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I Published every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska .
Yearly Subscription Rate $5.00 i
Entered in the Postoffice at Kodiak. Alaska as Second
Class matter under act of Congress of March 3, 1878
THE ISLAND PUBLISHING COMPANY
Sig J. Digree, Editor and Publisher
Betha Digree, Executive Secretary
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.
&le<ws of c/imtrtca ’s Lust 'frontnt
Survival Begins At The Blackboard
Long ago the US conceded to
Russia superiority in numbers of
military airplanes, just as we have
accepted the fact of beng outnum
bered in foot soldiers. But we
have proudly maintained that the
outstanding superiority of our
planes in quality more than made
up for the quantitative difference.
But the Russians have been
closing the gap in quality while
maintaining fheir lead in num
bers—in spite of the tremendous
strides made by our aircraft in
dustry since 1950. In the next two
years plant floor-space was doubl
ed, the work force increased two
and-a-half times and the produc
tion rate (on constantly changing
types of newer and newer planes)
was tripled. Since 1950 our 47
wing Air Force with few modern
planes and no guided missiles has
grown to 127 wings, largely equip
ped with advanced aircraft, guided
missiles and supporting material
and the Navy air has kept pace.
“Our industry-military team,”
writes Admiral DeWitt C. Ramsey
(USN Ret.), president of the Air
craft Industries Association, in
the current issue of Planes, “is
performing a herculean task in its
'.efforts to maintain at least a mar
ginal lead in airpower superiority
over the Soviets.” But he adds the
highly significant statement that;
“Unfortunately, today we can not
be completely sure of our qualita
tive lead.”
1 Admiral Ramsey describes the
combat aircraft observed in the
Moscow fly-over of last May Day
as '‘excellent,” and adds: “There
is ample reason to believe that
they have made long strides in
guided missiles. They are showing
signs of progress in transports and
other types of aircraft. So there is
no room for boasting of* compla
cency.^
Even ; more alarming than the
present status, -are ' some melan
choly statistics” that Admiral
Ramsey points out. In World War
II, plane builders employed an
average of 22 engineers in every
thousand workers, where 100 are
needed today. And today we are
graduating little more than 20,000
engineers a year while the Rus
sians are turning out about 53,000.
As recently as 1950 the situation
was the reverse. But even more
disheartening this downward trend
threatens to continue—even accel
erate. Less than a quarter of to
day's high school students, says
Admiral Ramsey, is studying al
gebra, “the gateway to advanced
mathemetics, which is the basis of
science and engineering,” and
half that number is studying ge
ometry—“the gateway to drafting
and many of the physical
sciences.”
The ultimate answer to national
defense, the Admiral admits, is be
yond the industry—which is doing
all it can to recapture the lost in
terest of American youth in avia
tion ...” It is in the hands of
American citizens everywhere who
must carry the message of the na
tion’s need “into every school in
the country—to the children, to
WHALE OF#A HAUL
\ y'HALING A CEAP INDU&TRV ? not atall
“OR EXAMPLE, IN 195!. 3I.V72 WHALES ■WERE
TAKEN. THE TOTAL VA LIE OF THIS HAUL WAS
♦t10,000,000! {WHAl£ &SOLPA7
*47S. 03 PBR 70V/J
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THE HIGH COST
_ OF FLYING
|j^OCK£TiN£ A ST5:atO-^£T FIQ>\
take-off to c-v-'in£ A^iTure costs
ABOUT $**750:
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... GET THIS 6-47 A eOOKNE/ WHEN VOU OtA O. A SAVINGS BONOS YOU A*E
MOT ONLY HeuPlMO SOUKttlF -YOU AUE MrvrfUNB MT AMtKKA* SSGtMnV.' «W
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Tax Ceiling
Advocated
Limiting the assessed valuation
for the purpose of taxation that
could be placed on a family dwell
ing that is occupied by the owner
as a home and his place of resi
dence, was strongly advocated oy
Jack Hinckel, before a meeting of
the Toastmaster’s Club last Tues
day.
The speaker stated that he felt
that the removal of the fear of
changes in classification of homes
for assessment purposes, as is now
the case, would encourage the un
restricted improvement of proper
ties. He poipted out that as the
value of the dollar goes down, the
value of real estate goes up, mak
ing the home beyond the means
of the owner.
Hinokel stated that he believed
that the acquistion of property,
and in particular a home, to be
one of the cornerstones of Ameri
can life. “I also contend that our
phesent method of taxation and in
particular our methods of assess
mertt are contrary to these pre
ceptV’ he said. He cited instances
where people have spent all their
working days improving their
homes, then on retirement have
been forced to sell because defla
tion of the dollar or inflation of
property values has increased val
uations to the point that payment
of the property taxes was beyond
their means.
Citipg these as deplorable situa
tions, Hinckel said he thought
people should be encouraged to
the parents, and to the teachers.”
As in every age, the schoolboy
of today is the defender of tomor
row. But the greatest heroes of
tomorrow must start being heroes
today in facing up to the rigors
of mathematics and physics and
chemistry.
own homes and improve them,
and that the improvements should
not jeopardize possession later. “I
believe that regardless of how the
improvement affects the actual
valuation the owner should be pro
tected by a ceiling on the valua
tion that can be set on it for pur
poses of taxation.”
The Toastmaster, who was a
delegate to the Consitutional Con
vention, stated he felt so strongly
about the ceiling on taxation ^hat
he submitted a proposal at the
Convention, which read as follows:
‘ Neither the State, nor any civil
division thereof, shall exceed a
figure to be fixed by the State
legislature in valuing, for assess
ment purposes, any non-income
single family dwelling and a reas
onable amount of contiguous land,
during such time as the property
is maintained by the owner as a
place of residence; nor may the
millage rate of taxation on such
property be above a figure also
set by the State Legislature, ex
cept for assessments for special
benefits when approved by the
majority of property owners in
the district to be assessed. The as
sessment maximums thus set by
the legislature shall be such that
payment of the property will be
possible by a person of moderate
circumstances and income. Re
affirmation or revision of the val
uations and millage maximums so
set shall take place every ten
years, or at any session of the leg
islature upon petition."
The speaker thought that some
revision to protect the ordinary
home owner is both desirable and
necessary for peace of mind.
NOTICE
The Shopper will run along
Mill Ray Rd. to Hemlock & Birch,
returning to Mill Bay 9:45 a m.,
12:45 p.m., 2:45 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.
(s) Ray Shannon
ALONG THE WATBEFRONT
(Continued from page 1)
.stopover enroute from Shemya to
Seattle. She was stopped by Coast
Guard officials who are flying
here from Juneau for an inspec
tion before allowing the ship to
proceed.
The Sea Rider, skippered by G.
C. eBrg, refueled before proceed
ing to the fishing grounds, and
her "mother” ship. The San Juan
Cannery tender Deborah, piloted
by Scott Stream was in. Scott lived
here before and married a local
girl some years ago. The halibut
boat Flint was also in, and got a
load of fish heads for bait.
Two F\VS vessels were seen
readying for their stream watch
ing operations. The Albacore and
the Cohoe took on fuel and sup
plies.
The Gariana, crippled with en
gine trouble, got under way this
week. Ted Jacobsen assembled his
crew together for the return trip
to Seattle.
Pete Deveau reports canning
2200 fish this week, from the Kar
luk district. The Island Seafoods
is canning the early run for the
Washington Fish and Oyster and
Ouzinkie Packing Co. The Kent,
skippered by Casey Cobban of Sel
dovia and Seward is fishing for
the Island Seafoods also. She is
having installed a hydaulic poyer
block, which will take a lot of the
work out of fishing, it is said.
The Western and the Kingfish
have completed installing new
steel live tanks. Bill Poland’s boat
the Katmai is tied up at the Citjr
float, as is the Guy Junior, the
Mist, Banchee, the Mercury, the
Kinkfish and the Sue.
A barge loaded a number of
pieces of equipment and lumber
destined for the Macri and Com
pany project at King Salmon, from
the Brooklyn Beach area. The LST
proceeded to Naknek Thursday.
Thrifiy McBear
was the name selected for our
bear cub.
There were so many appropriate
names submitted that it was not
easy to make a choice, and to all
who sent in names we say: “Thank
You.”
We hope you will be interested in
Thrifty’s future career as he will
be the bank’s spokesman in many
of it’s advertisements.
Mrs. Dorothy Clark is the winner.