The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 18, 1937, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. LL, NO. 7668. “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” EAU, ALASKA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1937, JUN 'PAGES 1 TO 8 * * * - - * * * * * * 'Detailed Report Made * * * * * » * * * * laska Airport Key | Defense Unit in Pucific; Fhedii i 1 ADMINISTRATION Netw A RECEIVES BLOW INHOUSE REVOLT * Wages and Hours Measure Practically Killed at Special Session Military Base Is Seen as Strategic Barrier to Northern Invasion View of Sitka FIRST MAJOR DEFEAT OF ROOSEVELT’S PLANS Ever Normal Granary Bill,| However, Is Given Ap- proval in Senate | i WASHINGTQN, Dec. 18—A cli-| mactic rebellion in House of Rep- resentatives has shelved the Wages and Hours Bill and checkmated Ad- ministration leaders in their ef-) forts to push through any measur- portion of President Roose- velt's program before adjournment of the special session next week. | In a tense overtime session, the| House sent the battered measure | back to the Labor Committee de-| spite the appeal of Majority Leader Rayburn. | Such a step,” said Rayburn,) “means the death of wages and| hours legislation.” “ The bill killing vote dealt { CANADA Map showllg new base OREGON LEADER * * * * By Premier Konoye FLAYS LABOR'S FIGHT IN STATE Pleads with Law Officers to Preserve Peace and Order PORTLAND, Ore,, Dec. 18.—Rais= | ing his voice in stenorian tones of grief at the labor situation in the State of Oregon, Gov. Charles H.| Martin predicted chaos under the present order of things. “Preserve law and order,” he said, calling on all public officials, “if| it is the last thing you do in the| face of the greatest economic up-“ heaval the people of the country| have ever known.” | The Governor told Oregon sher- " U. S. Gunboat Pana y WBronilil;od,r Sunk iffs and District Attorneys that the preservation of democracy largely depended on the constituted author- ities who perform democracy’s func- tions. Here is a picture e¢f the American war vessel which Yangtze River last Sunday. The gunboat Panay, at the time, was cials and refugees from Nanking. was outraged by Japanese air bombers on the carrying American Embassy offi- THIRTY-SIX CONVICTED; MASS TRIAL "OIL QUEEN" “We find ourselves in the hands of a super-government of goons| and gangsters, against whom 'he! people have few resowces with | which to meet the need,” said the Governor. “Gov. Martin said he did not want to move in the militia and he did not want to have to wink at the| formation of vigilantes in the AFL; and CIO jurisdictional fight, i ‘ : that | COUNCIL TO ASK FOR NEW REPORT FROM LIGHT CO, PANAY BOMBING NOW BEFORE EMPEROR » * Kl 4 UNUSUAL STEP IS TAKEN NOW BY NIPPONESE Bombing of Gunboat, with Death Toll, Takes on New Angle BIG CONTROVERSY BETWEEN BRANCHES Military, Civil Departments Disagree, Amends to Make TOKYO, Dec. 18.—Emper or Hirohito has received from Premier Konoye a detailed re- port on the bombing and sink- ing of the United States gun- boat Panay on the Yangtze River last Sunday with loss of life. News of the action, which is an unusual step in the Jap- anese system, lends weight to the reports that the Emperor himself might make some ex- preasion. the | laccompanied by disorder, has closed Administration its first major ieg- | | Portland sawmills for four months. R-ign of Terrorism in Illi- It is also reported that there islative defeat since the Senate kill- ed the Roosevelt Court bill The pain of the ministration was by a Senate approval of another th special session item on the Roose- 0CCUPIES. program—"The Ever Normal” Farm Bill. velt Granary | | | | Establishment of a strong U. S. wound to the Ad- ir squadron at Sitka, Alaska, has somewhat oftset focused international attention on e strategic position which Alaska Strong Japanese protest against U. S. naval activity along thej jof more than 100 times that figure. Minerals, however, are only a small part of the picture. Topping the export list is canned salmon which $45,386,512 worth was shipped to the United States dur- ing the single fiscal year of 1937. Total commerce between the Unit-| S i T |northwést peninsula, coupled with {friction between American fisher- men and the Jap Pacific fleet, give added significance to the entire STI LL S E E K I N GlAlasknn question. | Disregarding Japan's GRIMINALS wHu to the Alaska airfleet, the U. S. navy has placed six patrol homb-: Tou BRUKE ALcATRAZ‘e)’s and 70 men at Sitka, with in-| Travel interest, as well as com- structions to survey the fog-bound merce, increased during the fiscal No Trace Found of Long ‘(’d States and Alaska, including all imports and exports for fiscal 1937, amounted to $114,923,160. Included |in this figure were fish, copper ore, {fur skins, gold, silver and miscel- |laneous products, | “Discover” Alaska objections Furthermore, to aid in a possi- ship ble future northwest defense, a gov- indicate that approximately 72,000 1emment weather station has been passengers were carried on the 12 built on lonely Unalaska island, one freighters and 25 passenger ships of the Aleutian archipelago—a chain plying the coastal routes. | % CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL TO BE HELD TOMORROW Juneau Woman's Club Is Sponsoring Event at 4 0'Clock, Afternoon The annual Community Christmas |tree festival, sponsored by the Ju- |neau Women’s Club, is slated for tomorrow afternoon, at 4 o'clock, |according to announcement made nois Brought to Close by Federal Jury | SPRINGFIELD, Ill, Dec. 18. At a mass trial, 36 defendants, most- ly affiliated with the Progressive Miners of America union, have been convicted by a Federal jury on con- ympirncy to bomb several Illinois coal \field trains. All were found guilty on three counts after the largest mass trial in the history of the Springtield | Federal District Court. | The evidence was compiled by | Federal agents after state and local authorities failed to cope with the situation. & In 1932, '33 and '34, a reign of terrorism through Central and Sou- then Illinois coal fields shocked the country. | o | | Records of the several steam- Termers Escaped from ich stretches Federal resettlement activity in today by Mrs. H. S. Graves, chair s P AR Councilmen, Reject Gross Request to Count His Straw Vote Ballots | S i. After listening to lengthy argu- | ment by W. D. Gross, the City Coun- | cil at its meeting last night voted| :lo ask the Alaska Electric Light and |Power Company to submit to the | Council by the first of January a re- port such as it made to the Inter- nal Revenue Department in comput- ing tax returns, The Council rejected the request of Mr. Gross to count ballots he said he had taken in a straw vote to determine how many people in the community favored public own- ership. Councilman Henry Messer- schmidt said the Council had nothing to do with the straw vote and he didn’t feel that it was up| to the Council to do anything about | it. Mayor Thomas Judson and the is- some controversy between the military and ecivil branch- es over what response to make to the demands of the United States government. The military holds that an apology, proffer of indemnity and a guarantee that nothing like the bombing and sinking will happen again is enough. The civil branch seems to think that something more should be done. SECOND NOTE RECEIVED TOKYO, Dec. 18.—The Jap- anese Foreign Office has dis- Iclosed that United States Am- bassador Joseph C. Grew has |w like a whip-lash| man of the Deparfment of Com- charged delivered a second note from |northwest coast. year. companies servicing Alaska Island Prison cross the Bering Sea, westward to-'Matanuska Valley, while beset with wards the Soviet coast and Japan. |[many perplexing difficulties, has, WASHINGTON, Dec. 13_‘1:’@591—“1} Important Defense Key |proved that the soil and climate of| Prison Director James V. Bennett| While Tokio seethes with mili-|the Territory are well suited to prof- today said: “We will continue [c"lm’l.sm‘ U. S. officialdom looks with|itable farming. | hunt for Cole and Roe, the escaped‘c()mfl)!'l upon Alaska, grateful that| In his annual report to the U. S. Alcatraz prisoners until we are con-'an erlier generation of statesmen government, Gov. John W. Troy vinced they are dead. We have no|foresaw the day when a “buffer” called attention to the remarkable intention of abandoning the search. "‘along the northwest coast might be| expansion _ot commerc{al quatlon: Meanwhile in San Francisco, the | émployed to stem the fide of Asiut—‘ir_n the Territory. The first air ser- search for the fugitives, who escap-|i¢ ambition. . “iwioe began operaling 18 years. g0 ed from the famed “escape prool"‘ This year, in which the seventieth|and recent records show that al- prison day betore yesterday, was anniversary of Alaska's purchase most 90,000 passengers have been is being celebrated, has {flown. At present there are 40 avia- conti; i eavy shore patrols produced | ;sntth:uf: i::k;,l:he yBay C"yp lan abudance of records to prove|tors and 101 Alaskan planes under . a Federal registration. that even when considered from a ,ml:,:;l,‘t’h flR:;' ze‘ih[::;f;n' ‘é‘;;:“"‘;‘;‘ !purely economic standpoint, the Al-| Considered in the light of its ec-| Sproud, Oklahoma kidnaper, broke askan territory has been one of zhe‘onomx‘c ‘conmbunovnsA its defensive| two panes of glass, jimmied a gate nation’s outstanding assets. possibilities, and its rich agricol-| 2 Purchased from Russia in 1867 for|tural future, Alaska must be ad- judged one of the most profitable| and plunged over a cliff into the purchases ever made by any nation, | heaviest fog of the year to disappear|the sum of §7,200,000, Alaska has PAPER PRICES KODIAK WILLBE | IN ABDUCTION OF AGED MAN TO BE PROBED| ADVANGE BASE WASHINGTON, Dec. 16—Sena- | FUR SEAPLANES S Victim Dies of Exposure After Escape — Death tor James P. Pope of Idaho, has “earliest considera- | Penalty Mandatory | appealed to Attorney General Cum- mings to give tion” to reports of “monopolistic| practices” of skyrocketing prices of | newsprint. He said newspaper | publishers and magazine publishers are alarmed. - Admiral Leahy Ann.oungesg Plans for Next Spring in Message to Governor Kodiak will be made an advance| HUNTINGTON, West Virginia, base for seaplanes in 1938 and a Dec. 18—John Travis and Orville| O squadron of planes will leave Brem-‘A‘dk‘"sv have been convicted of me1 Vlewmg Santa, |erton next April 15, arriving at the | kidnaping of Dr. James I. Seder,| Cllristmas Day |Kodiak base April 20, according to|79, dry leader. The doctor died a.si B information in a message today to the result of exposure several days Boy Is Kllled Gov. John W. Troy from Admiral |after he escaped from a house onj Wwilliam D. Leahy, Acting Secretary an isolated farm where he had been | DETROIT, Mich., Dec. 18.—David of Navy. |held for ransom. As the result of Mayott, who would have been eight| Admiral Leahy said the Navy the conviction for the fatal abduc-| years old on Christmas Day, pressed would want the use of the old navy |tion of the doctor, the death pen- his nose against the window of & radio station buildings at Kodiak alty is mandatory. department store and Wwas gazing|which have been in use by the Ter- —— at a brilliant candy Santa Claus. |ritory for school purposes. . A chunk of ice from the stome| It was previously announced that| One Of the few western coun- coping of the building fell and killed|a tract of land had been withdrawn |ties where men live longer than |sideration we shall have a light fall |those too Tar away to attend or un- |Choral group which is in Juneau at mas treat for children in the tu- with plotting to dynamite trains, | | obstruct the mills and interfere with | commerce. munity Welfare of the Club, under whose auspices the event has been planned. The big Christmas tree brought | in from the country and set up earlier this week by a crew of city| employees, has been wined and | lighted by the Alaska Electric Light and Power Company, and will be lighted nightly all during the ho]i-‘ day season. The community sing .omorrow officially opens the| Christmas season in Juneau, as it has done for more than ten years| past, and it is expected that a big crowd will gather round the tree| tomorrow afternoon to participate in this community event. GILLAM AT PT, BARROW Repairs Damaged Plane Following Crash at Cape Halkett—To Fairbanks Ean | ska, Dec. | “We have made certain of every-| FPOINT BARROW, Alaska, [ thing except the weather,” Ml!-;.‘ls.-—i-lnrold Gillam arrived here late | Graves declared today. “If the Thursday aboard his plane after weather man shows his usual con- Daving patched a broken wind with canvas and replacing a- broken strut with pipe from an old shipwreck| obtained at Cape Halkett, where he| wind last year, and we don’t trust Was forced down on his flight from / | him too far,” she added. |Fairbanks in this norther point. | Plea of Self-Defense Fails Printed copies of the old familiar | Snow prevented lighting flares so! i3 g0 With ]ury By do, chosen “Oil Queen” by a nati aily known oil company whi has a refinery in that locality. Miss Ainsworth was chosen from a “heavy field” of contestants. She is shown on the El Segundo beach with the prize, a silver leving cup. TWO VERDICTS OF GUILTY IN of snow especially for the event— but remember he gave us a Taku Christmas car wil ributed |men formed a line to mdlcuu:‘ v by the commiglb:e h:l gmeart:ttcm(xr-\“mmlh ice for Gillam's landing. Murder Trial row, and Miss Alice Palmer will i — —_— lead the community singing, with| MOUNT VERNON, Wash., Dec. 18. Carol Beery Davis at the piano. Fra“cn-sal’ma“ —Clifford Hawkins, 25, heard a Su- The program will be broadcast over perior Court jury return two ver- Station KINY, for the benefit of - \dicts of guilty against him for first ‘ P d‘degree murder, The verdicts were able to leave home for the event. ac s I received calmly by Hawkins and a The Juneau City Band will be on‘ |slight smile spread over his face. hand with its usual conuribution of T Hawkins was convicted of shoot- Christmas music, and other musical] PARIS, Dec. 18—A F"‘"CO'G“‘;ing Ernest and Floyd Grimm, bro- organizations which will take part{man agreement, regulating relations|ness of 13-year-old Edith Grimm, include The mative choir of the First|between the frontier populations of|ypom the state charged Hawkins Presbyterian Church, the St. Ann’s the two countries, has been signedipaq jntimacies with and he shot the Boys' Chorus and the choir from by Premier Camille Chautemps, of |y, when they objected to further the Northern Light Presbyterian France, and German Ambassadorigitentions to the girl. Hawkins Church, It is possible also, mpiCount Johannes von Welczevk. pleaded self-defense. committee says, that a special num- e 5 e e ol AT ber may be given by the Metlakatla, Women’s Club. The club’s Christ-| Mrs. John Tyler was the first wi- the present time. Mayor Judson percular ward at the Government dow of a president to receive an will officially open the afternoon hospital, and its annual distribution annuity from the government. She program, |of Christmas cheer baskets to the got $5000 yearly which has be- The Community Christmas Tree|aged and lonely of Juneau, consti-|come the traditional pension grant Festival is part of the three-fold|tute a program of Christmas ac-|{by Congress. The only gratuity Christmas program of activities an-|tivities which it has carried out for|Martha Washington received was the lad instantly. at Kodiak for use of the Navy. l‘”""’f" in Sweden. nually carried out by the Juneau many years in Juneau. the free mailing privilege. rest of the Councilmen concurred. Mr. Gross contended the ballots would show a sentiment of the com- munity, thus tending to guide the Council in its action. Councilman Messerschmidt de- clared he thought the straw vote “senseless,” because it didn’t express the opinion of the taxpayer on any concrete question. “Every person in town might be for owning all our utilities, but that doesn’'t mean that the taxpayers want to bond themselves to get them,” Messerschmidt said. “I want a lot of things, s6 does everybody, but first we try and find out how we are going to pay for them. The Council is working on this power matter. We are trying to get some intelligent information and I; for one, am not going to do anything until we get such information,” Councilman G. E. Krause of the committee appointed by the Coun- cil at the last regular meeting reported the committee had been in| contact with the light company and had gathered some information. It has also written Outside for further data which it hopes will be of value, and when it is all obtained the com- mittee will be ready to make its re- port. “I want to make one statement,” said Councilman Krause. “You can’t iblame the light company for levy- ing meter deposits when people do not pay their bills. They have to be protected and it is just good busi- ness.” The Councilman said a great many things had been revealed to the committee in its investigation |at the light company. Again attacking the company's recently filed report, Mr. Gross said that what he wanted the Council to do was get the company’s books and find out whether the report was as it should be, the United States in connec- tion with the bombing and sinking of the Panay. It is reliably reported the note concerns the report the ship was machine gunned by Japanese surface launches be- fore she sank under the pounding of Japanese aerial bombs. * BRITISH MAKE MOVE LONDON, Dec. 18.—Great Britain looks to defense of her Far Eastern possessions as re- ports indicated Japan’s unde- clared war against China will be extended south. A high diplomatic source forecast immediate increase in the naval strength in Chin- ese waters. U. S. FORCE LARGE WASHINGTON, Dec. 18.— Admiral William D. Leahy the United States has all the naval ships in the Far East for which “there is ap- parent need at this time.” Admiral Leahy, Chief of Naval Operations, made the statement after conferring with President Roosevelt on the Far East situation. “All you have to do is get a court order,” he said, “and the books can be up here for you in five minutes and you can find out what it's all about. You can't accept this report. &Cuntinu;d on Puuiei