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Published every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska
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Betha Digree, Executive Secretary
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
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this paper and also the local news published herein.
Wanted: More Candidates
How would you like to be Mayor
of Kodiak? Or a member of the
Council?
Two of the members of the City
Council and the incumbent mayor
have filed for reelection at the
Municipal election, Tuesday, Oc
tober 6.
We are happy to see both Coun
cilman Carl Huer and Councilman
Bill Worth run for office as well
as Mayor Merrill Goon. As your
reporter we have attended most
of the meetings of <the Council, and
found an atmosphere of good har
mony and a willingness to “talk
it over”—both necessary for ar
rival at important decisions.
But in the interest of the City,
we’d like to see a full slate of can
didates on the ballot—in other
words more interest shown in the
affairs of the City.
As a member of the Council you
gain a liberal education. This is a
job that doesn’t offer any pecuni
ary benefits, but it does offer a
wealth of experience and is an
eye-opener to the average citizen
as to the ramifications of city gov
ernment, its problems and h>w
best to deal with them.
Petitions must be filed at least
7 days before election. Should a
group of citizens desire a certain
candidate, now is the time to file a
petition endorsing him.
State Seeks To
Uphold Fish Ban
JUNEAU — Uft — Alaska has
asked the U. S. Supreme Court to
affirm the District Court’s deci
sion upholding the State ban on
fish traps and to dsmiss the appeal
by Angoon, Metlakatla and Kake
which seek a review of the lower
court ruling.
District Judge Raymond J. Kel
ly at Juneau held that Interior
Secretary Seaton was without au
thority in exempting villages from
the trap law. As a result the Su
preme Court’s restraining order
permitted the villages to fish 11
traps in Southeastern waters.
A brief submitted by Attorney
General John Rader contends that
litigation is now moot since the
1959 regulations are based on a
section of the Statehood Act with
holding State control of fisheries
until January 1, 1960. By the time
the i960 season starts the provision
is no longer applicable, the State
says.
* Rader said 1 here would be specu
lation as to whether a new Federal
effort will be made -under a dif
ferent authority to permit lntives
to continue trap operations.
'Jfcader satd it is'“important to
note that Indian fishing for per
sonal use is not involved.
ESC STUDY GROUP MEETS
JUNEAU —UP)— The five-man
Employment Security Commission
study group began their meeting
in the Senate chambers
Thursday to review the law.
The group was appointed after
Egan voted the proposed changes
in the jobless benefit program.
Egan named the group to draft
administration recommendations
for consideration at the 1960 legis
lative session.
STATE REFORTS REVENUE
JUNEAU — UP! — The State
revenue department reports tax
collections of $134,245 at the Seat
tle branch office opened two
months ago.
Peter Gatz, Revenue Commis
sioner, estimated as much as $35,
000 might be lost without the new
•branch. About 6,000 taxpayers in
Washington file income tax re
turns on Alaska earnings.
JUNEAU —Win Irvin was
released as director of Special
devices Division of State Depart
merit of Health and Welfare ef
fective Opt 1.
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Here, There and Everywhere
By S1G DIGREE
What this town needs is more
and especially better characters.
What is a character?
I don’t mean the pseudo variety
prevalent in these parts at all
times—in evidence by their at
tempts at zany actions, which be
come a topic of conversation and
cause a lifting of eyebrows—noth
ing more.
Or the tippling Johnnys, the
effervescent elbow benders, who
buttonhole you if you chance in a
bar. They have their place—far,
far away.
Or the bleary-eyed, sodden
brained wino, a bore if ever there
was one, for he’s on the skids;
hanging on to the lower rung of
the ladder of civilization, and even
losing his grip on that.
The character needed to give the
town distinction or class is the un
inhibited variety, a certain breed
of man who every now and then,
for all his whimsical ways and zany
character, exhibits inner facets,
hidden traits, imagination, who
either mentally or by physical ex
perience has drunk to the full the
cup of life.
Kodiak hasn’t known a town
character for a long time — its
streets are barren and dull for the
lack of them.
In fact it is doubtful if Kodiak
has ever had the genuine article—
perhaps there have been some
genuine ones, but no high class—
such as you will find in the coast
cities such as Seattle, Vancouver
and San Francisco.
The few we have had are now
laid to rest, or have been relegated
to the Old Timer’s Home at Sitka.
It’s too bad these boys couldn’t be
ageless.
What stimulates your memories
to more pleasurable and nostalgic
overtures than to reflect back on
a character, noble in his zany,
careless outlook on life, who falls
not into the human pattern ex
pected of him, and who suffers not
the inhibitions of his fellowmen—
yea, verily they are a breed unto
themselves.
Kodiak could well do with at
least one of these gentry, gradu
ates of the school of hard knocks,
impervious to orthodox taboos,
with a free and able tongue, unin
hibited, dress and mien strictly
characteristic, indicative of his
philosophy—truly a character.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO
Reading something more than a
hundred years old can sometimes
be more interesting than some
thing written* recently.
The California Star, published
in San Francisco, issue of April 10,
1847, published perhaps the first
account of the disaster which over
took the Donner Party in the Sier
ras in the winter of 1846-47. Here
are excerpts:
“A more shocking scene cannot
be imagined, than that witnessed
by the party of men who went to
the relief of the unfortunate emi
grants in the California Mountains.
The bones of those who had died
and been devoured by the miser
able ones that still survived, were
lying around their tents and cab
ins. Bodies of men, women and
children, with half the flesh torn
from them, lay on every side. A
woman sat by the side of the body
of her husband, who had just
died, cutting out his tongue; the
heart she had already taken out,
broiled, and eat! The daughter was
seen eating the flesh of the fath
er—the mother that of her child
ren — children that of father and
mother.
. . . So changed had the emi
grants become that when the par
ty sent out arrived w it h food,
some of them cast it aside and
seemed to prefer the putrid hum
an flesh that still remained. The
day before the party arrived, one
of the emigrants took a child of
about four years of age in bed
with him, and devoured the whole
before morning; and th|e next
day ate another about the same
age before noon.”
Shocking? Yes, but a revelation
of human nature under stress.
An editorial, also from this same
paper, is particularly revealing of
the thinking at the time. Remem
ber, this was written in 1847:
“Much has been said and writ
ten in the United States, about
constructing a Rail Road across
the Rocky Mountains, to the waters
of the Pacific Ocean. Nearly all
this talk has been made by per
sons who are as ignorant of the
country, and the routes across the
North American continent, as they
are of the suburbs and streets of
New Jerusalem. To construct, and
put in operation a Rail Road
across the continent at present, or
ever, if not an impossibility, is *an
impracticability ... an impractic
ability, because if the work should
be constructed—the iron road laid
down, chaining the two sides of the
continent together, the expendi
ture for its protection against the
savage tribes which inhabit the re
gion it passes through for 1500
miles—the utter sterility and deso
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Congratulations
To Alf Madsen for his contribution to the
City of Kodiak.
The statue of the brown bear which now
stands in front of the hotel is an appropriate
symbol of Kodiak Island, world famous for
the Kodiak Bear.
Member
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
n
lation of the largest portion of
—the absence of timber, even for
wood—of coal, of water, of every
thing, in short, which enters into
and* contributes to human con
sumption and support, render it
so.”
The author advocated a good
wagon road instead as a link be
tween the two sides of the conti
nent.
To Confer With
Jap Officials
WASHINGTON — It) — Sen.
Bartlett is to talk with American
and Japanese officials on business
and the fisheries question when he
goes to Japan September 28.
“There are growing economic
ties between Japan and Alaska/*
the Senator stated, “We have abun
dnt resources and Japan is despe
rate for raw materials . . . We
can’t solve the fishery problems in
a few talks but I hope to get some
valuable information.”
The Senator is to meet directors
of Japanese Fisheries Agency and
foreign affairs office. He will tour
Japan and Korea as a member of
the Senate Armed Services Com
mittee, and will visit military in
s-aLations; check on the relation
ship of the Far East and Alaska.
He returns to Seattle for a talk
before the National Defense
Transportation Association, Oc
tober 12; he will then conduct
hearings in Alaska on legislation
of interest to Alaska.