VOL. 3.
PETERSBURG. ALASKA, MAY, 3, 1929
NO. 42.
Alaska Bills Up
Before Congress
The following bills were pre
sented in Congress by Delegate
Dan Sutherland for the bene
fit of Alaska:
Bill (H.R. 243) to authorize
the Secretary of Agriculture to
acquire a herd of musk oxen for
introduction into Alaska for ex
perimentation with a view to
their domestication and utiliza
tion; referred to the Committee
on Agriculture.
House Bill 244, to transfer the
levying of licenses taxes on
business and trade to the Alas
ka Territorial Legislature, to re
peal certain license tax laws ap
plicable to Alaska, and for other
purposes; referred to the Com
mittee on Territories.
Also, a bill (H.R.245) to fix the
salaries of the United States
Marshals in the Territory of
Alas**.; to the Committee on
the judiciary.
H. R. 248 to extend the provi
sions of the act of Congress of
December 29, It entitled “An
act to provide or stock-raising
homesteads, anci for other pur
poses,” to the Tivritory of Alas
ka, to the Comm .tee on the
Public Lands.
H. R. 247, validating certain
applications for, an i entries of
public lands; to the Committee
on the Public Lands.
H. R. 248, prohibiting the use
of stationary fishing appliances
in the tidal waters of the Ter
ritory of Alaska, and providing
a penalty; to the Commit; ec on
the Merchant Marine and Fish
eries.
H. R. 2b9, to amend section 27
of the act entitled “An act to
provide for the promotion and
maintenance of the American
merchant marine, to repeal
certain emergency legislation,
and provide forthe disposition,
regulation, and use of property
acquired thereunder, and for
other purposes,” approved June
5, 1920; to the Committee on the
Merchant Marine and Fisher
ies.
A bill H. R. 250, to provide for
the election of the Governor of
the Territory of Alaska, and for
other purposes; to the Commit- j
tee on the Territories.
Bill H. R. 251, classifying and I
fixing the salaries of United,
States Commissioners .in Alas
ka; to the Committee on the
Judiciary.
H. R. 252, to facilitate work of
the Department of Agriculture
in Alaska; to the Committee on:
Agriculture.
A bill, H. R. 253, to amend
section 6 of the Act of Congress
of June 6, 1924, entitled “An act
for the protection of the fish
eries of Alaska, and for other
purposes” (Stat. L. vol. 43, he.
272); to the Committee on the
Merchant Marine and Fisheries.
Also fifteen personal bills for
the benefit of Alaskans entitled
to aid and relief from the fed
eral governmnt.
THROW MONET IN STREAMS
A bill was passed providing an
appropriation of $40,000 for the
clearing of salmon streams. In
spite of federal efforts the legis
lature refused to provide for any
hatchery buncomb work in the
territory. 4
Stop off at Wrangeif
-o-.
Jonathan H. Wagner, Chief of
the Alaska Division of the U. S.
Bureau of Education, has made
arrangements to stop off at the
Stikine metropolis after making
an inspection tour of all the
schools in the First Division.
He will first return to Seattle
an dihs next trip north will be
made on the Boxer to permit
him more time at Wrangell than
will be afforded by steamer con
nections.
fust Friendly
Correspondence
E arl N. Olimer, mayor of Pe
tersburg recently sent a letter to
Mayor Edwards of Seattle via
airplane,. The reply from May
or Edwards follows:
Hon. Earl N. Ohmer, -
Mayor of Petersburg, Alaska.
Dear Mayor Ohmer:
I wish to acknowledge the re
ceipt of your letter and congrat
ulations to Seattle on the fine
work that has been done to fos
ter the new airmail service be
tween Seattle and Alaska.
Your letter was on my desk
this morning when I arrived at
che office, which shows quick
and efficient service.
The establishment oX airmail
ervice between Seattle and Alas
da should be a wonderful aid to
all lines of business, and I am
indeed happy to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter at this
time. I certainly hope that this
service can be made permanent,
thus bringing Alaska much
closer to the States.
Please accept my best wishes
and extend to the People of Pe
tersburg greetings from Seattle.
.Very truly yours,
FRANK EDWARDS,
Mayor
Mr. Ohmer’s letter was writ
ten and left Juneau Sunday
morning, the 2?rd of Apnl ana
arrived in Seattle the ad;, .-not*
of the same day
-x
Eidson is Honored
At Iimeau
-o
Captain Carl Ben Eielson was
greeted at Juneau last week by
a large, proud and hapny crowd.
He is just returning frmi the
antarctic regions where he was
operating under Major Wilkins.
He plans the establishment of
a commercial aviation service to
all the major cities of Alaska
and eventually between Alaska
aid Siberia.
New Red Cross Head
Announcement has been
made of the appointment of
Charles A. Harwell, of Berkeley,
California as assistant director
of Junior Red Cross for the Pa
cific Coast area, to succeed Miss
Eva Hance, who is resigning af
ter having filled that position
since 1923.
For the past three years Mr.
Harwell has been principal of
Thousand Oaks School, Berke
ley, which post he has resigned
to accept the appointment in
the Pacific Branch of the Red
Cross.
Gets 1st Shipment
Alaska Coal
The Admiral Watson brought
in from the north a shipment of
30 tons of coal from the Evan
Jones coal mines. This is the
initial shipment of what is hop
ed to be a steadily increasing
business for an Alaska concern.
Mr. Evan Jones who made first
discovery and development work
arrived from the south and is
leaving for the Westward on the
Alameda today. He has spent
the past several days going over
the trade possibilities with the
idea of developing it to a greater
extent. He is very optomistic
as to the future of this business
provided arrangements can be
made for cheaper transporta
tion.
Bringing coal to Alaska, he
said is like taking coal to New
castle. There are billions of
Lons of first class coal in Alaska
-o that it is absolutely unneces
sary to bring in a pound of for
eign coal.
Opens Theatre On
Last Saturday
o
Last Sunday, Rasmus Enge
reopened liis Variety Theatre af
ter having closed it for several
months lor complete renova- [
tions.
The theatre is now a minia
ture reproduction of tiie Blue
Mouse which is in Seattle. The
interior decorations stucco and
painting and trimmings are in
excellent taste; the curtain is a
beautiful, heavy red plush op
erated from the projecting room.
The lighting is in red, white and
blue, ail of which is under the
control of the operator. The
seats are leather upholstered
and are of the combination air
and spring type. Smoking rooms
on first floor and balcony are
provided for the men patrons
while for the women are excel
.entiy furnished rest rooms on
ooth floors. No expense has been
spared to make this a first class
show house and the town of Pe
tersburg may well be proud of
the institution.
Opening announcements were
made by Mr. Oscar Sather of
Scow Bay and Miss Lillian Swan
son sang two vocal solos most
pleasingly. The first show “Top- !
sy and Eva’’, a parody on “Uncle
Tom’s Cabin’’ was well received.
90 Day Stay Execution
Granted Murderer
-o
Governor Parks has gi anted a
stay of execution to August 10
to Constantine Beaver, an In
dian of the Kuskokwirn country,
convicted of the murder of
another Indian in a drunken
brawl. The stay is granted to
permit an appeal to -resident
Hoover for commutation of sen
tence to life imprisonment.
Only one legal execution has
taken place in the Territory with
in the memory of the wci er and
that was one Bird who foully
murdered a young coup.i on a
honeymoon near Dyea in the
gold rush days. Other murders
have taken place since .h it time
but this is the first case heroin
the extreme penalty is to be ex
acted.
f
OH Ices of Auditor, Treasurer and
Commissioner Made Elective
..The free .conference on the
controller bill .Thursday after
noon failed to come to any work
ing agreement.. The House has
a bill making elective the ter
ritorial treasurer at .the .next
general election. They make the
same provision for .auditor but
provides that the legislature
shall elect the first auditor. The
Senate .passed .the .treasurer
measure with a minor amend
ment.. The passed the auditor
measure with the proviso that
me governor can a special elec
tion to Aiu nits ofnee or that it
may go over untn tnc next gen
eral ejection., in the meantime
the uaties are io oe performd
ay ti o attorney general s oflice.
Concge appropriation is aown
to whicn is almost two
.1 unarea tnousanu uonars less
tiian jL'rcsiuent .liunnePs .esti
mate.
i ne |.. roads . appropriations
..ere laisea from tiiree to lour
.iunuied tnousanu uoiiars..
aouay winds up the legislative
sessions witn much oi the power
or me reaerai demo machine
piacea in tne hands of the elec
torate of Alaska as it should be.
. . The progressive republicans
in spite 01 tne federal machine
have secured to me electorate
tne election oi commissioner oi
ciucaiioii, treasurer and audit
or.
. .The proponents of the bun
comb plutiorm take a little con
solation tnat tne governor stili
retains considerable power and
naturally nope to regain some of
what they lost.
BIG APPROPRIATION BILL
The Ways and Means Com
mittee reported out an appro
priation bill totaling over $2,000,
000 for the biennium. There is
a net reduction of over fifty
thousand dollars from the esti
mated budget by Treasurer W.
G. Smith. The largest reduction
being from an item for the Fair
banks College which was cut to
Dredge Be Here In
July
The work of dredging out the
Narrows will be continued early
in July when the suction dredge
is expected. The craft is sister
ship to the General Rosselle and
is under the same master.
Activity in the Narrows this
summer will be plenty. The en
gineers under Mr. James Truitt
will be making land serveys for
navigational aids; the suction
dredge will deepen the chan
nels that have been filling and
other work and the Explorer
will continue the drag sounding
of the entire Narrows.
ANDERSON YARDS BUSY
The Anderson shipyards of
Wrangell are reported as going
fore ways for leather. The F. S.
Barnes and the Beaucler have
been overhauled and repaired
at that yard. They piled on a
rock off Mary’s Island, below
Ketchikan. New heels for foot
stems, irons, planks, caulking,
cement and lining up of the en
gines was necessary.
$1/ 7 ,4jG.
CONFERENCE A FAILL ItE
The conferees appointed to
consider the Controller Bill fin
| ally were able (in spite of ova
| tions to Aviator Ben Eilson and
the mysterious disappearance of
House Whip Joe Murray) to get
together to consider the bill.
Neither side receded .from .its
position therefore unless som
thing unforeseen happens, there
will not be an elected auditor.
Both Houses have passed the
measure providing for the elec
tion of Territorial school com
missioner. First election of
candidates for this office to take
place at the next general elec
tion.
The House bill perpetuating
Bob Somers in the federal ma
chine as Highway Engineer was
emasculated in the Senate by
the Big Five so that the people
of the Territory will have some
what to say about that office.
-x..
APPROPRIATIONS FOR ROADS
The conferes from both Hous
es agreed on a program for an
equitable distribution of funds
for construction and maintain
ance of roads in the territory. It
has been so arranged that one
half of the funds for the First
and Third appropriations and
one-third of the Second and
Fourth appropriations may be
expended for airplane fields and
hangars from the Road Fund.
The House bill provided an
appropriation of $300,000 for j
roads to which bill the Senate
added another $100,000. Both
bills have been passed.
..V_ • I
will come some good
-o
The appropriation of $30,000
for predatory animal control
! and $25,000 for mining work un
der Mining Engineer Stewart
were both passed.
| Represents Foshay
interests
-o
William Semar, representing
the Foshay Corporation’s trans
portation interests has been in
this district for the past week
looking into the future develop
ment of that end of the com
pany’s business. The company
at this time has under construc
tion in Seattle a large motor
vessel and plans construction of
another immediately following
completion of the first vessel
It is aimed to have the line take
care of passenger, freight and
cold storage trade.
Mr. Semar was formerly con
nected with the Pyramid Pack
ing Company of Sitka and later
with a larger canning concern in
Ketchikan.
DEPUTY MARSHAL APPOINT
-o
Marshal White has appointed
Edwin Hofstad of Wrangell as
Deputy Marshal and assigned to
duty at Port Alexander. Some
one has asked Why appointment
was not made of another carpet
bagger from Idaho.
SALMON TAX DEFEATED
-o
. . Representative McCormack * s
graduated tax on salmon caught
in traps was defeated.. This bill
proposed a light tax on traps
with small traps, graduated up
in proportion to salmon caught.
THE SCHOOL BILL
Conferences were held on the
new school code and flnallj
came to the following terms:
The Territorial treasury will
make a refund of 70 per cent to
schools with an enrollment un
der 150 pupils; 76 per cent to
schools with an enrollment un
der 300 and a 70 per cent rebate
to schools above 300 with $1G,
000 the top limit.
# -x
A GRAND TOTAL
-o
A total of 195 bills were pre
sented both Houses of this legis
lature with more than one-half
of them enacted into law.
. . ..-x
The women will have the
same property rights now ac
corded men in community prop
erty. This bill has been of more
than passing interest to men
and women thruout the terri
tory.
Gold has been discovered on
the Little Iskut by Indians, Is a
report brought *o Wrangell by
Walter Julian. About two ounc
es of the yellow metal was tak
en to Telegraph by the Indians
who discovered it along the trail
by the banks of the stream.
-_x
ROTATIVE BALLOT BILL KILL
The rotative ballot bill was
defeated in the Senate. It was
the general opinion that this
bill would confuse election judg
es as much if not more than the
Indian electorate at whom it
was aimed. Observers of elec
tion results tell many a funny
tale of marked ballots by the
only class conceded by Stroller
White to be eligible to elective
franchise.
Takes Final Stand
*Sea Lion Question
Henry 0”Malley, U. S. Fish
Commissioner in a letter to Mr.
Earl Ohmer states that the law
governing the killing of sealion
will stand unchanged until 1930.
However, that any fisherman
may kill the animals if seen mo
lesting fish on gear or liable to
do damage to fish on gear, or if
they are seen molesting salmon.
Relative to trout menace in
salmon sterams Mr. O’Malley
stated that he was definitely
planning an expansion of the
work of the Bureau in destroy
ing predatory trout in salmon
streams.
PLANE TAKES OUT SICK
WOMAN
The Alaska Airways plane
leaving Sitka took on board as
passenger to Seattle, Mrs. Peter
Kostromitinoff who was serious
ly ill. It was hardly believed
she would live to reach Seattle
but hoping for the best she
was hurried out to medical spe
cialists.