The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, December 15, 1949, Page 1

THE DAIT VOL. LXXIV., NO. 11,377 Motion for Mistrial in Brid LAND LAWS RED TAPE ATTACKED Homesteaders Leave North Because of Title Difficul- ty, Sub-commitfee Says By Charles D. Watkins WASHINGTON, Dec. 15— (P — Rep Tollefson (R-Wash) said today Alaska needs more defenses and more attractions for permanent set- tlers. The latter, he told a reporter, can be accomplished if the Inter- jor Department and Congress will liberalize the homestead laws te “cut out the red tape” that now prevents many settlers perfecting title to their homesteads. “The situation is so discourag- ing,” Tollefson said, “that some of the GI's who filed on homesteads have given up and gone home, leav- ing their improveents gn the land.” He said he had been shown dur- ing a recent trip to Alaska with a House Merchant Marine Subcom- mittee one homestead where the settler had built a house, a bamn and a garage. Then, because of dif- ficulty in perfecting a title, the set- tler had abandoned it all, including furniture in the house and a truck in the garage. Tollefson said the Interior De- partment has speeded issuance of titles recently but still does not meet the problem. “Getting titles to homesteads ought to be simplified,” Tollefson said, “and more land. opened tc homesteading and more access roads constructed.” Defenses Improved Based on visits to every city of any size in Alaska with the sub- committee, Tollefson said Territor- ial defense have been improved but still must be vastly increased. “Alaska is a vital point in our defenses and it must not be neg- lected,” he asserted. “The people of the Pacific North- west, which has been called ‘vul- nerable, by the armed services, in- sist that the Northwest, which in- cludes Alaska, must be amply de- fended to the point that it is no longer vulnerable.” Tollefson said the people of Al- aska rightly insist on better trans- portation, especially by water. He said many believe that smaller, faster ships should be used in the Alaskan service to permit quicker and more frequent trips. He said the subcommittee reached no decision on bills to abolish fish traps in the Territory over a five- year period. The Washington Merry - Go-Round Bv DREW PEARSON (Copyright, 1949, by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) ASHINGTON — A = significant development has taken place inside the Justice 'Department regarding the amazing John 'Maragon, close friend of General Vaughn and once a frequent caller at the White House. Higher-ups in justice have given orders to Morris Fay, efficient U. S. Attorney for the District of Col- umbia, to give them a full report on the perjury case against Maras gon and to make no move without consulting the Justice Department. This has not been done in other important cases. General Benny Meyers also faced a perjury charge, but no such order went to Fay from the Justice Department. He was convicted and jailed without any delay or consultation. John Margaon not only faces an almost identical perjury charge, but Sen. Clyde Hoey of North Caro- lina, Chairman of the Senate Ex- penditures Subcommittee, officially sent the case to the Justice De- partment with a request for prose- cution. Furthermore, Hoey went to extra precautions to have a quorum of his subcommittee’ present when Meragon was questioned so there would be no legal loophole for a wriggling out of a perjury prosecu- tion. * Finally, it has been three full months since the Senate sent its re- port to the Justice Department, and still no action. Ordinarily, it takes about one week to bring a (Continued on Page Four) 1%, BERGMAN WILL WED ROSSELLINI WHEN DiVORCED Nobody's A_fgn If She Is Going to Have Baby in February ' NEW YORK, Dec. 13—M—The New York Times in a Rome dis- patch today said film star Ingrid Bergman had told its correspondent ‘scme difficulties” had prevented aer getting a divorce from Dr [Peter Lindstrom. ; Times Correspondent Camille M. Cianfarra wrote that Miss Berg- nan told him she planned to marry Italian film director Roberto Ros- ellini.as soon as she is free, hav- ing decided “to give up my artist’s career because I now want to live my own life just as ‘amny other woman.” Cianfarra said he interviewed viiss Bergman and Rossellini in her apartment in Rome. The ouple’s romance began last spring when Rossellini directed the Swe- dish actress in the film “Strom- 2oli,” made on a bleak, volcanic is- and off Italy’s west coast. According to the Times dispatch Rossellini said Miss Bergman “ex- plained things quite clearly” to Jr! Lindstrom ‘when they met in Messina last May, at a time when the Bergman-Rossellini romance was making headlines around zhei vorld. “I want to make it clear,” the Times account of Rossellini’s re- marks continued, “that at that time the relationship between Ingrid and myself was absolutely correct. It is not our fault, is it, if we can- not get married tecause Ingrid has seen unable so far to obtain a divorce?” Concerning published reports that Miss Bergman is going to have a paby in February, the Times quoted Rossellini as saying: { “Whether she is or is not is nobody’s affair.” SCHOETTLER ONNEW JOB SEATTLE, Dec. 15—(®—A former military aide to Alaska’s Governor Gruening has been named Acting Assistant to Washington's Govex--| nor Langlie. He is Robert G. Schoettler, 46, of Seattle. Langlie picked him| yesterday to succeed H. P. Everest.: who is returning to his job as Di- rector of the University of Wash- | ington School of Journalism. | Langlie said Schoettler servedl with the Office of Naval Intel-| ligence .in Alaska and in China} during the recent war, as well as handling the assignment to the Al-| aska Governor’s office. Schoettler is well known in Ju- neau where he was for sometime | manager of the Baranof Hotel. ! (ITY COUNCIL WiLL MEET TOMORROW NIGHT Approval of lquor license appli- cations will be the big item of busi- ress before the Juneau City Coun- cil when it meets in regular session tomorrow night at 8 o'clock in the Council Chamter of the City Hall. The city ordinance calling for a special election to decide whether or not the property on which the Arctic’ Brotherhood Hall stands should be turned over to the Terri- tory as a site for a new Territorias Building will be read for the third time. Traffic ordinance revisions will also be discussed, according to C. L. Popejoy, City Clerk. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, Dec. 15—Closing quotation of Alagka Juneau mine stock today is 3%, American Can 102, Anaconda 28'2, Curtiss-Wright International Harvester 29%, Kennecott 51%, New York Central 10%, Northern Pacific 13, U. S. Steel 26'%, Pound $2.80%. Sales today were 2,070,000 shnres.' Averages today are as follows: | America’s industrials 198.05, rails 51.55, util- Ities 40,79, “ALL THE NEWS EXCISE TAX REPEAL UP, SAYS TRUMAN Wants fo Bfirce Budget, But Won't Say If Will Ask Tax Increase By ERNEST B. VACCARO KEY WEST, Fla., Dec. 15—@®— President Truman said today that Treasury and Congressional staft experts are making studies to de- termine whether war-time ecxcise taxes can be repealed. In a surprise vacation news con- lerénce, the President declined to say whether he will ask new taxes of Congress. $ However, he said it was always his aim to balance the budget. Reminded that he had told a news conference in Washington re= cently that he knew of no way to wipe out a deficit other than by 1 g taxes, he was asked if he still .elt that way. He said the whole matter was under consideration By a Treasury ommittee of experts and by staft experts for the House Ways and eans Committee. He said they were working harmoniously. SUDDEN PRESS CONFAB Walking into the press room on the Navy's bachelor officers quar- ters here, the President suddenly went into a press confererce on which he gave no advance warn- ing. Some of the reporters werc in their pajamas. A recent statement by Secretary of Commerce Sawyer suggesting 2limination of war-time excise taxes to aid business was called to his attention. Asked if he agreed with Sawyer's proposals, he said the question was under consideration 1oy the experts. The matter will be covered in the oudget message, he said. Budget Director Frank Pace said last week he saw no way to balance the 1951 fiscal year budget without new taxes. Did the President plan to ask new taxes? That will have to be covered in the budget message that goes to Congress in January, he replied. Would the budget be balanced?” It has always been his aim to have a balanced budget, Mr. Tru- man said. JESSUP IS OFF ON DIPLOMATIC TOUR FAR EAST SECTION (By the Associated Press) U.S. roving Ambassador Philip C Jessup is off today on a policy study tour of the Far East. His findings are expected to shape future relations with neighboring countries of Communist China, and with Comfunist China itself. Jessup probably wiil confer. witk Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Tokyo. In Bangkok he will meet top Ameri- can diplomats from Far Eastern posts. They will 'discuss moves that may be made to ‘contain the spread of Communist power. The U.S. global trouble shooter will embark on a ship to sail from San Francisco. Administration critics who looked for quicker action from the State Department last week criticized Jessup for tak- ing “a slow boat to China.” He has a well prepared program before him and a record of success in ticklish diplomatic ~spots. Jessup helped engineer the Soviet lifting of the Berlin blockade. 11 MEMBERS OF ONE FAMILY DIE WHEN HOME BURNS ROTAN, Tex. Dec. 15—(®—Eleven transient farm workers—all mem- bers of one family—burned to death near here today when fire destroyed their small home at the edge of a cotton field. The blackened remains of the four-room home on the C. A. Dout- hit farm, eight miles northeast of this west Texas town, were found at 9 am. The dead included three genera- tions. Six were children. One of the five adults was a 13-year-old girl, married and pregnant, ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1949 Alaska Steam Hires 3 A.F.L. Steward Men SEATTLE, Dec. 15—(»—Expected to bring a showdown in a crucial dispute over jurisdiction of steward department employees, three Ameri- can Federation of Labor unionists were employed Wednsday by the Alaska Steamship Company. ‘ All three were dispatched through the Pacific Marine Stew- ards’ Union Hall, Don L. Rotan, organizer for the AF. of L. affili- ate, said. It was the first time in 15 years that stewards department em- Jloyees were not hired through the hiring hall of the National Union of Marine Cooks and , Stewards, Congress of Industrial Organiza- tions affiliates, which holds the con- tract with the Alaska Steamship Company. Eddie Tangen, International Sec~ cetary-Treasurer of the CIO. inion, said he was aware that the AF. of L. men had been hired, but reserved comment at this time. Previous jurisdictional disputes over the steward department have cesulted in violence. DENALI GETS TWO Two of the men, Harold Paige and A. L. Makemson, were dis-| patched to the SS. Denali, due in Seattle Thursday, while the third, Marvin Landz, was dispatched to the Coastal Monarch, now in port. All are former members of the C.1.O. organization, Th C.I.O. union, the Alaska Steamship Company and various other ship operators are respon- dents in a National Labor Relauons.l Board complaint charging unfair labor practices. It is based on alle- zations of the A F. of L. group that he C.I.O. Union’s Hiring Hall dis- criminates against memters of the| AF. of L. union. A hearing on the complaint is now in progress. When the hearing opened three | weeks ago, Edward G. Dobrin, of Bogle, Bogle and Gates, attorneys for the steamship company, an- nounced that while his client did not admit the charge of unfair labor’ practices, it would consider all applications for steward depart- ment employment regardless of union affiliation. WOMAN CONVICTED OF MURDER WILL -PLEAD [NSANITY RIVERSIDE, Calif., Dec. 15—(P— Zicking and shrieking, Mrs. Sophie Petrillo was carried from the court- room yesterday after a jury con- victed her of murdering her hus- band, but she must appear again Monday on her plea of insanity. When jurors arinounced their ver- dict of guilty, the haggard, 36- year-old widow screamed and fell rom her chair to the floor. A jury of 10 women and two men took 5% hours to convict Mrs. petrillo of second degree murder in tke shooting of Peter Petrillo, 38, in Palm Springs Sept. 19. She faces a term of five to life in prison. This same jury will decide if he was insane when she gunned years SAYS ATOMS SENT RUSS VIA KODIAK Former NamPO Recog- | nized '92nd Element’ * Chart WASHINGTON, Dese. | Kodiak entered the controversy | over wartime airplane cargoes to Russia via Alaska last night. | Radio commentator Fulton Lewis | Jr., who started the current furore | with a broadcast by an officer who was linked with the Russian lend- | lease plane route at Grant Falls, Mont, had a former Navy Chief Petty Officer on his program last fught, He told of lend-lease trattic via Kodiak during the war. > (There never have been any pub- {icized previous reports of any lend- lease plans traffic to Russia via | Kodiak. All reported traffic was via the Fairbanks-Nome route.) The ex-Petty Officer reporte that he identified “a blueprint of | the uranium structure” hidden in| © bag of parachutes on an American | lend-lease plane bound for Russia. | Royall Edward Norton, 29, now a G.I student at Clemson College | in South Carolina, made the state- ment in a recorded broadcast on 4 program with Lewis. RUSS GOT CHARTS Norton said he was stationed at| Kodiak, Alaska, and was in charge of inspecting and reloading U.S. lend-lease planes. Besides the “atomic tluepnnts."‘ Norton said the Russians also got | 15 complete sets of. astronomical charts covering all of Alaska and the entire Aleutic:. Island chain. The former Navy man said he protested against letting the Rus-| sians have the charts because “I| could not see why they needed any such a thing.” But, he said, the Soviets “were akle to use enough influence” to get them. Concerning the blueprint, he! said he had had ‘“some chemistry n school—enough to recognize this | as being a highly complicated and intricate pattern of atomiic struc- ture.” “It showed the protons neutrons and their valence,” said. Norton said that at the bottom of | the blueprint he saw the rigure! “92.” He did not recognize its sig- nificance at the time, he said, but recalled it later and remembered that uranium is “the 92nd ele- ment,” and he KODIAK REPORT The Weekly Mirror at Kodiak re- ported today that an authorjtative source said Russians picked up old style PBY planes there during the war, The source, declining to b® quoted by name, said it was com- mon knowledge in the island town and many Russian f{llers were seen there during the war, There was no official confirmation. 'STRANGE OBJECTS” her husband in a quarrel over cur- vaceous Alms Ross Prima, dancer and erstwhile wife of bandleader Louis Prima. VICE, CRIME ON DECREASE, ALASKA ARE SEEN VICTORIA, B(C. Dec. 15—@—| What with “strange objects” and; “mysterious high-speed alrplanes"‘ cluttering up the sky over the; Straits of Juan de Fuca it's getting g0 a respectable aircraft won't be able to find a place to fly in that area. Latest “strange object” reports LY ALASKA EMPIRE MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS Gov. Ernest*Gruening, Mrs. Gruening and ‘their son Peter had a happy reunion in Honolulu severa pictyre. 1 days ago as shown in the above The Governor has been on a flying trip to the Orlent and Mrs. Gruening left Juneau and joined him at Honolulu on Thanks- giving Day. Peter is associated wi ith the United Press in Honolulu.. While the Governor and Mrs. Gruening visited in Honolulu they were feted by Island friends and were guests of honor at many official dinners. The Gruening are due to arrive home today via PAA. The above picture was taken by Royal Hawaiian, STEEL PRICES UPPED PITTSBURGH, Dec. 156—(®—Unit- ed States Steel Corporation today announced a price increase aver- aging about four percent for most | steel products. President Benjamin. F. Fairless MISSING GIRLIS FOUND KELSO, Wash. Dec. 15—(A—Ruth Aberle, missing since Sunday, was found alive today, in the forested region northeast of here, Sheriff's Deputy Ted House said. ' He said details were not clear, said in a statement “the overall but the girl was found on the up- effect of these new mill prices is per Coweeman River some 12 miles an average increase of about 10 from the search area. cents per hundred pounds in our There was no report on her con- announced mill prices.” |dition. She had been missing since Fairless said the price revisions ' Sunday on a Christmas tree bunt- FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 15— |comes from the First Officer aboard (#—The past year showed a de-|the Chinook, the Seattle to Vie- crease in vice and crime in Alaska.| toria car ferry, and is vouched for That was the conglusion today of [ Ly the Quartermaster and lookout. a meeting of the Armed Services| Yesterday they saw a “bright disciplinary board at Ladd Air|light in the sky moving towards Force Base. Victoria at about 2,000 feet.” The toard was made up of{ “It was moving from side to side Mayor Maurice T. Johnson and|and up and down much too sharply Gther Fairbanks civic leaders, and |to be a plane,” the officer said. staff representatives of the Navy, Last Saturday a high speed Army and Air Force. Col. Levi|nmystery plane was spotted leaving Browning, Commanding Officer ofa vapor trail over the Straits. the station hospital at Elmendort| The latest “object” was™ “too Air Force Base in Anchorage pre-|erratic to follow with binoculars sided. and it was too dark to see any The board heard from the Bar-|shape.” tenders Association, city govern-| “It came within & mile of the ment, the Ministerial Association!ship and then spiralled swiftly up- and the Chamber of Commerce, wards through the overcasj.” “reflect actual and epproaching changes in the cost of production, including the substantial higher cost to result when our new insur- ance and pension programs become effective.” The new prices become effective at 12:01 am, (EST) tomorrow (Fri- day). SEARCH PARTY SEEKS HAFFNER AT ST. JAMES BAY A search party continued to comb the St. James Bay region on Lynn Canal today in search of Andy Haffner, 59, missing after the trol- ler owned by Mack Mercado of Juneau sank in tHe bay Wednesday night, December 7. The search party is led by Albert Wallace. It was taken ta St. James | Bay yesterday morning aboard the 83-foot. Juneau-based Coast Guard cutter 83524. No word of hope had been receiv- ed from the search party today. The cutter White Holly, which reached the scene Sunday after B. H. “Jack” Manery of Juneau had sighted the tips of the sunken trol- ler’s poles sticking from the waters of tHe bay, remained on the scene today. Mercado, who was also aboard the troller when it sunk, was found by “Manery Tuesday, morning in a cabin at Boat Harbor near St. Jam- es Bay. He had been in the un- heated cabin since Thursday. He was brought to St. Ann’s Hos- pital with frozen fcet. Mercado said today feet “are tingling.” “The doctor said that's a good sign,” he declared. Dr. Joseph O. Rude, who is treat- ing Mercado, said* that Mercado’s feet will be saved. Meanwhile Mrs. Haffner waited at her home on the Glacier Loop Road for word of Haffner. Also awalting news of the missing man are his five sons and three daugh- ters. STEAMER MOVEMENTS - Princess Norah from Vancouver scheduled to arrive Saturday af- ternoon or evening. 5 Denali scheduled to safl from Seattle Saturday. Baranof from westward scheduled southbound Sunday. that his ing expedition. BOTH SIDES LOSE: NEITHER ENTITLED { T0 DAMAGE CLAIMS L FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 15—(® -Mr. and Mrs. Herman H. Ross won't get $76375, and the British Yukon Navigation Co., won't get ! $500. That was the effect of a jury verdict in the Ross’ suit and the j company's cross-complaint, The jury decided neither side was en- titled to damages. Ross, Anchorage attorney, sued for $45,600 and his wife, Martha, for $30,775. The damage suit was outgrowth of a collision with a company truck near Edmonton, Alta., Jan. 29, 1949. Ross sued be- cause of spinal injuries and his wife for head injuries. The company's cross-complaint asking $500 sought compensation for damage to the truck. White PRICE TEN CENTS ges’ Case Denied Gruenings in Hawaii VEILED THREATS DENIED Judge Makes Reply fo Charges Made in Case by Defense Atforneys SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 18—m— A motion for a mistrial in the Harry Bridges perjury trial was denied today by Federal Judge George B. Harris. Defense counsel Vincent Hallinan, in making the motion, charged that he and his associate, James Mac~ Innis, were constantly criticized by the court. He said the court made “thinly veiled threats against them.” Hallinan, who is under a six months sentence . for contempt of the court, complained the defense was so hampered in presentation of its case it was impossible now to obtain a fair and impartial trial. F. Joseph Donohue, chief prose- cutor, sald he was “not surprised” at the move since the government’s. seven major witnesses thus far called had bared most of the gov- ernment’s case, he added: - “I have never seen Wwitnesses called by the U.S. government sub- jected to more severe punishing, sruelling, relentless cross-examina- tion than in this case. You (the court) have allowed the widest pos= sible latitude.” ‘Judges Harris replied: “I shall not come to my own de- fense . . . I feel I need no defense nor excuse of my eonduct . .. I have attempted to conduct this trial in an orderly dispassionate and judicial mafiner. I believe I have succeeded. It is only proper . for this court to deny this motion.” Earlier, with the jury out.of the courtroom, the defense made sev- eral motions at deleting portions of Manning R. Johnson's testimony yesterday. Johnson, a professed ex-Com= munist, sald under cross examina- tion that Bridges was accorded & special secret status in the Com- munist party “for security reasons.” Bridges is charged with perjury at his naturalization hearing in 1945. He testified he was not, and had not been, & member of the Communist party. Two other offi- cials of the International Long- shoremen’s and Warehousemen's Union (CI0)—J. R. Robertson and Henry Schmidt—are on trial with Bridges, accused of conspiracy. GOVERNOR RETURNS Gov. Ernest Gruening | returned by air today from a month-long trip which included Tokyo, Manila, Guam, Wake Island, and the Ha- walian Islands. [ He attended a meeting of the House of Representatives sub-com- mittée on Territories in Honolulu. Mrs. Gruening returned home with the Governor. GANTYS AT BARANOF Mr. and Mrs. Prosper Ganty, of Pelican, are registered at the Bare anof. Van Heusen Shirts §3.25 at | | | 5 | | | Gus George-Clothier (Formerly War. Surplus Store No. 2) | "Quality Without Exitravagance” Harold Zenger, Mgr. 5 George Bros. Bldg.