• WASHINGTON NEWS-LETTER
By MARY LEE COUNCIL
Secretary to E. L. (Bob) Bartlett, Alaska's Delegate to Congress
Delegate Talks With President
Delegate Bartlett met with
President Truman last week to
discuss a number of Alaska prob
lems including law enforcement,
public works, statehood, roads
and other matters.
“As always.” Delegate Bartlett
stated. “I found the President
anxious to lend all assistance pos
sible in the solution of our prob
lems. Considering the countless
gnd perplexing national and in
ternational matters which make
the job of being President so dif
ficult, President Truman contin
uously displays a surprisingly de
tailed familiarity with economic,
geographic and social phases of
Alaska.”
Hearings will be held in Alaska
this fall on Delegate Bartlett’s bill
providing means of settling land
claims in Alaska. The decision
was made following preliminary
hearings this week before the
Subcommittee on Indian Afairs of
*”the House Interior and Insular
Affairs Comittee.
Although a date has not been
set for the hearings in the Terri
tory, it is expected they will be
conducted following the antici
pated adjournment of Congress
in October.
The legislation would establish
an Alaska panel within the In
dian Claims Commission to hear
and determine claims to lands in
Alaska. Witnesses included Dil
ion S. Myer, Commissioner of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, C. M.
Granger, Assistant Chief of the
Forest Service, and James E. Cur
ry, Washington attorney. Mr.
Curry appeared in opposition to
the measure.
Cosi-of-Living Surveys
A cost-of-living survey on a
continuous basis was urged this
week by Delegate Bartlett in re
presentations made to Commis
sioner Clague of the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
“The survey conducted early
this year at Anchorage and Fair
banks.” the Delegate stated, “has
proved of inestimable value, not
only in the fight to retain the pre
sent cost-of-living allowance
paid to federal employees in Alas
ka but also as a basis for nego
tiations between labor and man
agement for wage-setting poli
cies.”
Slalehod Bills
“It is our expectation that they
will be taken up shortly after we
reconvene, whether it be in the
fall or in January,” declared
Senator McFarland of Arizona in
speaking of the Alaska and Ha
waii statehood bills this week on
the floor of the Senate.
The statement was made by the
Senate Majority Leader in res
ponse to a query from Senator
Magnuson of Washington. Sena
tor McFarland has set October
1 as the goal for adjournment.
HEALTH CENTER NEEDS
CRUTCHES FOR 8-YEAR OLD
Does anybody have a pair of
crutches that would fit an eight
year old boy?
The Health Center has urgent
need for such a pair, and would
be grateful to get them on a loan
basis. Anyone having crutches of
■^any size may have a place to store
them when not needed at the
Health Center loan closet, Miss
Marjorie Myren added.
“We’ll be glad to receive them
as donations or on a loan basis so
that they can be put to use in the
Valley whenever the need arises.”
NOME LAND OFFICE CLOSED
The land office at Nome has
been closed by direction of Act
ing Secretary of the Interior R. D.
j Searles, and the business of the
! office has been transferred and
I consolidated with the land office
at Fairbanks.
The consolidation, effective Au
gust 31, reduced to two the num
ber of district land offices of the
Bureau of Land Management in
the Territory in place of the for
mer three land offices. The land
districts boundaries of the An
chorage land district will con
1 form to the boundaries of the
First and Third Judicial Divi
sions, and the boundary of the
NEW AGRICULTURAL f
INSPECTOR ENTHUSIASTIC
ABOUT VALLEY VEGETABLES c
t
George Crowther. the Terri- s
lory’s new agricultural inspector, c
was enthusiastic about vegetables 1
he saw displayed at the Fair last t
week.
Formerly from Santa Maria, a
California, the inspector was a
amazed that vegetables were r
grown here without irrigation, h
And contrary to expectation, he
found that the Valley’s produce 1
compared very favorably with r
any growm in the States. He was p
surprised that vegetables here r
could growr so big and still be s
the Second and Fourth Judicial
Divisions. r
The action was taken because v
af lack of business in the Second .
Division, according to Interior
Department officials.
[ood-without becoming woody, i
Matanuska Valley lettuce he
lescribed as “tops" and he
hought the cabbage surpassed
ny grown in the States. Valley
elerv he rated good, but he
hought it needed more water to
e better.
Although Crowther conducted
potatoe grading demonstration
t the Fair, he declined to com
ment on Valley potatoes until
e had seen more of them.
Crowther has been in the Val
?y for three weeks, making Pal- j
ler his headquarters during the !
roduce season. This week he;
nade a trip to Fairbanks to in
pect produce in that area.
Defense spending will reach the
ate of over a billion dollars a
;eek by next summer.
Coffey Insures Everything—
Remember?
Insurance
of All Kinds
Real Estate
Now a New
Magazine Subscription
Agency
Pioneer Insurance
and Realty
Wright Building Palma*
Another Shipment
of Virginia House Dinettes
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LAY AWAY
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DINETTE
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Ladies* Home Journal
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