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VOLUME 9, NUMBER 17.
HYDER, ALASKA, SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 4, 1933.
SINGLE COPIES 10 CENTS
ANYCX LABOR STRIKE
STILL UNSETTLED
Late reports from Anyox in
dicate that the strike of
Granby company employees
developing there early this
week is still unsettled, although
hopes were expressed by offic
ials that an agreement might
be effected during the coming
week.
Starting with some 400 em
ployees, nearly all of whom are
said to have been foreigners,
the strike now includes the en
tire force of around 1,000 men.
It is charged by company rep
resentatives that the strike is a
direct result of incitement ac
tivities by radicals.
According to the meager and
somewhat confused reports re
ceived here during the week,
the men are demanding an in
crease of 50 cents a day in pay
and a reduction of 20 cents a
day in board, as well as a re
auction in commissary charges.
The company is said to have
agreed to the lowering of the
boarding house charges but
will not concede the wage in
crease under the claim that the
company is not operating at a
profit under present condit
ions.
No disturbances were re
ported up to this (Saturday)
morning. A force of 20 or
more Provincial police are at
the scene and are said to be
armed with machine guns and
other weapons for quelling
mob outbreaks.
Report:-: received Friday in
dicated that the police were
conducting an intensive search
for the radicals charged with
fomenting the strike and had
instituted a house to house
search for one of the alleged
ringleaders, who was in hiding.
Owing to the resultant clos-!
ing down of the Granby smelt
er, shipments of Premier ore to ;
Anyox have been suspended. I
The Premier company has also j
reduced operation of the ore
tramway to one shift and is
understood to have laid off sev- i
en members of the tram crew.
It is reported in mine circles
that a continuation of the strike
will probably result in further
curtailment of Premier oper
ations.
Stewart Resident Passes
Miss Katie Kassum, a Serb
ian girl, aged 21, residing with
relatives in Stewart, passed
away Monday, a victim of tu
berculosis. Deceased had re
sided in Stewart about one
year, after coming there di
rect from the old country.
Funeral services were held
Fiiday at the Catholic church
with Rev. Father LeRay offic
iating. Interment was in the
local cemetery.
f Premier Tram Cable Is
Installed In Record Tims
The installation of the new
j traction cable on the 11V2
j mile aerial tramway of the
j PremieV Gold Mining Comp
any was completed in the rec
| ord time of 32 hours; eight
i hours less than the time it was
| estimated would be required.
Furthermore, the work was
done without more than a trif
ling delay in the usual operat
ion of the tramway, which con
tinued to deliver ore at the
; bunkers and carry back the
empty buckets throughout the
! operation. The actual time re
quired to install the twenty
odd miles of heavy cable was
30 hours, the remaining two
hours being consumed mainly
in splicing in the several sect
ions of the cable as they were
unrolled from the seven huge
wooden drums on which it ar
riven rrom the states some
weeks ago. The previous time
record for the job was 40
hours. No special equipment
was used, aside from an engine
employed at the dock to take
up the slack as the old cable
was withdrawn from the tram
way, and only the usual power
equipment at the Premier term
inal was used to place the cable
in position on the long line of
supporting towers extending
from the mine to the bunkers
at tidewater in Hyder, B. C.
The method employed was
both simple and effective. The
old cable was cut at the dock
and a section of the new cable
was attached to the end and !
hauled out on the tramway by |
the engine at the mine. The in- j
coming end of the cable, which j
had seen over ten years of con-j
tinuous service, w a s then
wound on waiting drums as
fast as the new cable was paid
out under the pull of the engine
at the mine. As each reel of
the new cable was unwound a
new length was spliced to the
preceding section until the sev
en sections had been spliced in
to one continuous length and
the end of the first outgoing
section had passed over the
entire tram and returned to
the dock. The ends were then
fastened at the dock, making
a continuous belt of wire ex
tending from the dock to the
mine and back again. Each of
the splices were about 70 feet
in length. Save for the time
required to make the splices,
traffic over the tramway was
not interrupted.
The work was performed by
the regular tram crew under
the direction of tram superin
tendent Frank Fisher, who had
previously instructed and re
hersed the men in the funct
ROOSEVELT AGREES TO
CURRENCY INFLATION
President-elect Roosevelt’s
attitude regarding the money
question was further clarified
this week by an announcement
that he will accept a currency
inflation plan which has re
ceived the approval of Cong
ress.
Mr. Roosevelt let it be known
to his advisers that he is pre
pared to experiment with the
currency. He wants a sound
currency but will sign a bill
“that will enable people to pay
their debts,” it was said.
The primary object of cur
rency inflation would be to
raise basic commodity prices,
thereby providing impetus to
production and enabling pro
ducers to operate at a profit
and employ labor in product
ion.
There are upward of fifty
measures now before Congress
aiming at some form of inflat
ion. A large number of these
include recognition of or re
monetization of silver as a bas
is for inflation of the national
currency.
GOLD IS NOT RELIABLE
AS MEASURE OF VALUE
Sir Henry Starkosch, famous
British banker and economist,
in a radio broadcast from Lon
don last Sunday, declared that
“gold is no longer a reliable
measure of value” and that
world recovery can come only
through concerted action to
raise commodity prices.
This must be done by increas
ing the available supply of
money and cheap credits, and
a reasonable settlement of the
war debts, he said.
Sir Henry attributed the de
cline of commodity prices to
“unbalanced distribution of the
metal available for internation
al exchange.”
ions performed by each of
them. As a result of the excell
ent coordination thus obtained,
the job was completed without
a single hitch or delay.
With the new cable in place
and a majority of the support
ing towers recently replaced,
the tramway is now in excell
ent shape for future traffic.
About 70 of the towers were
replaced during the past three
months and the company is
said to be contemplating re
placement of the remaining
old towers in the spring. When
this is done the tramway will
be virtually as good as when j
originally installed in 1921.
Wheeler Intimates Senatorial
Ignorance on Silver Question
Doubts that the question of
remonetizing silver would re
ceive serious consideration by
the present Senate because of
“appalling misunderstanding
and misinformation” in that
body on the subject were ex
pressed by Senator Burton K.
Wheeler, of Montana, during
the course of debate on the
banking bill four days before
his measure remonetizing sil
ver at the ratio of 16 to 1 was
defeated, according to the
Congressional Record of Janu
ary 20.
Replying to a suggestion that
he offer an amendment to the
banking bill remonetizing sil
ver, Wheeler said he “thought
it ought to be done, but the ap
palling misunderstanding and
misinformation in this body
with reference to the remone
tization of silver is so astound
ing that I doubt whether it
would get very much serious
consideration.”
Discussing the same suggest
ion, Senator Ashurst, of Ari
zona, asserted that “if there
were free and unlimited coin
age of silver at 16 to 1 the so
called depression would lift its
ugly blight from this country
within 40 days.” j
■o
Had Hard Job To Bring
Out Anderson Remains
The following details regard
ing the recent death of Gus.
Anderson, former Premier
mine foreman, are contained
in a press report from Lillooet,
3. C., dated January 28.
The body of Gus Anderson,
43,who died of pneumonia, was
brought out to the Pioneer
mine over one of the highest
mountain passes near the sum
mit of the Cascades, at the
head of Cadwallader Creek.
Mr. Anderson and his partner
had been driving a tunnel on
one of the new finds at an alti
tude of 6,700 feet. They were
living in a 12 by 14 tent, which
was completely snowed over,
the stovepipe, which protrud
ed above the snow, being the
only visible sign of a camp.
Ten expert woodsmen and
trappers, travelling on snow
shoes over ten to fifteen feet of
•now, made their way over
miles of tortuous trail.
It was through the ingenuity
of Neil M. Lindsay, of Big Horn
Lodge, that the body was
brought out in a short time. He
led the party and the body
was strapped to his toboggan.
Half-inch ropes were attached
and men lowered the toboggan 1
gradually down almost perpen
dicular bluffs. At times the
ropes had to be snagged on the
MONEY STABILIZATION
ONLY REAL SALVATION
Declaring that gold cannot
carry alone the burden iof the
sole monetary metal, F. H.
Brownell, first vice-president
of the American Smelting &
Refining Company, in a recent
statement, said that either sil
ver must come to its aid or the
nations must agree upon some
form of “managed” currency.
“The longer the current de
pression continues the clearer
it becomes that restoration of
the moneys of the world to
sound and stable basis is a pre
requisite to recovery of inter
national trade,” he said.
“Gold continues to enhance
in value as measured in com
modities,” he continued," and
to become more concentrated
in the hands of a few nations.
Obviously it cannot carry alone
the burden of the sole mone
tary metal. Either silver must
come to its aid or the nations
must agree upon some man
aged currency, wThich would be
a leap in the dark. My belief
is that the coming year will see
increased attention to this sub
ject and that before its expir
ation we will find the nations
of the world considering the
subject of the status of silver.”
-o
Early Spring—-Maybe
Thursday was Groundhog
Day but if the groundhog saw
his shadow hereabouts he must
have used artificial light be
cause the “glowing orb of
day,” as the poetry chaps love
to call it, was well hidden by
a continuous downpour of fine,
frozen snow flakes lasting
throughout the day. So, if the
old adage is correct, vve may
look forward to an early
spring—maybe.
-o
Nick Kristovich came up
from the lower reaches of Port
land Canal last Saturday and
reported that the campers in
that locality have been finding
it very difficult to fish owing
to continued stormy weather.
Game of all kinds is also very
scarce along the Canal.
tops of fir trees sticking out of
the snow. At one time a rope
broke and one or two men were
in grave danger.
Mr. Anderson, who had been
in the employ of the Premier
company during most of the
past 12 or 13 years, left here
last summer. He was a native
of Sweden and is reported sur
vived by a widow, to whom he
was married late last year, and
a brother who resides in Swed
en. His untimely passing i3
deeply regretted by his numer
ous local friends.