THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. O. Box 613
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W. A. and EMILY BOUCHER.Editors
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice at
Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Wednesday, January 23, 1946
TIME FOR ACTION
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The long-pending federal airport program, which the
United States Senate finally approved after prolonged
consideration, has now been before the interstate and
foreign commerce committee of the House of Repre
sentatives for many weeks—and is apparently stranded
there.
The time for action on this important measure is now.
The object of the measure is to provide federal aid,
to the extent of 75 million dollars annually for the first
four years after its enactment, “for the development,
construction, improvement and repair of public airports
in the United States.”
The longer Congress delays the measure, the longer
the vital aviation industries of the nation will be ob
structed in the performance of the essential services
they are capable of giving the nation, and in the fulfill
ment of the great hopes the American people have in an
adequate postwar commercial aviation establishment.
At the time Senator McCarran of Nevada introduced
the airport bill last January the country was still at
war, and there was some disposition in Congress to deal
with postwar matters as if they were related to condi
tions in what was then considered the rather remote fu
ture.
But we are already deep in the “postwar” era now,
and we will soon be entering upon our first full year of
peace.
Whatever Congress is going to do about the encour
agement and development of postwar projects essential
to national welfare and security, it should be doing.
In terms of commercial aviation, the delay in Con
gress over the airport program is a set-back to the
whole peacetime economy of the nation.
Commercial aviation, as the carrier of goods and per
sons and as an instrument of transportation and com
munication, is destined to be the measure of the pros
perity and progress of every community in the United
States.
We already have the greatest aviation industry in the
world.
We have many thousands of available aircraft, of all
types and capacities and suitable to all purposes.
We have many more thousands of trained and com
petent pilots and aviation mechanics.
But we do not have enough airports—and without
an integrated system of public airports we are not in a
position to profit by the enormous aviation resources
already at hand.
That is why the final approval by Congress of the
federal airport act is important.
It is now too late, of course, to meet the orginal ap
peal of Senator McCarran for a nation-wide network of
airports “ready to go when the war is over.”
But it is not too late to get going on a program which
means so much to the American people.
POLIOMYELITIS IS VERY UNPREDICTABLE
Poliomyelitis is one of the most unpredictable of dis
eases. The number of cases may vary greatly from year
to year and from locality to locality. For example:
North Carolina in 1943 reported only 37 cases. The fol
lowing year, however, it reported 859 cases, highest in
its history. Pennsylvania in 1943 had 143 cases, but
1,455 in 1944. Likewise, New York state which had 692
cases in 1943, reported 6,202 the following year.
It was in New York State, also, that the number of
eases rose from 257 in 1915 to a total of 13,223 the fol
lowing year, and dropped back to 295 in 1917.
More than 13,000 men, women and children in the
United States were victims of infantile paralysis in
1945, making it the fourth highest year on record, the
National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis reports. In
1943 and 1944, the National Foundation reported 12,429
and 19,053 cases respectively. The three-year total,
1943-45 inclusive, is greater than has ever been report
ed previously for any five-year period.
NO TIME FOR BUTTERFINGERS
WASHINGTON
NEWS-LETTER
By MARY LEE COUNCIL
Secretary to E. L. (Bob) Bartleih
Delegate to Congress from Alaska
TRAVEL FOR
DISCHARGED ALASKANS
The War Department has au
thorized the Commanding General
Alaskan Deparmtent, to furnish
transportation at government ex
pense, to enlisted personnel being
discharged in Alaska, by use of
commercial air, ground and water
i facilities where homes cannot be
reached by government transnor
i tation, according to information
| given Delegate Bartlett by John
, W. Martyn, Administrative Assis
i tant to the Secretary of War.
Delegate Bartlett has long and
; emphatically urged relief of the
situation which found Alaskans
discharged from the armed forces
obliged to dig into their own
pockets to pay for their fare to
homes in the Territory. The Na
tional Defense Ace of 1942 limits
the payment of travel expenses
for discharged members of the
armed forces to five cents a mile,
which is far below the cost of
transportation in Alaska. Delegate
| Bartlett has received numerous
complaints from Alaskans who
have had to supplement the five
cent mileage allowance alloted
them by paying sometimes be
tween two and three hundred dol
lars of their own money to get
home. This has been especially
true of residents returning to such
l places as Shishmaref and Beaver,
| serviced only by airplane.
Individual relief bills will be
introduced by Delegate Bartlett to
reimburse residents who have al
ready undergone additional legiti
mate travel expense upon dis
charge from the armed forces
prior to the effective date of the
new order to the Alaskan Depart
ment.
ABORIGINAL RIGHTS
Following renearing of the
claims of the natives of Hydaburg,
Klawock and Kake, Secretary
Tckes. through a ruling, has recog
nized the rights of the native vil
lages to eight hundred additional
acres.
This acreage includes small
tracts which have continued to be
used exclusively, chiefly as gar
dens, smokehouses, homes and
cemeteries.
The rehearing followed the rul
ing of the Secretary last July,
which gave recognition to the
rights of the natives in the total
of 273,000 acres, eight percent of
the total land area of 3,339,000
claimed.
However, the new ruling re
duces the original acreage recog
nized by 1120 acres eliminating
exclusive native rights to cannery
facility sites. In this connection,
Secretary Ickes stated, “The new
evidence presented by protestants
i concerning the use of tracts in
connection with the operation and
maintenance of canneries on un
| patented lands clearly shows that
those areas were used with the
consent of the natives. There is
little, if any, testimony of resist
ance to the advent of the canner
ies, which, after all, meant addi
tional work and income for the
local native population. Of course,
the extinguishment of native
claims to these areas does not
mean that vested rights against
the United States have been ac
quired by the owners of the can
neries.”
Secretary Ickes, relative to the
native rights to the use and occu
pancy of beaches within the area,
recognized, stated, “I assume that
the natives will continue to per
mit reasonable temporary use by
non-native seiners . . . where that
use does not interfere with their
! own. On this assumption it is un
necessary to consider whether a
; public easement of access has been
created by long acquiescence.”
In connection with trap sites.
Secretary Ickes ruled that the na
tives’ exclusive possession of such
land could not be diminished be
cause the natives had long re
sented the interference of the
j traps and have used all the means
, available to them to have the traps
removed. Secretary Ickes contin
ued, “The trap owners themselves
recognize that a license from the
War Department to use a particu
I lar area for a trap site does not
grant a permanent interest. The
; permits issued by the Forestry
I Service of the Department of Ag
riculture for trap tail-hold areas
are identical in this respect, and
so specifically provide. Therefore
there is no reason to modify the
findings of the order of July 27
with respect to the beach and up
land areas used by non-natives
for tail-holds and leads. The same
ruling applies to beach areas used
for storage of trap-frames, an
chors and other trap equipment
and for cabin sites used in connec
tion with traps. All such areas
may, of course, be utilized by non
natives, but only with the consent
of the owners of the soil. This is
the rule that applies throughout
the United States to the use of
land belonging to another. There
is no reason to apply a different
rule to the possessions of Alaskan
natives.”
ASSESSMENT WORK
The period now allowable for
the performance of annual assess
ment work on mining claims in
the United States, including Alas
ka, at the present time has at
least seventeen months to run, ac
cording to Delegate Bartlett in is
suing the following clarifying
statement:
“The Act of May 3, 1943 <57
Stat. 74; 30 U, S. C. sec 28a> sus
pended the annual assessment
work provisions of section 2324 of
the Revised Statutes ‘until the
hour of 12 o’clock meridian on the
1st day of July after the cessation
of hostilities in the present war,
as determined by proclamation of
the President or concurrent reso
lution of the Congress’. The Presi
dent has issued no proclamation
determining the cessation of hos
tilities, nor has the Congress
adopted a concurrent resolution
to this effect. Were either of these
actions to be taken at any time
prior to July 1, 1946, the suspen
sion of section 2324 would cease
to be operative as of 12 o’clock
meridian on that date. This hour
marks the beginning of a new as
sessment year during any portion
of which the labor or improve
ments required by section 2324
may be made. Hence, under exist
ing law all holders of mining
claims will have until July 1, 1947,
for the performance of their as
sessment work, if the cessation of
: hostilities is declared at any time
i prior to July 1 of this year. Should
| the declaration be postponed until
a later date, the time for the per
formance of assessment work
would, under the provisions of the
act of May 3, 1943, be extended
! for at least another year beyond
July 1, 1947.”
Section 2324, now suspended, re
quires not less than $100 worth of
labor to be performed or improve
ments aggregating such amount to
be made each year on each min
ing claim located in the United
States, including Alaska.