The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 22, 1939, Page 1

THE DAILY “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” ALASKA EMPIRE JUNEAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1939. MEMBER ASSOéIAT}ll) PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS VOL. LV., NO. 8291 ‘SEARCH FOR MISSING ALASKA PLANE --60V. SCORE NAVAL BASE ~ CONTRACTORS Rank Discrimination Found by Gruening Against Alaskans af Sitka Contractors on the Sitka and Kodiak naval airbase construc- tion projects were criticised se- verely today by Gov. Ernest Gruening for what he termed vy of the Navy Department” to give Alaskans preference, or at least an even break, in em- ployment on the projects. Returning on the North Coast after a personal visit to the work at Sitka, the Governor today listed various outright discrim- inations against Alaskans on the work. GOING TO WASHINGTON The Governor said he would make a vigorous and continued protest to the Navy Department against the congractors’ atti- tude. He disclosed today he is planning a trip to Washington® next ‘month and said he would take the matter up personally there with the Acting Secretary of the Navy. Contractors on the Sitka and Kodiak projects are the Seims- Spokane Company, Johnson, Drake and Piper, Inc., and the Puget Sound Bridge and Dredg- ing Company. The Governor's statement to- day was as follows: Governor's Statement “Ever since complaints from the Tefritory concerning diserimina- tion against Alaskans on the new projects at Sitka and Kodiak spon- sored by the Navy Department be- gan to reach me—and they be- gan in Washington this fall while I was Director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions —I have been endeavoring to as- certain the facts on the basis of which I could more effectively bring the matter to the attention of the proper authorities. “Delegate Dimond and I called on the Acting Secretary of the Navy and found him most appreciative of our position. The Acting Secre- tary was unaware that any dis- crimination had taken place or was intended, and eager to see there should be none. “Since coming to the Territory I have made repeated efforts to get the facts. These efforts were answered only by generalities and elusive tions not to discriminate against Alaskan workers, statements direct- ly contradicted by such facts as came to me from other sources. I decided to go to Sitka and see for myself. “Grossest Kind of Discrimination” “I found, despite the statements | of good intentions, the grossest kind of discrimination against Al- askans has been and is being prac- ticed on the project. “I consider this an outrage. I consider it a nullification of the Administration’s purpose to in- crease the population of Alaska by making it possible for those who 'Roosevelt Dodges Third Term Talk e WASHINGTON, Dec. 22. — President Roosevelt made it plain, with a broad smile, that | he preferred, for the time being, | discussion of domestic and for- eign affairs, leaving third terms, third parties and 1940 presidential candidates up to other leaders. The President said he was too busy with foreign and do- affairs to talk about P al events that are a long way off. are, therefore, that not just the first man in each craft will come from the States, but that only if and when no more men from Se- attle and other points in the Unit- ed States want jobs in the Terri- tory, then Alaskans are given con- sideration for employment. Transportation “Secondly, this discrimination is further emphasized by the fact that the contract provides that all workmen from Seattle get trans- portation paid up and back. Men hired in Alaska have to pay their own way to either Sitka or Kodiak, although the cost of this transpor- tation from the nearest Alaska city to the project is inevitably less than the fare from Seattle. “The third discrimination ev dent to me is the contract pro- vision that if one of those hired in Seattle and brought up is taken sick while on the job he is entitled to transportation back, Alaskans enjoy no such privilege. “Thus it works out in effect and practice—though I was unable to get the facts I desired despite repeated requests at Sitka—that the policy with Department declared itself sym- pathetic, allegedly the policy un- der which the work is being co: ducted, and allegedly which the Navy| RUSSIAN ~ WARSHIP 1S DOWN Cruiser Kirfis Reported Sunk by Finnish Coast Batteries COPENHAGEN, Dec — The | newspaper Poltiken reports today that the Russian cruiser Kirov has been sunk the Baltic while en- route from Tallinn, Estonia, to Len- ingrad No details are given but the Poli- tiken - declares the report au- | thentic. | Previous reports were given out |that the Kirov, 8500 tons, had been amaged, but this was denied at Moscow where officials asserted that the cruiser’'s seven-inch guns had | easily outranged the Finnish coastal | batteries. 22, s - PWA SEWER PROJECT TO STARTHERE Approvammes from Washington for $10,159 | City Consfruction Job | Work will commence next Tuesday morning on a City of Juneau proj to construct a sewer system on West the policy | 13¢h and H Streets, and to take the | Undle Sam To Build Hospifals President Divulges PIans§ fo Benefit Small Communities WASHINGTON, Dec. 22.—Presi- dent Roosevelt said today he is con- | | sidering a plan whereby the Fede | Government will build small hos | pitals in localities in states where | the communities are too poor to pro- vide health facilities themselves. The President explained that the Jovernment will pay the entire cost of the hospitals on condition that a committee of experts can be found in the communities, to maintain them, both from a health and fi- nancial standpoint. The Federal Government will re- tain title, the President said, and he further stated that he has been informed the hospitals can be built for approxi ely $150,000 each. They will be of wood construction, one story, and will last from 50 to 75 years if kept painted D e CLAIM COLUMBUS UNDER CONVOY OF AMERICAN VESSELS ‘Several Versions Are Giv- | en Regarding Scuttling I of German Liner NEW YORK, Dec. | | 22 — Seamen referred to in the labor contract| sewerage out around the small boat |from the United States heavy crius- where I find the words ‘provided that bonafide residents of Alaska, | harbor | Word was received today from | er Tuscaloosa which brought to port |the survivors of ‘he scuttled Ger- who are qualified for the work, will | Washington that the Public Works man liner Columbus said that the be given preference of employment,’ is being completely disregarded. False Assumption “The assumption underlying this violation of the declared policy of the Navy Department seems to be that qualified Alaskan labor is not available. This is unqualifiedly | Adminstration had approved the lprowct. along with an extension of | time and a transfer of funds to make | it possible. The work is to cost $10,159.80, of which 45 per cent is a Federal grant. !Thp R. J. Sommers Company has | been awarded the contract. false but no effort has been made| From 12 to 15 men will be em-| by the contractors to ascertain its ployed at the start of the work. | Tuscaloosa quit escorting the Colum- bus and moved away when a British destroyer appeared | This was one of three versions | of the Columbus ncident circulating on the waterfront as immigration | officials opened a hearing to deter- | mine whether all the survivors are distressed seamen, and entitled to 60 days of freedom here or whether statements of good inten-| truth or falsity. “I intend to make a vigorous, continued protest and agitation against this discrimination and in- tend to communicate what I have learned to the Acting Secretary of the. Navy in person when I return to Washington the latter part of | January. “I consider this problem second to none in Alaska. It is not news that there has been for many years | discrimination of this sort in the| Territory., But when it takes place on a Government contract I can see no excuse for it whatever. Contractors at Fault | “In this regard I make no criti- cism of the Navy Department. It | has stated its position. But I am very critical of the -contractors and place the blame directly on their shoulders.” The Governor added that while| |in Sitka he visited the Pioneers | Home and was happy to see that SHIPS IS ON FIRE IN [Freight and Passenger | Steamship Ablaze- Sabotage NEW YORK, Dec, of the Shepard Steamship Com- [pany announce that the freight | and passenger steamship Wind Rush and circumstances indicated “sa- botage.” Otis Shepard, Vice-President, said the ship's master, Capt. Harry Jones, reported a mysterious fire raging in Number 3 hold but he believes he has it under control. CARIBBEAN WATERS| 22 —Officials | is ablaze on the Caribbean Sea| ian_\* of them are military agents and shall be interned. Another verson was that the Col- umbus’ master, Capt. Wilhelm Saehne said American warships had convoyed or at least followed his | ship almost all of the war from Vera | Cruz, Mexico, and that the last of | them, the Tuscaloosa had just turn- ed a and was two miles off when the British destroyer came up to the Columbus, The third version was given by Capt. Harry Badt of the Tuscaloosa. |He said he was neither convoying nor trailng the Columbus. He said it was purely accidental that “we | came upon her just about the time | the Coiumbus crew started to scuttle and burn her. | The Tuscaloosa seamen, talking off | ‘the record on shore leave, said two United States destroyers had con- voyed the Columbus from Vera Cruz| from where she sailed Thursday of last week and that the Tuscaloosa, which left Norfolk Saturday had ta- The Wind Rush is scheduled to| have settled here to have the op-|gyperintendent Eiler Hansen was portunity for making the liveli- {yp and about again following a hood to which they are justly en-|recent illness. titled. | Gov. Gruening discussed with the “I found that the contract wMayor and Sitka Council a num- signed between the labor unions per of problems which have result- and contractors and approved by ed from the current boom due to the Navy Department (which to- the Navy construction work. day has the right to cancel or alter as much of the contract as ‘ The Governor was accompanied {on his trip by Director Joseph T. (reach Cristobal tonight. " ON GUARD FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 22—A submarine and four war- ships, at least two of which are it sees fit), to contain the follow-|makne of the Alaska Terr“m'ial‘beheved to be British, are report- ing discriminations: First in Each Craft “First, in addition to the fore- men and supervisors who are brought up from the States, the first man in every craft hired is specifically to be hired from the United States, There is no reason whatever for such discrimination. In fact, if there is to be discrim- ination, it would be logical the con- tract would provide that the first man in every craft should come from Alaska. “The implications of this dis-| crimination go beyond the hiring of the single individual. The fact that the first man, in effect, comes from Seattle and that he is pre- sumably an active union leader, means inevitably that he will in- duce his friends and those he knows in the union to come up after him for other jobs as they Employment Service and Director | Walter P. Sharpe of the Unem- ployment. -Compensation Commis- sion. FLOODS SWEEP " LUZON SECTION Thousands Are Reporfed to Be Homeless in P. I. Province MANILA, Dec. 22.—Eleven persons are known to be dead and an unde- termined numbers are missing as | floods have left thousands homeless in the northeastern Luzon Province. p Property damage is already esti- become available. The ‘mp“c““"“‘slmated over one million dollars. |ed off the coast today from Port | Everglades where the German oil | tanker took refuge after eluding |a British warship last Tuesday. COMPENSATION CLAIMS SHOULD BE FILED TUESDAY Because the Alaska Territorial Employment Service office will be closed tomorrow and Monday, those usually calling on those da filing unemployment compensation benefits are requested to file on Tuesday. —_———————— MARRIAGE LICENSE A marriage license was issued today by U. S. Commissioner Felix | Gray to Arthur Alun Griffiths and ‘Margaret Ingeborg Iindegaard. | ken over the convoy on Monday. | They said that Thursday evening | when the Columbus and the Tusca- | loosa were about 420 miles off the | Delaware Capes, and still within v.hq United States neutralty zone, the| British destroyer identified by the seamen as the Hyperion, radioed the | Tuscaloosa, asking what ship .sh('| was convoying. Capt. Brandt re- plied to the British to find out for themselves. The seamen said that when the destroyer afioved in at full 30-knot speed=td do so, the Tuscaloosa turn- ed away. In a few minutes the Col- | umbus seagmen were going over the | side in boats and smoke was arising. GAME COMMISSION CHRISTMAS PARTY 1 SET FOR TONIGHT Employees of the Alaska Game | Commission and Bureau of Bio- logical Survey will gather tonight| at the Glacier Highway home of Christmas party. About 24 will at- tend thé party, which tive Officer of the Game ecutive Officer, . Secretary of the Treasury, effective | three members of the crew. |flier was dragged alive from the Homer W. Jewell for their annual Ministry announces that German is given | of jointly by Frank Dufresne, Execu-|but Com- | fighting craft. One German plane mission, and Jewell, Assistant Ex-|is believed to have been brought FINNS PUSH As Homes A POINT BARROW, Alaska, Dec ~Santa Claus will sure enough have to use chimneys on Christmas to get past the quarantine signs on | Point Barrow homes, Every home in this farthest north American village is quarantined for | measles. HELSINKI, Dec A Finnish|_ eounter-offensive in the far nortn aghinst retreating Russian forces was reported to have reached | | thé region of the Arctic nicke! ALLFRONTS Russians Refreat North from Nickel Mines Area -Planes on Raid the to themslves had dynamited when Russian iy dent Roosevelt is described by usu- they withdrew earlier in the cam- paign before the Russian drive southward was turned. The repulsing attack on the Rus- sian forces inflicted heavy loss The 'ally well informed officals as recon- | than ciled to a three billion dollar deficit Ao v in the next Federal budget but will casualties intimate his desire to limit it to two I chia watd billion when he sends his annual| also at a half dozen points along the southeastern and eastern message to Congress the first week | 43 wounded 8 grem o in January. Wl | mihes tcaight and heavy fighting! is in progress ) A Finnish army communique said | @ heavy explosion was heard in| the nickel mines which the Finns| Intimated What President Will Ask for in Mes- | fronts. Tatensive. action was noted on| $20€ f0 Congress the vital Karelian Isthmus where - > the Finns a reported have ] B ias e more WASHINGTON, Dec. 22.—Presi- rmy announced that more 50 Russian planes raided Fin- terday, but total Finnish were given as a res These sources predict the Pr(‘.‘il-‘ | dent will ask for about nine billion | |two hundred and fifty million dol- | lars for the year beginning July 1,| at only 16 dead and it Tax Experf Hanes Quifs Cfficial Job Resignation from Treasury Department Accepted by President | | At the same time it is expected he will forecast revenues of about | six billion three hundred million | dollars, not counting the revenue| from any new taxes Congress might | levy. D MANY PLUNGED - INTO RIVER AS BRIDGE DOWNED | | Sania Claus Must Go Down REDSBACK: = Chimneys af Point Barrow DOG TEAMS, 'PLANESIN re Quaranfined BI1G HUNT | programs | Parties on Land and in Air Are Out Looking for Chambers’ Party All church and school are cancelled. School and church services are suspended, but Santa Claus w:m{ not quarantined and the kiddies are | sure the Odd Fellow will find his| way to leave gifts in their stockings | or somewhere else in their homes. | ) . FLIER REPORTED DOWN Giant Ships | somewnee onnuaro For Navy IS ,.00q passongers Are Prospefl N0w3 Mrs. Jefford of Nome with Her Infant Congressional Subcommit- | i tee Wanfs Craff of | 65,000 Tons WASHINGTON, Dec — The| Congressional sub-committee, in- vestigating the advisability of giv- ing the Navy 65,000-ton battleships, | vastly larger and more powerful than any now afloat, is known to have practically agreed on this and has asked that estimates be prepared by the Navy as to the cost of such ships. The ships would almost be double in size of those of the present fleet. It is revealed that tive Melvin J. Mass, of Minnesota, minority member of | the House Naval Committee, recom- | mended that battleships up to 80,- 000 tons be constructed, asserting that “they would be cheaper in the long run and they would make ! this country absolutely invulner- able.” TED THOMPSON - DROWNS, REPORT BULLETIN — ANCHORAGE, Alaski, Mee. 22.—Radio re- ports said Pilot Jack Jefford has found the missing Cham- bers plane and dropped food and oth emergency supplies to his sister-in-law, Mrs. William Jefford, and others who are down. Pilot Jefford made the flight in moonlight during last night. Among the essentials he car- ried and dropped were diapers for Mrs. Jefford’s baby. 29 EXTENSIVE HUNT | NOME, Alaska, Dec. 22.—Search= ers late yesterday were still cover- Roprescnba-:i"“ western Alaska by dog team chub“cm‘nnd by airplane in a hunt for a forced-down airplane piloted by Fred Chambers of the Mirow Fly= ing Service, carrying three pas- sengers, including a woman and her baby, Food suppiles of the party are reported running perilously low, Mirow Missing Veteran pilot Hans Mirow, owner of the missing craft, is also miss- lhlg. He has been unreported since | Wednesday noon on his flight |search for the first quartet. | Fears for Mirow's safety are | slight because of his long experi- lence in all kinds of flying weather. WASHINGTON, Dec. 22.—Presi dent Roosevelt has accepted the re :Sleel Barge Knocks Qut Sister Receives Word in He also has ample stores of food. Where Chambers Landed ignation of John Hanes, Under- 1 Central Pier Over December 81. | . Hanes told the President in his Paris Stream letter of resignation that he has AL decided that the time has come PARIS, Dec 22. — Two persons when he must carry out his 10ng are known to have been killed and | expressed intention to return to pri- gt jeast three seriously injured when | vite business the St. Louis Bridge, behind the| The Treasury tax expert, who left cathedral Notre Dame, collapsed af- ! a New York brokerage business to ter a barge, heavily loaded, knocked | join the Securities and Exchange oyt the central arch of the bridge.! Commission and later to become The bridge connected two islands | Secretary of Treasury's right-hand jn the Seine river, the Isle of St.| man, said his services in the SEC Louis and Isle of Dalacite. | and Treasury Department had giv-| The police also said a gas main en him. the privilege of seeing more exploded after the barge struck the | clearly the many problems facing the pridge. Government. | The accident plunged the structure, The President said Hanes quit pedestrians and vehicles then on the last Spring but he was prevailed pridge into the river, upon to remain, The President said The police estimate that at least he was sorry to accept Haines' res- 20 persons were on the bridge at the ignation. |time of the accident. { Seven persons were taken from | | the stream. Five were resusciated, {and two died. Chambers reported by radio that he was forced to land on what he thought was the Nulato River after an oll line break Tuesday. | With him are Mrs. Willlam Jef- | ford, wife of a Nome airline mé« chanie, her baby, and James Walsh, Radio reports received in Ans | chorage sald Chambers has re- |ported he is keeping a fire going by using the plane's diminishing supply of gasoline, Seattle Brother Loses Life at Kasaan SEATTLE, Dec. 22—Mrs. Fred Harrison of San Francisco reports she has received a wire from Ka- she has received a wire from Ma- saan, Alaska, that her brother, Ted Thompson, 20, was drowned several days ago off the family fishing boat Horalda. The report comes from her Can’t Be Located father, Tom Thompson, of Ka-| Chambers said he was saan, formerly a resident of Seat-|about fifteen miles from tle, No other details were received. Mrs. Harrison is now here en- route north, 3 DIE, ELECTRIC CHAIR; APPEALS dovg Nulato, but a dog team failed to find any |trace of the group in a 45-mile trip in the vicinity. Radiomen who heard Chamber’s “going in,” listened to a drama of the air, Chambers reported a ‘“rough” motor and poor visibility, He “thought” and said he “hoped” he was flying over the Nulato River, describing meanwhile, the increas- ing “roughness” of his engine. BRITISH BOMBER CRASHES CHURCH; 3 FLIERS KILLED ARE NOT HEEDED Slayers Sought Respite Be- cause of Approach of Christmas } About 13 others are still unac-| ’counwd. | The steel barge Tunisie, which' caused the accident, was carried 500 yards down stream before the crew | regained control. The captain of the barge was ser- | iously Injured. “She’s Smokin’” “Oil pressure’s going down, heat's goin up,” Chambers reported calm- ly, then finally, ‘She's smokin’ now.” A short time later, radiomen heard Chambers say, “We got down okeh, and if this is the Nulato One RoyaI—A_i? Force Air-| man Dragged Alve ) o 3] Police LONDON, Dec. 22.—A Royal Air (Iose poker; Arrest Three Force bomber crashed on a church | at North Brumhill, Northumberland, Police last night closed up three poker games in downtown card- late yesterday afternoon and killed | rooms and arrested three or more One “dummies,” men who run the games, cardroom operators said| today. Police were not available today for an explanation of the triple raid, but card room operators laughingly called it “an annual| thing,” declaring “they do it| pretty near every Christmas.” The raids occurred quietly, short- | |ly after 9 o'clock in the evening. l J flaming wreckage. ., ATTEMPTED RAID, FIRTH OF FORTH LONDON, Dec. 22—The Air air raiders appeared over the Firth Forth, Scotland, this morning, were driven off by British down, | Prison’s electric chair last night, | silently OSSINING, N. Y., Dec, Three men died 22, in BSing Sing River, this is where we are.” Chambers siid a plane “might” land where they had landed, but for | suggestcd a dog team might do better. He with, paying the penalty murder after failing in their plea for mercy on the ground “it is so| terrible to die at Christmas time.” The first man entered the death chamber at 11:02 o'clock last night |, and 17 minutes-later the trio were pronounced dead. "MARGE' DIVORCES FAIRBANKS HUBBY ELIZABETH, N. J, Dec. 22. Mrs. Donna Dameral Griffin Kret- zinger, 28, known as “Marge” of the radio skit Myrt and Marge, was today granted an uncontested di- vorce from William Kretzinger, 34, of Fairbanks, Alaska. She charged desertion on June 27, shortly after a son, Rikky, was born, finished his first broadcast “It's geiting kind of cold. to sign off and build .. TRUITT RECOVERS Attorney General James 8, Truitt was back at his office to- day following recovery from a re= Qbopping Day Till Christmas 1