
Alaska, Reported
WESTON, Mass., July 10, —(A*)—
The Weston College seismograph
station reported that its instru
ments today revealed an earth
quake of moderate intensity at
8:32:21 a.m., Eastern Standard
Time, yesterday—possibly in Al
aska.
The record indicated a distance
of 3,285 miles from Boston, in the
direction of Alaska and it contin
ued for about an hour.
Howard Hughes
Fights For Life
LOS ANGELES, Calif., July 10_
(/P)_From the hospital bed where
he is fighting for his life, Howard
Hughes told business associates
he knew he was in trouble a half
hour before his experimental re
connaisance plane crashed Sunday
on its maiden test flight but he
decided to go down with his ship
to try and save it from demoli
tion. His condition is still crit
ical.