___ OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS___
VOL. LI. No. 3_NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1949 Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
^ SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, </P)—
Oscar Chapman, assistant secre
tary of the interior, said yesterday
he thinks the chances of statehood
for Hawaii and Alaska are “most
favorable.”
He told a news conference it was
possible Congress might act with
in the year. Chapmna was here as
a representative of the United
States at the inauguration of Gov.
Luis Munoz Marin.
• JUNEAU, </P) — Five trainmen
were injured when a snowslide
demolished the caboose and over
turned the engine of a freight
train of the White Pass and Yu
kon Railway Tuesday.
A fragmentary report from
Skagway failed to give their
names. They were reported recov
ering there. Traffic on the line
was halted indefinitely.
SEATTLE, (/P)—A request that
the halibut season be opened a
month early this year will be laid
before the international fish com
mission by the deep sea fisher
men’s union.
Business agent Harold Grotle
said the union will ask the com
mission to open the season April 1
to provide better marketing con
ditions before the heavy salmon
landings are checked in.
4- The commission will meet here
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurs
day.
KETCHIKAN, W5) — Senator
Frank Peratrovich of Klawock,
author of the bill for a referendum
on abolition of fish traps, opposes
the fish and wildlife service’s pro
posal to close some 85 Southeast
^ ern Alaska fish traps next year as
“inadequate.”
He also said that traps to be
closed are largely those operated
and owned by small individuals.
‘ The most destructive traps,”
those that block the most escape
ment to choice spawning streams
in the Klawock district, would be
ignored,” he said.
ANCHORAGE, (^)-Two giant
moose shot in Rainy Pass in 1946,
and 1947 won honors as the larg
^ est bagged anywhere those years,
Bud Branham, big game guide,
says.
The 1946 head was taken by
Mrs. Edna Graham, Auburn
Wash., and measured 72 inches,
and the 1947 animal, killed by
Otto Kuehn of Milwaukee, had a
head measuring 70V4 inches. Bran
ham was the guide on both trips.
^ He said the awards were made
by the Boone and Crockett Club,
official tabulators of North Amer
ican big game records.
NENANA, t/P)—Mrs. C. C. Heid,
United States commissioner here
for 25 years, has resigned and will
spend the winter with a sister in
the States. Another woman, Mrs.
George Sullivan, succeeds her.
KETCHIKAN, (/P) — Uranium
bearing ores have opened up a
A new field for prospectors in Alas
ka.
Leo Saarela, director of mining
extension at the University of
(Continued on Page Seven)
• * • '
Push Plans F or
Growth Of Alaska
Alaskan resource development
can and should make new econo
mic opportunities and important
contributions to our nati o n a 1
wealth, says Assistant Secretary
of the Interior William E. Warne,
who has made a detailed study of
the prbolems and potentialities of
“America’s last frontier.”
Our widely held, traditional
conception of Alaska as “Seward’s
Folly” as a forbidding, ice-bound
land with lit’le prospects for ;id
vancement is erroneous, he says.
The natives call it “Alakh
Skhak,” meaning “Great Coun
try,” and the Department of the
Interior’s exploration of the econo
mic possibilities of the land are
proving how right they are. he
added.
In an article in the January is
sue of “The Reclamation Era,” of
ficial Bureau of Reclamation pub
lication, Assistant Secretary
Warne states firmly that the peo
ple of Alaska must be given “an
opportunity to become self-sus
sustaining. producing wealth for
themselves and the Territory, and
thereby protecting the economy
and welfare of the United States.”
He outlined a coordinated Federal
program, already under way, for
opening up access to rich, unde
veloped nautral resources that
would give the people new oppor
tunities to establishe industries,
create productive jobs and add
much to the national wealth.
Alaskans pay high for their liv
ing with food and goods transport
ed far distances, he explained.
Transportation costs and lack of
electric power facilities to pro
mote home industry now create
an unending series of business
bottlenecks.
1 The Assistant Secretary believes
that the development of electrical
energy in Alaska is the key to
Alaska’s future, pointing out that
it would relieve two immediate
problems now retarding Alaskan
growth.
| “One problem is the lack of
small, locally developed industries
and the other is the lack of ven
ture capital,” he explained. “For
example, if you wanted to go into
i the cement business in Alaska,
and there are raw materials to as
only have to build the cement
onyl have to build the cement
mill, but build the power plant.
1 “The Inter-Agency Committee
on the Development of Alaska,
which was formally organized
last year and had been working
long before that, feels that if we
can devevlop hydroelectric power
in Alaska, the edge can be knock
ed off the high cost of energy.
Some industries will be attracted.
This would also reduce the size of
the requirement for capital in put
ting small industries into the Ter
ritory, and thereby knock down
the high cost of living.
“Without a new source of ener
gy, a town like Anchorage will
have to stop growing. Without a
lower-cost source of energy, the
same.town will have no develop
ment of business or basic indus
try to support it in the long run.”
Assistant Secretary Warne says
Continued on Page Three
UU. S. Becoming
Social Democracy**
Say Europeans
LONDON i/p)—Western Europe,
most of it under socialist control,
yesterday interpreted President
Truman’s state-of-the-union mes
sage as evidence the United States
will move further to the left.
And, generally, it was pleased,
The communists were pleased, too
—but for a different reason. They
seized upon the chief executive’s
program ns propaganda to prove
social and economic backward
ness in the United States.
In Britain, however, the Inde
pendent-Liberal Manchester Guar
dian cited Mr. Truman’s program
as an indication that “socialism”
is not the only path for the left.
Its goal might be called the insur
ance state, its method the delib
erate shortening of the odds
against the weak, but without
abandoning the basically individ
(Continued on Page Seven)
U. S. Denies Soviet
i Charges About
Gen. MacArthur
TOKYO, (/P)—The United States
flatly denied Russian charges to
day that Gen. Douglas MacArthur
was permitting expansion of the
Japanese police force into an
army and accused Russia of trying
j to “undermine the policies” of the
occupation.
The charges and counter-charg
! es were made at the 77th meeting
I of the four-power allied council
for Japan.
Lt. Gen. Kuzna, Derevyanko,
; Russian member of the council,
I charged that the Japanese, with
, American “encouragement,” were
working toward an armed force
(Continued on Page Four'
i _
■ ■ ' T
Officers Club Bars
Enlisted Men
I
BERLIN, </P)—The membership
of Harnack House, fashionable
American officer-civilian blub in
Berlin, barred enlisted men as
guests yesterday, although German
girls are accepted.
The vote to bar enlisted men
was made at a heated meeting
Wednesday night in which one
faction, led by officers, outvoted a
faction, led by civilians. 135 to
106.
Civilian speakers conten d e d
that enlisted men should be ad
mitted as quests because German
nationals, including frauleins,
were permitted in the club.
The opposition, consisting most
ly of officers, objected. One lieu
tenant colonel said he was willing
to accept 90 per cent of enlisted
men but objected to the other 10
per cent.
“There are 10 per cent of en
listed men who do not know How
to behave," he said. “We don’t
want these enlisted barbarians
with officers and ladies.”
The lieutenant colonel said he
would resign if soldier guests
were admitted.
Truman Omits
Statehood Plea
From Message
SEATTLE (/Pi—A special Wash
ington correspondent for the
Times said yesterday a number of
Congressmen from the far west
expressed concern over the omis
sion from the President’s state of
the Union message on the direct
plea for the speedy grant of state
hood to Alaska and Hawaii.
The President has made such a
plea a part of all his former mes
sages on the state of the Union.
E. L. Bartlett, Alaskan Delegate,
said he was confident the Presi
dent had not altered his position
on statehood.
; Mr. Truman did, say he stands
firmly behind his civil rights pro
! gram, and Bartlett said this in
| eludes statehood for Alaska.
“There was just too much to be
included in detail in his message
and as he has previously asked for
statehood for Alaska there was no
need in repeating that request sep
| arately,” Bartlett said.
“The Prseident, I am confident,
! is just as strongly in favor of
statehood for our Territory as he
ever was. I feel he will reiterate
that feeling before long.
The Times correspondent said
• Continued on Page Eight)
GOP Charges
Democrats With
Playing ‘Socialism’
—
WASHINGTON </P)—-Democrat
' ic leaders shrugged off Republican
! cries of “socialism" yesterday as
! they opened a drive to rush the
I bulk of President Truman’s tax
I welfare-labor program through
Congress.
With the idea that the first 100
days arc the easiest, administra
tion lieutenants charted swift ac
tion. They intend to have some of
the wide range of White House
proposals ripening into final form
about :he time Mr. Truman takes
the oath for a full four-yera term
January 20.
Senator Lucas <D.-I11.>, the up
coming majority leader in the Sen
ate keynoted the hurry-up refrain.
The Senate, Lucas said, “will
proceed with all convenient
speed.’’
Republicans saw threats ot na
tional bankruptcy in the Truman
spending proposals. They blasted
the President’s idea for govern
ment-built steel plants as “social
ism.” They bemoaned his failure
to ask for any savings in govern
ment costs.
The GOP will get another crack
at this latter subject Monday
when Mr. Truman submits to Con
gress a budget expected to reach
$41,900,000,000 for the year be
ginning July 1.
But general Congressional reac
tion indicated that Mr. Truman
stands a good chance of getting
many of the things he proposed
Wednesday in his personally-de
livered state of the union message.
The chances for passage in some
form looked good for:
A tax increase, but possibly not
(Continued on Page Eight)
Blizzards. Floods
Strand Thousands
(Her The States
< F5y The Associated Press*
Distress signals flew over wide
areas yeterday on the nation’s
weather map.
The worst victims of weather’s
elements were Rocky Mountain
and western plains sta’es; four
southern states and the rich citrus
area of California and Arizona.
The snow-bound Rocky Moun
tain and plains states struggled
i against seemingly insurmountable
odds in dramatic manner in at
. temp’s to recover from the win
ter’s worst blizzard,
i Churling waters spilled from
I rain-swollen rivers in four south
ern states—Mississippi, Alabama,
Tennessee and Georgia—forcing
thousands from their homes and
isolating several communities.
More sub-freezing weather hit
I areas in the California-Arizona
citrus belt and losses in the indus
‘ try were estibated at $20,000,000.
There also was the threat of
new floods in the northeastern
section of the country. Heavy rain
fell from the Carolinas northward
along the Atlantic Coast to New
England.
The blizzard has finally blown
i iteslf out of the Dakotas and west
i ern Nebraska. No fresh snow fell,
winds diminished and tempera
tures were in the 29’s. The coldest
areas in the country yesterday
were in Utah and Nevada—10 be
<Continued on Page Five>
Dept. Of Justice
Files Anti-Trust
Complaints
Attorney General Tom C. Clark
announced the filing today in the
I Federal Court at Cleveland, Ohio,
of a civil anti-trust complaint
charging Republic Steel Corp., 19
! other fabricators of culvert pipe,
I and Toncan Culvert Manufactur
ers’ Association with restraining
competition in the manufacture
and sale of corrugated sheet metal
and culvert pipe.
The complaint charges that Re
public and 19 other fabricators of
metal culvert pipe have allocated
territories for making and selling
this pipe. Republic reserved the
exclusive right to make and sell
| this pipe in Ohio, West Virginia,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Dela
ware, Maryland, the District of
Columbia, and in all foreign coun
tries.
Each of the 19 other fabricators
has been allotted the exclusive
right to make and sell the pipe in
carefully-defined geograp h i c a 1
areas throughout the United
States.
The complaint also charges that
each of the 19 fabricators agrees
to buy all its requirements of shoe*
metal used in fabricating metal
culvert pipe from Republic.
The complaint alleges that the
Toncan Culvert Manufacturers*
Association aided in the enforce
ment of the restrictions on the
. manufacture and sale of metal cul
I (Continued on Page Eight)