THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by The
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome. Alaska
Telephone: Main 125 P. o. Box 618
>1.S0 PER MONTH_>18.00 A YEAR
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.
Friday, July 27, 1245
LETTERMAN ICKES
Mister Ickes is certainly in the middle
of the alphabet soup with the numerous
alphabetic branches under his immedi
ate supervision and he seems to take
great pride in living up to the letter of
the law, even those which are old and
obsolete.
One of these seems to be a power
which can be wielded at his discretion
even though the outmoded law has long
since ceased to be necessary.
Mister Ickes has seen fit to take fur
ther lands for the Indians of Alaska, in
spite of the fact that there are fewer and
smaller Indian villages today, than at
any time in Alaskan history. There is the
possibility that Mister Ickes considers
taking over the control of the cities of
Alaska, because some politician says the
Indians (the poor, downtrodden In
dians), need more land and water rights.
This actually does not mean that the
Indians of Alaska will fare better, but
it does mean that a white man has no
right to^take the ground or obtain it for
any purpose without paying to the De
partment of Interior a premium for that
permission.
Mister Ickes, himself, states: “I think
that it is only proper, however, to com
ment on the impact which this situation
may have on the mineral exploitation
in Alaska.”
The mining laws state, “In general,
the mineral deposits in Indian reserva
tions are subject to leasing and are un
der the administration of the Office of
Indian Affairs.”
LITTLE RECONVERSION TALK
(American Exporter)
In no field is the contrast between
World War I and World War II more
startling than in airplane production.
Total production of aircraft in World
War I, including Service planes, was
only 7,889, and of these the U. S. Army
had only 740 combat planes at the time
of the armistice in 1918.
In contrast with this, the production
of military and special-purpose planes
from July, 1940, through February, 1945,
totalled 266,194.
Moreover, the trend of development of
military plane construction during the
latest war is clearly indicated by the
fact that, whereas the average ‘horse
power per aircraft engine unit in 1941
was 912, the average figure for March,
1945, was 1,637, an increase of 80 per
cent in 3% years.
Average production, of air planes in
the United States in April, 1945, was 256
per working day. This was 9 per cent
less than the preceding month, but it re
flects diversion to larger planes.
With promised stepping up of war in
the Pacific, which requires many long
distance planes, there has been little
public discussion of reconversion of the
industry to a peace-time basis.
T«JZDWIMS m BOC -5
WASHINGTON
NEWSLETTER
#
By MARY LEE COUVCIL
Secretary to E. L. (Bob) Bartlet’,
Delegate to Congress from Alaska
JOKES ACT WAIVERS
War Shipping Administration
has recommended to the Treasury
TVnartment. uoon urgent repre
sentations made by Delegate B*rt
ie+t and other v’tallv interest**^
Alaska residents, extensions of
the Jones Act waivers in the fol
lowing conditions:
1. For Alaska inter-port trans
portation of passengers and mer
chandise on Canadian vessels ex
cept frozen fish, ninety days be
yond July 31.
2. For transportation on Cana
dian vessels of fresh fish, ninety
days beyond July 31.
3. Transportation of merchan
dise on Canadian vessels other
than frozen fish bewteen ports in
southeastern Alaska and ports in
British Columbia and from the
United States to British Columbia
for transshipment to southeastern
Alaska ports, thirty days beyond
July 31.
Frozen fish is excluded specifi
cally because the American lines
have reported they can handle
this commodity satisfactorily.
Limitation to a period of thirty
days beyond July 31 of transpor
tation as set forth in the third sec
tion is accounted for by the fact
that the Alaska Transporation
Company will soon have the Taku
back in service and expects to be
able to serve Skagway satisfac
torily. This particular section was
especially drawn up so that Skag
way, not served at all by North
land and very infrequently, if at
all, by Alaska Steamship Com
pany during the war period, will
be assured of continuation of ser
vice by Canadian vessels until i*
is demonstrated American ship
ping interests can give the re
! quired service. The second section
was written to permit movement
of fresh fish by smaller Canadian
vessels in the entire absence of
suitable American shipping for
that purpose.
ALASKA JUDGES
AUTHORIZED TO MEET
For the first time in Alaska his
tory, the District Judges of the
Territory have been authorized to
hold a meeting for an exchange of
views and discussion of mutual
problems.
Authorization was given after
the meeting had been suggested
by Judge Kehoe of the Second
Division by Henry P. Chandler,
Director of the Administrative
Office of the United States Courts
and after two meetings between
Mr. Chandler and Delegate Bart
lett to work out details. The time
and place of the conference will
be decided upon by the four
judges, George F. Alexander of
the First Division, Joseph W. Ke
hoe of the Second Division, An
thony J. Dimond of the Third Di
vision and Harry E. Pratt of the
Fourth Division.
SMALL TRACTS OF LAND
NOW OPEN FOR SETTLEMENT
The President has signed a bill
which will permit the purchase in
Alaska of small tracts of land not
in excess of five acres for home,
camp, convalescent, recreational
and business sites. This legislation
was passed by Congress in recog
•
nition of the expected influx of <
people, especially veterans of the
present war, into the Territory.
The law also permits employees «
of the Department of the Interior
stationed in Alaska to lease or
purchase small tracts of land for
their personal use only.
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA
GRADUATE TO GO TO CHINA
George L. Polk, 1933 graduate
of the University of Alaska, is
leaving soon for China to organ
ize a foreign news service for the
Los Angeles Daily News. Polk
served with the Marines for over
two years and participated in the
en ire Guadalcanal campaign. «
GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
DIRECTOR PLANS TRIP
TO ALASKA
Dr. William E. Wrather, Geo
logical "Survey Director, and Dr.
John C. Reed, Acting Chief of
the Alaska section of the Survey, J
left Washington on July 24 for an
extended trip through the Terri
tory.
Dr. Reed is acting chief of the
Alaska section in the absence of
Dr. Philip S. Smith who has been
ill for some time.
MAXIMUM PRICES ON SEINE
AND GILL NET SALMON
RESCINDED A
The Office of Price Administra
tion, in a retroactive order effec
tive June 28, this week rescinded
a regulation which had caused a
storm of protest from fishermen
of Alaska.
The regulation had placed max
imum prices on gill net and seine
caught salmon at levels asserted
to be much lower than those pre
; viously enjoyed by gill net and
seine fishermen. The regulation
i had not applied to trap caught
salmon, and inequality in this re
spect had been argued in protests
made against the regulation. The
Office of Price Administration
had been informed that the regu
lation would be bound to lead to
black market activities.
Fish Shortage
Next Year
CHICAGO—A severe shortage
of fish next winter was predicted
J this week by the Fish and Wildlife
Service on the basis of current
holdings of frozen fish, which on
June 1 totaled only 40 million
pounds or 25 per cent below aver
age.
Holdings of fish in freezers anc
cold storage houses normall;
reach the lowest level of the yea
May 1, and thereafter begin t
built up sharply to a peak in lat
fall. These fish serve as a reserv
supply for the winter season, whe
fishing operations are restrict*
by bad weather, and many speci<
of fish are unavailable.
Holdings this year increas*
eight million pounds between M
1 and June 1, but the normal i
crease during this period is abc
13 million pounds. Last year abc
70 million pounds were in stors
on June 1, compared with I
present holdings of 40 million.
Fish and Wildlife Service o
cials said that production genei
ly is running ahead of last ye
figures, but current market
mand for fish is so heavy t^at
tie is left for freezing. With
serves of frozen fish low and <
a small percentage of the pad
canned fish available for civil
this year an acute shortage of
next winter is expected.