Mr. Kuiihahm, Curator,
TERRITORIAL MUSEUM
The Seward Pol
ANOTHER ALASKA BARGE
LINE TO OPERATE SOON
•
Another barge line will be op
erating between Seattle and Al
aska ports, it was announced re
cently.
S. D .Kuchentlial of Portland,
who was in Seattle on business,
said the service will be begun
about March 1 by the Wilson
Steamship Company, of which A.
K. Wilson, a Portland lumberman
is the principal owner.
Kuchenthal, who is operating
manager of the company, was ar
ranging for terminals and offices
for the Wilson Company, which
he said has acquired nine Y-C
barges and five former Navy tugs
of 1,600 horsepower. The barges
I will have capacity for 1,000 tons
of general cargo or 1,250,000 feet
of lumber.
Kuchenthal said the first of the
barges will leave San Francisco
February 9 for Seattle to enter
the new service. Sailings from Se
attle to all Alaska ports includ
ing Nome are planned.
How Average American Family
of Worker Lives on $50. Weekly
By LEO TURNER
Unite Press Staff Correspondent
NEW YORK (UP)—Shortly be
fore 6 o'clock these cold morn
ings Louise Decker, 27, slips out
of bed in a 4-room apartment in
the industrial section of Astoria,
Long Island, acorss the East Riv
er from Manhattan, to begin her
day as the wife of an '‘average”
American.
The government says the aver
age American laborer today earns
$52.50 a week and has 3.2 child
ren. The United Press selected1
Lawrence Decker and his wife.
Louise, to learn how the average
worker lives.
Decker. 30, lanky, sany-haired.
good-natured, earns S50 a week.
They have three eh'idren-bright
eyed bashful Larry. Jr.. talk
ative Lorraine, 2Vz, and Louis,
who is a month old.
Baby's Bottle First
Louise Decker arises quietly to
ke «p from awakening her hus
band. She is five feet, one inch,
weighs 104 pounds, has black
hair and is pretty.She puts a fad.
erf white and blue cotton house
coat on over her cotton nightie
and fixes the 0 o'clock bottle for
the baby.
The infant sleeps in a crib be
side his parents’ bed in the rear
bedroom. In the other bedroom
are blackhaired Larry, Jr., and his
blonde sister.
The walkup apartment o' on the
third floor. Its floors are covered
with linoleum. The maple furni
ture, some of it in need of reup
holstering, was bought before they
were married.
When she has finished feeding
the baby, Mrs. Decker calls her
husband. At 7 a.m. he eats a sin
gle slice of dry toast anti drinks
one cup of coffee. The family
eats in the small kitchen with its
old-fashioned ice-box which costs
$1 a week to keep cold. Coffee
is the only extravagance the
Deckers permit themselves. They
drink two pounds a week. It
costs 46 cents a pound at a chain
store.
Walks to Work
Decker turns most of his pay
topped overshoes—Navy surplus
which cost him $5.49 at a retail
store—and walks a mile to his
job as a checker in the shipping
o‘epartment of an automobile
manufacturer. In a paper bag he
carries one egg sandwich and one
bologna sandwich for his lunch.
He will send out for a carton of
hot coffee which will cost him 15
cents.
When the apartment is warm,
the two other children get out of
bed. Mrs. Decker gives' each a
glass of orange juice, a bowl of
cereal and a glass of milk. She
eats a bowl of cereal and drinks
a cup of coffee. At noon, they eat
two packages of dehydrated soup
costing 24 cents.
Decker turns most of his pev
check over to his wife. Th_sc
monthly deductions are made be
fore he gets it: union dues, $2;
premium on $2,000 worth of com
pany insurance. $1.22: Blue Cross
hospitalization insurance for the
entire family. $4.52.
Each week, 50 cents is deducted
for social security and $2 for in
come tax. That makes his week
ly average take-home pay $45.0(1.
Husband Keeps $2
Decker keeps $2 each week for
himself—75 cents a week for the
noon coffee, five cents a night
for a newspaper, work gloves and
som. times a beer with a friend
at the corner tavern.
Their three packages of cigar
are usually smoked after dinner
ottos a week—king size which
—are paid for out of the grocery
If he has worked a full week
budget.
he gives $43 to liis wife. Th..
week the baby came he missed a
day and a half's work because* he
could find no one Up stay with his
other children. His take home pay
was $26.63.
Mrs. Decker makes these deduc
tions: $9 for rent, $1.25 for gas
and electric, which averages S4.50
She pays $2 a month for $1,000
a month, and $1.10 for insurance,
insurance for Docker, whose com
pany insurance will lapse if he
leaves; $1.21 for two $500 policies
on herself which sh<^ has carried
since she was a youngster, and
$2.13 for a $500 endowment policy
for Larry, Jr., payable when he is
21. Lorraine was born during a
123-day strike and there is no
money for insurance for her or
the baby.
Laundry Big Item
She hopes Larry, Jr., will be a
doctor ad his little sister a urse.
The endowment policy is the first
payment on his education.
Since the baby came, the laun
dry bill has been $3 a week. Mrs.
Decker does what laundry’ she
can.
Her first concern is for the ba
by. The Deckers* savings were
wiped out by the strike. Sickness
dipped into the money saved' for
the new baby. The hospital bill
was taken care of by the Blue
Cross plan. After the doctor bill
was deducted only $6.50 remained
of the baby fund.
Today Louis Decker owns: Six
diapers, which cost $1.59: two ki
monas, 65 cents each: one under
shirt. 59 cents: two receiving
blankets, 65 emts each, and one
crib blanket, $2 29.
His father borrowed $15 form
a friend to buy a crib. Mrs. Deck
That leaves her $26.65 to feed
er is paying it back. $2 a week.
(Continued on page 2)
News
and
COMMENT ,
•
$13,000 is the price today of a
6200.00 home in Boston. Prices
have gone up during and after
the war 120 percent.
What happened in Yugo Slovia
is happening today in Czecho
slovakia. President Bonnes is one
man against a government turned
communist.
Thus, when we go to war with
Russia we have the Czechs to
fight also. Russia’s power increas
es. j
r>
Glen Taylor. Democratic Senu
tor of Idaho has oligned himself
with Wallace who is out for Pres
ident backed by a third party.
The Democrats have dropped him
"overboard", and their ship of
state sails on but there is a huge
leak in the • port bow—below the
primsol (Mason & Dixon> line.
Looks like it will be heavy going
before they make port. The south
is not in the bag due to the Pres
ident's stand on the negro ques
t ion.
o
Taft of Ohio i.Ri says tin1 Ad
ministration is inconsistent on the
Communist question. Unless rapid
action stops them Russia will be
in Japan before we know it—
with communism.
nomemucr the old Populist pro
poganda wo used to hear of in the*
early 90’s? That was more- dang
erous than Communism because
if was of and by Americans and
was Irom the inside. However.
Communism today, while easily
identified, is liable to come from
any source ana' one source of
which we are sure is a religious
organization.
e
Dust storms in California reach
ed a maximum velocity on Duroc
Field of 87 miles per hour. North
ern areas in some places saw 60
miles in the forests. In Los Angel
es windows and trees suffered
greatly. No rain for many days
has let the water situation devel
op to a point where the Calif
State Board of Utilities has ord
ered a minimum of 50 percent re
duction of the use of electricity.
All companies have agreed and
users will be pcnalizea* by a com
plete severance of service if ord
er is violated.
Accepted
WEWM&&£&SS2£mte .:
WHILE attending a T. —./'i o •- !
cert in Los Ang'.Iv. !' L 1 ! .! '
Roanoke, Va., took the p .'s i
rendition of “Invltat: n to t
Dance” literally. She trip eil the
light fantastic right under h a r.
and stopped the show The u 1
scheduled performance and rd •» » * ■
she was removed. (Litcvatn
NAVY ALASKAN OBSERVER
LAUGHS AT WASHINGTON
WINTER. BUT—
Complaints of Washington mot
orists that the col weather is too
much for their cars brings only
a wry smile from Lt. (junior
grade) Edward T. Diberto, Civil
Engineer Corps, USN.
As a Navy observer in Alaska
last year, he noted a few incon
veniences encountered at f>0-below
Zero. Among them:
Fan bJts on Jeeps became so
stiff with cold that they shattered
like glass rods:
Rubber tires froze solid, even to
the Ifat spots on the bottom:
Vehicles coulo' not be started
by towing because gear oils and
wheel hearing greases were so
stiff the wheels would skid rath
er than turn;
Portable high-intensity heaters
had to be turned on automotive
engines for a couple of hours be
fore there was any hope of get
ting them going;
And when cars were parked,
they had to be left in gear so
that, when the engine started a
gain, they could move. Shifting
cold gears was out of the ques
t ion.
In other words, l.t. <jr. grade)
Diberto is content to be back in
Washington am,' living at 2116
Northwest--even though h could
MORRIS GILBERT PASSES
7:05 A. M. TODAY
Morris Gilbert, son of Mrs Fred
Wood passed away at the Seward
General hospital this A. M. He had
been failing for the dast few days
and was brought back to the hos
pital yesterday. Mr. Wood is in
Whittier at present. He was not
ified of the misfortune at home
by wire this morning.
JIMMY'S BOWLING ALLEY
STILL PACKING THEM IN
The Fifth Avenue recreation
center is really doing the town.
There are a great many people
interested in Bowling and there
fore a number of teams are al
ready in the making. There have
been a couple of teams get up a
little steam and tried to make
some pretty good scores. They
don’t look too bad, either. In or
der to give everyone a chance
to howl Bob has put a two-line
limit up while the place is crowd
ed. All women that like to bowl
get together and go see Bob- He
will help you gel your teams rol
ling. It is a great sport and we,
the public as a whole, want this
new recreation center to be a
great success.
n't get his car started this morn
ing.
FLEW ATOM BOMBING PLANES
........kwgho:
PLANES CARRYING THE ATOM BOMBS for delivery over Hiroshima and
Nagasaki were manned by the men above. Top photo shows the flight
crew of craft that delivered the atomic weapon over Nagasaki. They are
(1. to r., kneeling): S/Sgt. John D. Kuharek, Sgt. Ray G. Gallagher,
S/Sgt. Albert T. Dehart, Sgt. Abe M. Spitser; (standing) Capt. Kermit
K. Behan, Capt. James F. Vanpelt. Lt. Charles D. Albury, Lt. Fred J.
Olivi, Maj. Charles W. Sweeney. In the bottom picture is the crew of
the “Enola Gay” which atomized Hiroshima. They are (kneeling, 1. to
r.): S/Sgt. George R. Caron, Sgt. Joe S. Stiborik, S/Sgt. Wyatt E. Duzen
bury, Pfc. Richard H. Nelson, Sgt. Robert H. Shubard; (standing, 1. to
r.): Maj. Thomas W. Ferebee, Maj. Theodore van Kirk, Col. Paul W.
Tibbetts, and Capt. Robert A. Lewis, commander and chief pilot of the
plane. This is an official U. S. Army Air Forces photo. (International)