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* OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRLSS_
VOL. LI. No. 14. NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2,1949_Per Copy—15c
NEWS IN BRIEF
_ !
ROME, bP)—Rome had a light
snow yesterday morning, the sea
son’s first.
___ i
PHOENIX, 9riz. </P)—Flood vic
tims in Sonora, Mexico, will soon
be wearing tuxedos.
Fifteen sets of the formal—but
nevertheless warm — attire have
been donated to the Sonora relief
drive being conducted by the
Phoenix Mexican chamber of com
merce. The dinner clothes were
given by a Phoenix costume house.
HOLLYWOOD, </P> — Mr. and
Mrs. Frank Veloz, better known as
dancers Veloz and Yolanda, have
something to dance about today.
Their third son was born Mon
day. He weighed eight pounds,
five ounces. The Veloz’ other chil
dren are Nicky, eight; Tony, five,
and Yolanda, three.
k ■ - ■■ ■ ■- . ■
1
TOKYO, (/P) — Army secretary
Kenneth Royall and his party ar
rived by plane from Alaska late
yesterday.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur and
other ranking generals greeted
him at the airport.
“It’s a great pleasure to be
here,” Royall said.
Royall left immediately for the
American embassy where he was
to be MacArthur’s dinner guest
along with Lt. Gen. Albert Vede
P meyer. deputy chief of staff, and
others in the Royall party.
PRINCE RUPERT, B. C. (/Pi
Unable to blast a path through the
ice around the British Columbia
village of Stewart at the southern
tip of the Alaska Panhandle, the
coastwise passenger-freighter SS.
Camosun is reported unloading off
^ Hyder, Alaska.
Its third attempt to hack
through 14-inch ice around the
Stewart wharf was unsuccessful
Monday. The icebound commun
ity reported food is ample but fuel
is short.
WASHINGTON, (JP) — Senator
Magnuson (D.-Wash.) introduced,
a Senate bill Monday to authorize
construction of a railroad link in
Canada connecting railroads in
the United States and Alaska.
The measure proposes the line
be built from Prince George, B. C.,
to the Fairbanks terminus of
Alaska Railroad.
FAIRBANKS (/P)—The air force
F-80 jet plane Which established
a speed of 670 miles an hour at
Muroc, Calif., last Sept. 5, and a
^ jet engined light bomber were
here today to undergo cold weather
tests the next few months.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Lemuel C. Mc
Kay, owner of the McKay Marine
Way of Ketchikan, died Friday at
his home on Whidbey Island.
Survivors indued his wife,
Dena; three sisters and three
brothers. Funeral services will be
held tomorrow at Oak Harbor.
ATLANTA, (/P)—Atlanta’s elec
tric power system was paralyzed
> Monday for almost three hours
when lines were knocked down by
(Continued on Page Three)
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
(By James Hutcheson)
Monday, JanUary 31, 1949
JUNEAU, (/P)—'The Alaska Leg
islature heads into the second
week of its regular session with
continued debate on the raw fish
tax bill scheduled for the House.
The Senate will renew consid
eration of Sen. Frank Barr’s bill to
clear the way for obtaining fed
eral aid funds for non-military
airports.
The Saturday adjournment in
terrupted discussion of both bills.
The end of the first week, found
legislators getting up full steam
in the introduction of bills. The in
i itial week brought 23 bills in the
House and 11 in the Senate plus
eight memorials and four joint
resolutions.
One of the major measures ex
pected to be introduced this week
is one calling for the establish
ment of a Territorial liquor con
, trol board with a $10,000 a year di
! rec'or. It would replace the pres
i ent system under which the city
.councils and Division judges han
dle liquor control responsibilities.
Memorials were introduced Sat
urday asking for the removal ol
protection for sea lions and Alaska
brown bear to save the salmon.
Introduced by Reps. C. (Red)
Carlson and Alfred A. Owen, Jr.,
the measures cited report that 31
per cent of the fish reaching
! spawning grounds are destroyed
i by bears before spawning. The
memorials were introduced to the
' secretary of the interior, the fish
I and wildlife service and the Alas
| ka game commission.
In answer to a statement by
; public welfare director Russell
Maynard that funds were urgent
ly needde to prevent a 25 per cent
cut in all relief payments, the leg
islature completed action Satur
day on a $7,500 emergency appro
priation to carry public relief rolls
through March.
Earlier, the House passed a bill
quadrupling fish trap taxes. The
Senate voted unanimously for a
memorial to Congress asking it to
abolish or restrict the civil aero
nautics board authority over Alas
ka’s independent air carriers.
Senator Barr re-introduced a
bill to double the two-cent motor
fuel tax. In answer to fishermen’s
objections to the previous mea
sure, Barr revised the bill to fun
nel boat fuel tax collections into
a special fund for docks, anchor
ages and other marine facilities.
Motorists’ fees would go into the
highway fund, airmen’s into the
airport coffers.
Among other bills submitted
Saturday was one by Rep. Amelia
Gunderson, Ketchikan Democrat,
calling for the establishment of an
Alaska National Guard.
Tuesday, February I, 1949
JUNEAU (/P)—The Alasko Sen
ate voted 15 to 1 yesterday after
noon to submit a memorial to
Congress asking immediate legis
lation abolishing fish traps in the
Territory.
The memorial was introduced in
support of Delegate E. L. Bartlett’s
bill in Congress for gradual elim
(Continued on Page Two) .
Pulp Industry
Objects Greatly
To Property Tax
JUNEAU, (/P)—The president of
a firm planning a $32,000,000 pulp
plant in Ketchikan told the Sen
ate taxation committee here yes
terday he believed a proposed one
per cent property tax on full value;
would “put any proposed project
right out the window.”
The statement was made by,
Lawson Turcotte .of Bellingham.
Wash., president of the Ketchikan
Pulp and Paper Co., in a discus
sion with the committee on plans
for the big industrial project and
the possible effects of the tax bill
which passed the House last week.
He told the Senators the most of
' building an Alaska plant and get
: ting an adequate water supply
j would compare to a $20,000,000
i layout in the Southeastern states.
“And if taxed one per cent of
full value, no one would come into
Alaska on that basis,” he declared.
“It’s a question we have to set
tle before we go ahead.”
He said such a tax would add
$3.20 per ton to extra Alaska costs
i which he described as “already
formidable.”
And he estimated the total ex
tra costs of financing, shipping
and Canadian rail transportation
via Prince Rupert, B. C., would
make the cost about $18 per ton
above similar Mississippi produc
tion.
“To offset this partially we
hope we can put bigger logs into
the mill cheaper than in the States
or British Columbia.”
Mississippi, he said, offers sites
(Continued on Page Six)
Internationa News
At A Glance —
(By the Associated Press)
Monday, January 31, 1949
Diplomats studied with wary
eyes today prime minister Stalin’s
latest expression of willingness to
discuss an American-R u s s i a n
“peace pact” with President Tru
man.
It was not a new idea. The Rus
sian leader has said similar things
before and Mr. Truman has of
fered to meet him any time, in
Washington.
One main question buzzed
throughout the world capials. Was
Stalin’s statement prompted by
propaganda or a genuine desire for
peace?
In Washington, the state de
partment said no formal approach
for a Truman-Stalin meeting had
been made by Russia. Many ob
servers wondered if one would be.
Stalin’s latest pronouncement was
made in answer to four questions
submitted to him by an American
newsman. It is a method he has
often chosen to put his ideas be
fore the public.
It was a busy week-end for the
Russians.
Reaction was still re-echoing in
the west over the Soviet foreign
office blast against the North At
lantic Alliance £nd the specific
(Continued on Page Five)
Present Defenses
(loulri Not Repel
Alaskan Invasion
(By Ralph Dighion)
KODIAK. (/I1)—Alaska defenses
are incapable of fighting off any
major attack, the commander of
the Alaska sea frontier declared
Monday, and it is problematical
when and if they will be im
proved.
Rear Adm. Alfred E. Montgom
ery gave a press conference the
following analysis of the Terri- 1
tory’s defenses:
“Kodiak is not actually in bad
shape. We have permanent build
ings and facilities. We would need
principally some improvements
on our airfields and in quarters
for personnel.
“Adak, some 900 miles west of
here in the Aleutian chain, has
only temporary structures, how
ever. The docks are falling apart
(Continued on Page Six'
“Luxury” Taxes
May Be Cut
% WASHINGTON, (/P) — House
Republican leader Martin <Mass.)
today proposed that Congress cut
most excise taxes back to pre-war
levels.
These are the levies, sometimes
called “luxury” taxes on theater
and movie tickets, railroad fares,
furs, luggage, cosmetics and tele
phone bills.
Martin annuonced he has drawn
legislation to cut back these taxes.
He issued a statement saying,
“Congress and the administration
can no longer justify the main
tenance of high war-time excise
rates on a few products of indus
try.”
Martin’s bill skips whisky and
tobacco in the list of excises he
would slash. The liquor levy
would remain at -9 a gallon, in
stead of reverting to the pre-war
$2 a gallon. Tobacco taxes would
stay where they are.
Martin made no estimate of
how much government revenues j
would fall if the cuts he asked:
were made.
Two Die In Plane
Collision In Air
NEW YORK, (JP)—A giant air
liner, gashed open a small private
plane in a collision 4,000 feet in
the air, made a safe emergency
landing Monday with its load of
33 passengers uninjured.
The two men in the private
plane were killed, and parts of
one body and pieces of their shat
tered craft showered down on
Long Island.
The engine and front part of the
private plane, the body of one of
its occupants and part of the body
of the other were imbedded in a
jagged hole in the top of the four
engined Pan American World Air
ways Constellation
The planes crashed over Port
Washington. N. Y., and Captain
George Knuth skillfully landed
the battered Constellation at Mit
chell field about ten miles away.
U. S. Develops New
Atomic Bombs
WASHIN GTON, UP) — The
United Staes has new atomic
bombs which have much more ex
plosive energy than the old ones,
said the atomic energy commis
sion, which has hinted previously
that it had developed more pow
erful weapons than those dropped
on Japan or at Bikini, announced
it outright today in its fifth semi
annual report to Congress.
And it said “further develop
ments are now in progress.”
It related for the first time that
the three weapons tested at Eni
wetok atoll last spring demon
strated “a substantial gain in (ex
plosive) energy release” over pre
vious models.
Chairman David Lilienthal
made it clear at a news confer
ence that ‘as used in this report”
•he term atomic weapon means
“bomb.”
But he declined comment when
' asked whether the United States
is seeking to obtain atomic wea
pons other than bombs.
Rocket Plane Goes
Faster Than Sound
WASHINGTON. (/P) — Govern
ment officials familiar with the
air force V-l rocket test plane
said yesterday it has reached more
than half way to its ultimate goal
of 1,700 mile san hour and 80,000
feet altitude.
They were inclined to question
the interpretation given in a
Cleveland speech by Lawrence D.
Bell, president of the company
which built the plane, that it has
gone the whole way.
The only official statement of
the X-l from the air force is that
it has gone “hundreds of miles (an
hour) faster than the speed o»f
sound.” At the high altitudes
(above 50,000 feet) where the X-l
performs best, the speed of sound
is only 600 miles an hour.
Unofficial information is that
the little plane’s best speed has
been just under 1,000 miles an
hour, and its best altitude some
thing over 60,000 feet.
The limiting factor thus far has
been available power.
Losses Mount From
Blizzards And
Storms In States
(By The Associated Press)
Weather’s wintry elements lash
ed out over States from Texas to
California in January, causing at
least 112 deaths and millions of
dollars damage to citrus and vege
table crops.
But the final death toll, prop
erty damage and livestock losses
remains undetermined as the
storm-battered western section of
the nation still reeled from the
January blizzards.
A survey today unfolded to
some extent the widespread dam
age over the storm belt from the
worst weather in several years.
The death toll in 15 states hit
(Continued on Page Four)
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