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Published every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska
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THE ISLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY
Box 1307, Kodiak, Alaska
Sig J. Digree, Editor and Publisher
Betha Digree, Executive Secretary
Staff Photographer.George C. Ameigh, Jr.
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use or republica
tion of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited
in this paper and also the local news published herein.
Why Move The Capital?
To move or not to move the Capital, that is the question.
Voters will go to the polls Tuesday to vote on Initiative No. 1,
which calls for moving the Capital of the State of Alaska within the
Cook Inlet-Railbeit area by 1965.
Juneau will suffer the most by the move. But Alaska is to suffer
the most by the question coming up at this time. We are barely
launched as a state, and already the country is torn by sectionalism
From all we can gather the buildings and facilities at Juneau are
adequate for a state Capital. Why the rush to move them now?
As a young fledgling state we must learn to walk before we learn
to run. Why rush into the building of a magnificent capital site at
this time when we have so many problems that we haven’t found
answers for, that remain to be solved. All available funds in the next
several years should be devoted to the rehabilitation of our fisheries,
building of airports, health and welfare. Roads are badly needed. The
tourist trade must be expanded. New industries must be encouraged.
These are the things we should focus our endeavors on—not on
the building of fine structures to conduct the state’s business in.
Proponents against moving the capital say it will cost $50,000,000
or even more. Proponents for moving it say it won’t cost a cent to
the taxpayer. The latter statement is the understatement of the year.
You know and I know, it will cost and cost plenty. One of the pro
ponents came out earlier with a figure of $20,000,000 for the buildings
alone.
One fact that is important and should not be lost sight of is this:
In 1965, the date set for the move, it is estimated by the State Planning
Commission, Alaska’s accumulated deficit will amount to about
$44,000,000. Add to this the cost of moving the capital and the State
would be in debt well above its income, and at a time when transitional
grants from the Federal government would no longer be forthcoming.
Fine new buildings are all very well. But can the little more
than 200,000 Alaskans afford the luxury? We believe in conducting
our personal life, as far as building a home is concerned, or living in
the one we have, by our income, or foreseeable future income. Why
shouldn’t the state do the same?
Let’s get on with the job of building the resources of the State,
of attracting new capital here, and the building of facilities more
essential than that of government buildings.
A vote “No” we think would be in order on Initiative No. 1
at this lime.
Mirrored Reflections.
By Sig Digree
This week we are making history
down at the Kodiak Mirror plant.
In an endeavor to give our readers
as many facts as we can about the
elections, and particularly the pri
mary election next Tuesday, we
have increased the size to 16 pages.
But the history in the making
referred to, of course, are the
many pictures in this week’s Mir
ror, most of which were repro
duced in our own plant. Getting
the pictures of the candidates was
no small task. Many of our local
candidates, contrary to aspiring
politicos the world over, seem to
be a modest lot, and we had to
bang away at some of them many
times to get a picture. We hope
they won’t be that modest if sue
DISCUSS FORTHCOMING CAMPAIGN—Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John F. Kennedy, left,
and Adlai Stevenson, former governor of Illinois, give with big smiles from the back porch of Kennedy’s
Hyannis Port, Mass., home Sunday. They met to discuss the forthcoming political campaign.
(AP Wirephoto)
cessful when they get down to
Juneau.
The process of getting a picture
transferred to a printing plate in
volves making a negative from a
print, which in turn is etched onto
the plate. Our staff photographer,
George Ameigh, is doing most of
the work at the present time, and
doing a good job of it, too.
After the plates are made, they
have to be cut to proper size. This
presented a problem, but through
the cooperation of Red Burnham
at the Kodiak Welding, we were
able to set un a temporary method
of cutting them to size. We plan
to have! our own equipment for
this sometime in the near future.
Following that, the “cuts” have
to be mounted. Special wood
blocks are used, which are type
high when the plate is mounted.
We hope our readers enjoy look
ing at pictures, and from com
ments received so far since we
began to feature them more, we
think you do Who knows, you too,
might grace the pages of the Mir
ror in some future issue.
* * H
We echo the words of Melville
McKistry, Alaska Steamship vice
president and general manager,
and quoted in the company’s
monthly magazine, in an article
on ASC’s first 65 years. “Progress
takes equipment and equipment is
expensive. Take our new 20-ton
fork lift, the $34,000 we spent on
that is more than the entire capi
talization of our company when it
was organized in 1895.”
The article goes on to say: “To
be sure times have changed. Ranch
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CAMPAIGN TEAM—Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican presidential nominee, and his run
ning mate get together in Washington with top adv.sers for a campaign strategy session Monday. Left
to right: Leonard Hall of New York, general camp lign manager; Nixon, Henry Cabot Lodge, the candi
date for vice president; and Robert H. Finch of Inglewood, Calif., who is Nixon’s administrative
assistant. (AP Wirephoto)
eggs in Seattle were 15c a dozen
then. A trip from Seattle to Ta
coma on the Monticello. including
meals and stateroom, was 50c.
An interesting period in the
early history of the company as
told in the Alaska Liner, was the
rate war instituted by the Pacific
Coast Steamship Co., when ASC
was first formed. Freight rates
were dropped from $11 to $3 a ton
to Juneau, and first-class fares
were down to $6 from $12. “We’ll
keep the passengers,” the opposi
tion wras quoted as saying, “if we
have to pay ’em a premium to sail
with us.” —How nice it would be
if some such enterprising indi
vidual would come along and offer
us passenger service even at a fair
price today.
* * *
COMMENTS ON THE PASSING
SCENE. Now that Kennedy and
Truman have patched things up,
and Nixon and Rockefeller are
getting together, all should be
right with the political world.
Politics sure does breed strange
bed fellows, though . . . Then
there’s the story of the hitch
hiking locomotive engineer, sight
ing a runaway freight train, and
hailing a passing motorist, raced
ahead of the train, climbed aboard
and brought it to a stop. Quick
thinking and acting . . . Nevada’s
legal gamblers scooped up more
than 45 million dollars gross prof
its in the first three months of
I
1960—nice work if you can get it
. . . two Reno, Nevada rancher's,
Victor, 64, and Joseph Saturno,
gave their wealth of more than a
million dollars to help orphans in
Italy and the U. S. That’s when
money speaks with a heart . . .
sawing off fingers in order to col
lect insurance for their injuries
and unemployment, seems a hard
way to go about gaining an easy
way of life, but that’s what five
Negroes in Burlington, N. C. did.
The plot was discovered, however,
and a quite different easy life is
in prospect — prison terms for
fraudulent insurance claims . . .
GM Hospital Notes
ilIRTHS
A daughter, Kathleen Cecile,
weighing 6 lbs. 1 oz., was born on
August 1 to Betty and John Mur
phy of Sand Point.
Bowling
Women’s Scratch
Trio
August 2
W L
Syns 31 21
Rins 30 22
Gems 26 25 V2
Reds 25 27
Hubs 23 29
Bips 20Vfe 31M!
Week’s high game and series:
E. McIntyre, 188 522.
-2
REMEMBER
•
We are now a National Bank and a member
of the Federal Reserve System. All checks
drawn on this bank will clear at par, and will
no longer be subjected to exchange or collection
charges as in the past. You may send your check
anywhere in the United States with assurance
that it will be readily acceptable, and will clear
with utmost expedience.
Kcdiak Branch
NATIONAL BANK OF ALASKA
Member Federal Reserve & F. D. I. C.|