THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. XL1X. No. 49 NOMErALASKAT WEDNESDAyTaPRIL 23. 1948 PER COPY— 15c
NE^S IN BRIEF
-| ■ - -
SEATTLE, (/P*—Distribution of
fishing catch shares halted the
northern departure of a 100-vessel
fleet for the north Pacific Hailbu:
banks today.
The dispute hinges over owner
demands that fishermen share part
of the cost of fathometers, radio
repairs and accident insurance;
that boat shares be raised; or, in
lieu of the percentage boost, that
wording of the agreement be re
vised so increased fish prices could
be retained by owners.
ANACORTES, Wash. (/P)—Mel
vin Koolo, 26-year-old Anacortes
fisherman, died Friday as a fish
ing boat made a vain attempt to
reach Star Fish Island in Queen
Charlotte Sound for aid, a coron
er’s jury was informed yesterday.
Capt. Simon Edward said Koolo
was fatally injured when a heavy
swell shattered a cabin window.
His body arrived here yesterday on
the Meldion of Seattle.
SEATTLE, (/P)—Elimination of
delays for northbound commercial
trucks at the Canadian border was
ordered yesterday by the Ottawa
government, C. B. Lindeman, pres
ident of the Pacific Northwest
Trade association, was informed.
Lindeman said he was notified
that Ottawa has authorized the
collector of customs at Vancouver
to employ 13 regular and 14 sea
sonal men for border duty.
SEATTLE, (yP)—American visit
ors to Canada now are permitted
to bring a “wine gallon” of alco
holic beverage, approximately
four-fifths of a standard gallon,
with them on their return across
the border, Howad H. MacGowan,
collector of customs, and today,
Visitors, however, must have been
in Canada at least 48 hours.
NEW YORK, (/P) — Norman
Chandler of the Los Angeles Times
has been named a director of the
Associated Press, taking the place
left open when Frank B. Noyes,
82-year-old president of the Wash
ington Evening Star, declined re
nomination. Five other directors
were re-elected for three-year
terms yesterday and 15 associate
members were elected to regular
membership.
BOONEVILLE, Ark. (fP) — The
Rock Island railroad’s eastbound
Rocket from Amarillo to Memphis
collided with the westbound Rock
et at the Echo, Ark., switch, 10
miles west of here early Tuesday,
injuring approximately 15 persons.
There were no fatalities. A brake
man suffered several broken ribs
and about 15 passengers suffered
slight injuries.
LONDON, (£>)—-Gloster Aircraft
Co. claimed an unofficial world
air speed record today with the an
) nouncement that a jet-powered
Gloster “Meteor IV” averaged 630
miles an hour on a 500-mile flight
from Brussels to Copenhagen yes
terday. The speed was 14 miles an
' hour faster than the official world
record established by the R.A.F.
last September.
Statehood Hearings
In Washington
(5y Mary Lee Council1
Part One)
WASHINGTON — Unqualified
endorsements for the immediate
passage of an enabling act granting
statehood to Alaska have been
strongly voiced by American citi
zens representing all geographical
areas of the United States in hear
ing now in progress before Con
gress.
Spearheaded by Secretary of the
Interior Krug, the vanguard of
proponents testifying for Alaska i
statehood has included two Alas
kans and Congressmen from Illin
ois, West Virginia, Oregon, Cali
fornia, Louisiana, Montana and i
Missouri.
The Territorial and Insular Pos
sessions subcommittee of the House
Public Lands Committee is hear
ing Delegate Bartlett’s bill w’hich
seeks Congressional sanction of a
constitutional convention in Alaska
to bring the Territory into, the
Union on the same footing as the
48 states.
Declaring the opponents of
statehood are prompted solely by
their concern over the possibility
they will have to contribute to the
financial structure of a new state,
a prominent Seattle resident
charged exploitation of Alaska by
absentee industry as the only aim
of home-rule opponents. Claiming
most people in Seattle are vitally
interested in the political maturity
of Alaskans, Harrie O. Bohlke, Di
rector of Industrial Relations for
the City of Seattle and former of
ficer in the Seattle Chamber of
Commerce, scored the enemies of
statehood as taking no pride in the
development of Alaska.
Anthony J. Dimond, federal
judge of Anchorage and former
Delegate to Congress, forcefully
argued that Alaskans, having voted
for statehood, are asking to assume
the financial responsibility of self- i
government and to choose the path i
of their own destiny and should be
allowed to do so. In essence, he
stated that the whole form and
fabric of our free government is
.based upon the assumption that
people can govern themselves in
better fashion than they can be
governed by anyone else; it, there
fore, follows that the largest pos
sible powers of self-government
should be exercised by every com
munity, leaving only to the larger
authority control of matters affect
ing the whole nation or the whole
state.
Long-range federal control and
policy-making at a distance thou
sands of miles away from Alaska
were strongly criticized by Con
gressman Melvin Snyder of West
Virginia who spent the war years
in Alaska with the army and the
Interior Department. Mr. Snyder
expressed himself as being confi
dent Alaska is economically cap
able of taking on any additional
burdens of statehood. Joining other
witnesses in stating his belief that
development of Alaska would be
accelerated by removal of certain
controls and restrictions through
statehood, Mr. Snyder stated,
“Good judgment dictates the free
(Continued on Page Two)
Alaska Is Young
Man's Country;
Want Statehood
» --
WASHINGTON, UP) — Three
Alaska business men, one the
mayor of Kodiak, told a House
committee yesterday Alaskans
want statehood and are ready to
meet the additional expense of a
state government.
• Alaskans are individuals and
want to shape their own destinies,
Lee S. Bettmger, mayor of Kodiak
testified. “We can manage our own
affairs and regardless of whether
the additional cost is $5,000,000 or
$15^)00,000 to run the state it is a
mere pittiance.
“The opposition to statehood has
come from men who have had
their day in Alaska,” he said. “It is
a young man’s country and the
more we invest in our state gov
ernment the more wealth will be
created by the new state.”
Hugh Daugherty of Anchorage
said that if he believed Alaska
would not become a state in ihe
next ten years he would not re
main there. He is a business man
and said that under Territorial law
and government regulation il was
risky to invest large sums in busi
ness there.
Daugherty asserted people living
in Alaska miss the right of citizen
ship and want a “voice in our own
affairs.” He said that under Terri
torial government there was no in
terest in the governorship as thc
official was appointed.
“A Navajo Indian has more to
say about the appointment of
Alaska’s governor,” he said, “than
do residents of the Territory.”
Ken Hinckey of Anchorage, an
other gusiness man, said statehood
will encourage investment in busi
ness in Alaska and that any “young
man with a pioneering spirit” can
make a success there.
The ^witnesses said they consid
ered it a bad idea to try to settle I
(Continued on Page Five*
Snyder Urges “Kill
Tax-Slash Bill”
WASHINGTON, (£V-Secretary
of the treasury Snyder urged the
Senate today to kill the bill—-pass
ed overwhelmingly by the House—
to cut income taxes from 30 per
cent at the bottom to 10.5 per cent
at the top.
Synder renewed the Truman ad-:
ministration’s opposition to any
tax cut for at least another 14
months, but suggested that Con
gress with help from the treasury,
“review the whole tax system in
anticipation of later tax reduc
tions.”
The Hoifte bill, he contended, is I
inequitable, and would complicate
the individual income tax.
As an example of his contention
that the measure is inequitable,
Snyder said it would eliminate 22
per cent of the difference between
present taxes and 1939 taxes for a
married person with no dependents
and a $5,000 net income, but would
wipe out 69 per cent of the tax in-1
crease since 1939 for a man with
a $1,000,000 income.
Wallace Includes
Russia In His Blast
(By Ed. L. Campbell'
PARIS, </P> — Russia ind
United States “have undermined
the solemn cause for which their
young men died,” Henry A. Wal-'
lace said icnigir.
Declaring he i*ad four, i .r. v/e ‘
ern Europe strong support for his
world unity campaign, the former
American vice-president" in an ad
dress prepaed for a meeting spon
sored by the American veterans
committee, said both Russian Com
munism and American capitalism
must change their present course if
peace is to be preserved.
Appealing for conciliation and
understanding, he asserted:
"I believe that toughness breeds
toughness and that both the United
States and Russia by their actions
have already undermined the sol
emn cause for which their young
men died.”
“I believe that the United States
is committed by her history to a
democratic civilization of competi
tive enterprise at a time when
most of the rest of the world, af
flicted by the misery of war and
scarcity, is moving toward social
ism or communism he said.
“I believe Russia is committed
by her history of centuries of
Czarist tyranny to the use of re
pressive measures as an essential
element in holding the Soviets to
gether until such time as an abun
dance of consumers goods makes
possible the freedoms which mean
so much to us in the west.
Earlier in an interview, Wallace
declared that the Soviet Union
should get from 10 to 17 billions of
dollars worth of goods and services
from a $50,000,000,000 world recon
struction program, in return for
which the Russians should be re
quired to forego heavy reparations'
demands upon Germany.
Jewish Terrorism
Still Continues
LONDON, (/P) — Police today
cleared the audience from a Lon
don movie theater after the man
ager had received an anonymous
telephone call that the bunding
would be blown up. The authori
ties who blamed the threat on the
P a 1 estine Jewish underground,
searched the building but found no
bomb.
The Associated Press, mean
while, received a typewritten
“communique,” postmarked yes
terday in London and purporting
to come from the “fighters for
freedom of Israel, stern group.”
It said the stern group’s “fighters"
had attacked the British colonial
office April 15, a powerful unex
ploded home made bomb was
found in the women’s lavatory of
the colonial office on April 16.
JERUSALEM (/Ph-‘Twelve Jews
and British sailors were reported
injured today in the boarding at
sea of the illegal refugee ship Ca
lata, which an official announce
ment said was due in Haifa under
tow about noon.
The ship was believed to be car
(Continued on Page Five)
Krug Names Basic
Needs Of Alaska
(.•T* Special Washington Service*
WASHINGTON, </P»—Secretary
Krug of the interior department
to. 1 the House subcommittee on
interior department appropriations
t!\ it power, transportation and
Housing are Alaska’s basic needs.
The secretary, testifying in
closed session January 21, dis
cussed the power situation off the
record, so his remarks do not ap
pear in the testimony made public
today as the appropriation bill was
introduced in the House. At con
clusion of the confidential discus
sion Krug gave the list of the three
basic things needed for the Terri
tory’s development.
“There is a lot of good power
that could be developed in Alas
ka,” Krug said. “As a matter of
fact it is not at all improbable that
the availability of power will de
‘e»mine whether we can build a
big pulp mill in Alaska which
would contribute more to Alaskan
economy than anything else there.
In deciding not to request funds
for such development, I have been
controlled by the feeling that we
will find it difficut to complete the
work we have under way and
should hasten to complete the
roads there.”
Edwin G. Arnold, director of the
division of territories of the de
partment, said it was “(Joing every
thing possible to stimulate Alas
kan development.”
“The major reason why develop
ment has not gone ahead is that
there has been almost a total lack
of transportation facilities to the
resource areas in the Territory”
Anold said. And descibed the con
dition of the Alaska Railroad and
lack of steamship facilities.
He told the committee the Alas
ka Railroad, owned by the govern
ment “is in such a dangerous con
dition that it will either have to
be rehabilitated or abandoned.” He
said it had done a great job haul
ing army supplies during the war,
which further wore out the tracks,
trestles and rolling stock. He said
abandonment of the railroad
‘‘would be a death blow to Terri
torial stability and development”
and cannot be considered. 4
The director said the department
estimated that the rehabilitation
program would cost $33,920,640
over a period of years. He listed
the needed expenditures as road
way and track $19,945,790; bridge,
trestles, culverts and tunnels $4,
620,000; telegraph and telephone
lines $235,850; buildings and struc
tures $7,490,500; locomotives and
rolling stock $1,228,500; transpor
tation $400,000.
Arnold said that with thousands
of veterans interested in settling
Alaska but without additional
roads the project of settling them
there will be impossible.
He said the department was re
questing $3,753,000 for Alaskan
roads of which $1,740,000 will be
spent for new roads, $133,000 to
improve the Anchorage-Palmer
road $222,000 for repair shops at
Anchorage, $150,000 for surveys,
$1,508,000 for maintenance. He
said that of the proposed new con
Continued on Page Three