The History
Of Time
■ "mmr ' •• •
(By "Doc" Thompson)
The world’s oldest timepiece is
the earth, dividing a period of
time into two parts, known to
primitive man as light and dark
ness. Even today, earth, spinning
through space, is the master clock
by which all man-made clocks are
set.
Marked passage of time at night
and on cloudy days most likely
was achieved by the caveman by
use of a burning rope of vines
knotted at regular intervals. The
Great Pyramids of Egypt, by cast
ing their shadows on the sands,
denoted the passage of time 6,000
years ago. Over 4,000 years ago
Hwangti Yellow, emperor of
China, made the first water clock.
Consisting of a pierced brass bowl
floating in a large basin of water,
the hours were calculated by the
length of time it took the bowl to
submerge. A slave attendant set
the bowl floating again and mark
ed the passage of time by striking
a huge gong.
The ancient Babylonians de
viled a time-keeping system by
the stars, dividing their day into
12 equal parts, each period mark
ed by a cluster nf stars in which
they saw imaginary fo ms of local
dieties. But the sun dial remained
fo* irony yeras the outstnading
time piece in the Holy Land, and
is mentioned several times in the
Bible.
In TOO A.D., history mentions a
clock for the first time. It was
given to the King, of France by
Pope Paul First. However, it was
not until the latter part of the 15th
century that our present day time
piece was devised. Peter Heinlein,
. a poor Nuremburg lockmaker was
the first to construct a spring
driven clock.
The first spring-driven time
piece appeared in Nuremburg
about 12 years before Columbus
set out on his famous voyage, ma le
almost entirely of iron. Tiiose
clocks were so heavy they ncesssi
ta'ed a bearer who consulted the
dial and spoke the time when
asked by his master.
By 1635, pocket-size watches
^ were being made, although their
distribution was only among the
wealthier classes. The minute hand
gave watches a new and practical
importance. Doc ors were quick to
see its value.
Dr. Robert Hooke of England in
Propose Unifying
Agricultural
Research in Alaska1
1 •
FAIRBANKS, (/P)—A move to
unify agricultural research in J
Alaska under a single program
was disclosed here in an announce- j
ment by a U. S. department of ag
riculture officials.
P. V. Vardon, a department re
search administrator, said the plan
has been under discussion in a se
ries of conferences held since Jan.
12 between representatives of U»e
department and the University of
Alaska.
It was noted here this would
represent a change in the present
system under which the agricul
tur department has been doing ex
periment work with federal funds
while the university conducted a
separate program financal by the
Territorial budget.
The present law, which turned
Alaska experiment stations over to
iiie department of agriculture,
passed the 80th Congress and re
mains in effect un.il next June 30.
Tne proposed joint program thus
would mean a return of farm ex
periment work to the university
under an agreement with federal
officials.
President Truman’s budget con
tains a total of 0675,000 of federal
funds for agriculture experiments
in Alaska. It also contains §66,000
for a proposed federal grant for
university agriculture experiment
stations.
The proposed Territorial budget
for the next biennium proposes the
expenditure of §910,009 for uni
versity agriculture work.
A plan to make these funds
available to finance proposed joint
program now is under considera
ti >n.
Two other agriculture depart
ment officials took part in the dis
cussions—S. B. Fracker, research
coordinator, and E. C. ElUng, as
sociated chief of the office of ex
periment stations.
vented the balance spring in 1685,
from which time watches improv
ed rapidly in quality. In America,
watchmaking gained a foothold in
1809 when Luther Goddrad opened
a factory in Shrewsburg, Mass.
Americans can well be proud of
the ancestry behind the America^
watch.
JACK LENCER
Watchmaker
V*n\ R25 Nome. Alaska
IRCTIC OIL DELIVERY
Phone—Shop: Black 78 — Residence: Main 52
WE CHECK YOUR TANK REGULARLY
BEN YOUNG
FOR YOUR FAVORITE
ICE CREAM SODA OR SUNDAE
Prepared the way you like it
DROP IN AT THE
GLUE POT
Also Your Favorite Cigars, Tobacco & Cigarettes
LIFTING THE LID
AT JUNEAU
(Continued from Page One)
others.
Rep. Owen, who introduced it.
pressed for prompt action.
Rep. Taylor suggested mention
of Anderson should be omitted be
cause the miners’ association com
munication earlier explained that
the organization had not filed for
the reason Andreson drew only
the regular salary as secretary plus
living allowance during the ses
sion and didn’t think association
filing was required.
The Senate received two bills,
one resolution and one memorial.
The major bill would appropri
ate $7,500 for public welfare re
lief for the biennium ending Mar.
31. The memorial, introduced by
Barr and McCutcheon, requests
that civil aeronautics board control
over small commercial aircraft in
Alaska be “abolished or greatly
limited.”
The property tax bill in the spe
cial session passed the House with
only three negative votes, but died
in the Senate.
Vating against it yesterday were
Democrats Franklin, Hope, Jensen,
Rydeen and Taylor and Republi
cans Miscovich and F rank L.
Johnson of Nome. Taylor argued
vigorously against critics of the
bill during debate — although he
said he thought the personal prop
erty exemption should be only
$200—but on the final vote he said
I “Nay.” Johnson and Ipalook of
Nome asked for higher exemp
tions.
The main controversy was over
what exemptions should be al
lowed.
Jensen said passage “will hit
many people who can’t pay and
will make the Territory look like a
second hand store with many
properties on the auction block.”
He also argued it would deter
new industries, with special refer
ence to proposed Southeastern
Alaska pulp mills.
Taylor asked Jensen and Glen
Franklin, Fairbanks Democrat,
who also opposed the bill: “Does
any community become exempt
from property tax payments be
cause of inability to pay? It is
based on the possession of world
ly goods.”
Franklin declared “we can raise
as much by adding five or six per
cent to the income tax. That would
be on ability to pay and bring no
squawks. This is aimed at big in
dustries but will drive down the
little fellow with them.”
Taylor’s vote against the bill
puzzled some legislators as well as
spectators and Franklin asked, “As
a freshman I would like to ask if
Taylor voted ‘No’ because he was
opposed or for a slick maneuver.”
Legislators around Taylor cho
rused “You don't have to answer,”
| and Taylor rose with a smile and
remarked, “on advice of counsel I
refuse to answer.”
Observers pointed out Taylor’s
vote against would put him in po
sition to get on the conference
committee later as a registered op
ponent of the bill. Conference com
mittees must have opposition rep
resentation and he could take the
role of “friendly opposition.”
This would mean all members
of the House committee would be
supporters of the bill.
Taylor was at the foot of the
roll coll and knew the bill had
passed when he cast his vote.
There was much debate over the
possibility that fishing boats might
registre outside of Alaska to es
cape the tax if the exemption was
not raised.
Rep. Alfred Owen, Kodiak fish
ermen’s union agent, declared:
“Fishermen are going to ask
things from the legislature and I
think they will be willing to bear
their share. The argument, of fish
ermen’s feeling has been over
played.”
Taylor challenged:
“If we have fishermen who
would register boats outside to es
cape a bit of tax, we ought to let
them go.”
The Senate fisheries committee
has returned a “Do Pass” recom
mendation on a memorial by Sen.
Ed Anderson, Nome Democrat,
urging the federal fish and wild
life service to premit salmon fish
' ing in the Bering Sea north of
Bristol Bay.
A Senate transportation com
mittee majority has recommended
passage of Sen. Frank Barr’s bill
to qualify non-military airports
I for federal aid.
The House passed again today
twenty-three to one the bill to
quadruple fish trap taxes and put
an extra charge per fish for traps
with heavy catches. The same bill
i was passed during the special ses
sion but died in the Senate. The
tax ranges from $300 for hand
driven or stake tax to $2,000 for
each trap above fifty for single
operator. The only vote against
the bill was James Nolan, Wran
gell Democrat.
1
The Senate passed under sus
pension of rules yesterday a joint
resolution instructing the public
welfare department to discontinue
(the Maynard Columbus hospitali
zation of Axel Werner. The Senate
i acted speedily on the resolution by
! Jones of Nome, that Werner was
sufficiently recovered and doesn't
need hospitalization. Permanent
hospitalization was authorized un
der Jones’ resolution last session.
I_
i
i Observing that a repair man
j who had fixed a tire for him was
rolling it the length of the gar
age, a motorist yelled:
“Hey, pick that thing up What
d’ya want to do ,wear it out?”
Storm Continues
Whipping West
• By The Associated Press*
More bad weather hit portions
of the storm-stricken western
rangelands today. Snow and wind
storms slowed to some degree tht
fight which is being waged o ,
many fronts to save the millions
of starving and snow-bound cattle
and sheep.
There were fresh falls ot snow
accompanied by strong winds, in
Nebrsaka and in parts of Nevada,
Utah, Idaho and Arizona.
Nebraska, one of the harde-f h
by the earlier blizzards, got tht
most snow. Winds whipped the
snow into drifts over newly clear
ed highways nad rail lines.
Lesser amounts of snow fell in
other parts of the rangelands and
did not seriously interfere with
the relief operations.
Emergency cash relief came
! fi'om federal and state sources t<
' finance the huge task of saving :ht
more than 5,000,000 cattle and
sheep which are in varying de
grees of starvation and freezing in
the western storm area.
Inclement weather also strucK
over other sections of the nation.
There was widespread precipi
tation over the central par: of th«
country.
F’ood conditions remained in
the weather picture. Warnings
were issued for a 171-mile stretch
of the Ohio past Cincinnati. Some
1,000 families have been driven
from their homes by flood water
from Ohio river tributaries
southern Illinois.
HIGH TB RATE IN SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE OP)—X-rays taken
in Singapore’s new Anti-Tubercu
losis Clinic have disclosed signs of
TB in 55 per cent of the cases-*
“a much higher proportion than
we expected,” said clinic officials
This result was observed in the
first 187 cases examined. The clin
ic plans to carry out mass X-ray
ing of local school children.
I
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