The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, June 13, 1950, Page 2

PAGE TWO "MODERATE- PRICE" TAG. .. BEST “4DVICE" 746 ... INDICATING VIeILANT QuALITY SINCE 1849 BMBEHRENES),; 57, PR 15 EXPLORERS T0 RECORD ALASKAN GLACIAL ACTIVITY A party of 15 explorers from the esstern United States arrived in Ju- neau today aboard the Princess Louise Led by Neil Douglas, who has al- regdy made, fiye, Alaskan . glacier expeditions, the group will record the present glacier activities in all of the fiords in Southeast Alaska | for the American Geographical So- | ciety and for scientific publications, Douglas said. The explorers have chartered the Monterey, owned by Jack Westfall of Juneau, and will spend a month in Southeast Alaska. Tonight at 8 o'clock in the Moose Hall, Douglas will present the movie “Magnificent Fury,” photographed in the Prince William Sound area. No admission will be charged Douglas has made 18 expeditions into seldom-explored sections of the North American continent from the equator to the Arctic. He is the author of adventure stories on Alaska and many scientific reports. He is a fellow of the American Polar Society, the American Gip- graphical Society, and the Arctic Institute, and a member of the Ex- plorers Club. Included in the party are Evelyn Douglas, general supervisor of the party, Douglas’ son James and daughter Jeanne. Other mempers or tne groyp are carefully selected specialists in the fields to be covered by the expedi- e Douglas said. THOMPSON PASS WINTER REPORT A comprehensive report on keeping of wind-swept Thompson Pass on the Richardson highway open for the first time last winter, has been made up by Col. John R. Noyes, héad of the Alaska Road Commission. } The 2,000-foot pass, where aver- age snowfall is 300 inches, was kept apen by a ccoperative effort of the Alaska Freight Lines and the road commission. It is 25 miles north ot Valdez, the Territory’s north ice-free port. The large freighting holding contracts to deliver mili- tary supplies to the Interior, took care of the pass itself, and commis- | sion crews were on either side. | While Colonel Noyes noted that’ last winter was an unusually easy one, severe storms were encountered during December, at one time block- ing 16 miles of road with deep snow and hard-packed drifts Fourteen hours later, however, traffic was going again, the Colonel said. Rotary snowplows outdid the blade type on the pass itself, and were in constant use by the freight- ing company. Plowing could best be done at night, because headlights gave sharper illumination than the/ gray daylight in the area. Snow drifting into carburators prevented work being done during 8 storm, but immediate plowing the | farthest i concern, | afterward kept the pass clear, he said. Temperatures down to 60 below zero were encountered during De- cember and January, working some hardship on crews housed in sum- mer maintenance cabins. During the entire winter, some 30,000 tons of freight moved over the pass because of the pioneering effort. Traffic was Kkept under strict control, and all work gwas under the supervision of B. D. Stewart, Jr., district engineer at Valdez for the commission. Most troublesome work encoun- tered was formation of land ice north of the pass. From the work, the colonel said these conclusions had been reached: 1. That maintenance of the pass during winter months ‘is practicable. 2. That major equipment are suitable, with minor changes needed and one more rotary snowplow wanted. 3. Shelter facilities were inade- quate, with certain suggestions for improvements made. 4. Addition of one extra crew to avoid overtime work. BPW CLUB PLANS FOR (ONVENTION ATTENDANCE A business meeting of the Busi- ness and Professional Women'’s Club was held at luncheon Monday in the Baranof Terrace room with Mrs. Kate W. Smith, president, pre- siding. Reports of Mrs. Nathalie Gustaf- son, treasurer, Mrs. Inga Miller, secretary and Mrs. Bertha Ellinger, recording secretary were read. Plans were made for the Juneau club’s part in the NFBFW conven- tion to be held in San Francisco. Juneau delegates will be Mrs. Ellin- ger and Mrs. Gladys Vuille. Guests at the meeting yesterday were Miss Rie Mounier and Miss Evelyn Ramm. ATTENTION TOURISTS Ride the Mailboat Yakobi for an intimate acquaintance with SE Al- aska, Leaving every Wednesday arrive Juneau Saturday night. 18-tf THE STATEHOOD HEARINGS No. 6 By BOB DE ARMOND Any serfous discussion of siaie- hood for Alaska gets around event- ually to the cost of operating the | proposed state government. This |cost, from the estimates of peopte on both sides of the question, appears to be rising stead- ily and rapidly. | | PFor example, on September 5, | 11947, Mrs. Mildred Hermann of | |Juneau wrote a letter to the Daily |Alaska Empire in which she be- |rated the editor of that newspaper | for an editorial. The editorial had | estimated $21,000,000 as the cost of | operating the government of the |State of Alaska during its first |two years, | Hermann said, was out of all reason and propor: tion and could be attributed to the | Ibias of the newspaper and its ed- itor. Now, on April 25, 1950, before the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs at Washington, Mrs. Hermann presented a budgét estimate for the proposed new |state. The figure she presented was $12,492,000 for a year, or $24,- 984,000 for the first biennium, and she . presented it without even a wheeze of dismay. Confusion in Figures Mrs. Hermann, an attorney who introduced herself to the Senators as “the biggest half of the female bar association of Alaska,” handled (the main presentation on the costs of statehood for the pro-statehood group. Just why she was selected | to handle this part of the case I| do not know, although she listed as her qualifications the fact that she had been married for many years to an Alaska businessman and that she herself had been OPA director for Alaska for five years. Mrs. Hermann is no doubt an able attorney but unfortunately she has a way of handling figures that is apt to lead to confusion. As a minor example, on Septem- ber 8, 1947, Mrs. Hermann testified on statehood before a House Sub- sular Affairs. In her smroducwry: remarks she said: “I have lived; in Alaska for 28 years” On April 25, 1950, testifying before the Sen- | ate committee, Mrs. Hermann said: | “I have lived in Alaska for 32 | years.” That was, of course, a small dis- crepancy and had no bearing on the statehood case. But her fig- ures on statehood costs also showed discrepancies, causing some con- fusion among the Senators. Surplus Discovered | Mrs. Hermann started off, in her | presentation, with territorial rev-| enues, which she said will amount to $10,020,000 this year. ‘“The 1949 session of the Legislature increased taxes from five to ten millions,” she said, “without adding any bur- densome or onerous taxes.” The cost of operating the terri- torial government for this year Mrs. Hermann said, will be $8,250,- 300. She added: “We have no out- standing obligations at the present time, though some of the appro- priations have been frozen pending the receipt of further money. And the income for this year is going to more than meet the appropria- tions and leave a balance of ap- proximately $1,750,000 in our tax fund.” o The $1,759,000 surplus will, I am sure, be welcome news to Mr. Henry Roden, our harassed Territorial Treasurer. Added Expenses The expense of operating the courts, caring for the insane, oper- ating the Fish and Wildlife Serv- ice, and so forth, Mrs. Hermann sstimated would bring the state sudget to $12,492,000 for the year. She said that while she recog- aized that Alaska would have to pay for the care of its insane people in the future she did not think that the new state would be surdened with the care of the 328 Aalska patients now at Morning- side Hospital. “Is there anything in this bill that would recognize the respon- sibility of the Federal government o assume the load here for you?” Senator Anderson wanted to know. ‘Certainly the incidence of insan- ity that happens before you be- Free to the Public “Magnificent Fury” Colorful Iceberg and Glacier picture narrated by Neil Douglas of the National Geographic Society. 8 p. m. Tonight Moose Club statehood }lrensur,v plus $95 committee on Territorial and In-,” THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE—JUNEAU, ALASKA Information First Ha»nd_ '_ Morrie Landsberg (right) Associated Press correspondent at Sacramento, Calif., explains operation of vote tabulating machine to Gov. Zarl Warren and members of his family in the San Francisco (® bureau. Warren has been nominated to succeed himself on the Republican ticket in the California primary. (Left to right), Daughter Virginia, Gov. Warren, Mrs. Warren; son, Bobby and Landsberg. The Governor will be opposed in the November finals by Jimmy Roosevelt, son of the late Président Roosevelt. # Wirephoto. come a state is not a proper | | mann has on occasion been ex-| And who is going to pay this cost? e o 0o 0 0 0 0 0 0 TIDE TABLE JUNE 14 0:41 am.,, 162 ft. 1 am, -1.0 ft. High tide 13:48 p.m., 14.0 ft. Low tide 19:20 pm., 43 ft. High tide Low tide HADLEYS DEPART AFTER TWO WEEKS VISIT HERE Mr. and Mrs. Kirkland, Wash,, left Juneau Sun: day after spending two weeks visit- ing their daughter and family, Mr. and Mrs. William Elsner and child- ren. The Hadleys, who were employed at Mt. BEdgecumbe last fall, went back to Kirkland in January, leav- ing their car in Juneau. They re- turned here two weeks ago by plane, and Sunday went to Haines from where they will drive to Anchorage and Fairbanks and then travel down the Alaska Highway to Fort Benton, Montana, where they will visit a son and his family, before returning to Kirkland. : : : : : 1 EYES EXAMINED Second and Franklin AT | ! DR. D. D. MARQUARDT OPTOMETRIST PHONE 506 FOR APPOINTMENTS TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1950 STRAIGHT BOURBON W HISKEY BONDED 100 PROOF Distributed throughout Alaska by ODOM COMPANT LENSES PRESCRIBED Juneau | charge against a subsequent ad-|tremely critical of the Alaska Legis- | There is a whole lot less guesswork |/ ministration.” “We are confident that the Fed- eral government will recognize that and take appropriate action,” Mrs. jHermann said. “It dence; you have a provision in the law, Senator Anderson retorted. Balanced Budget To pay for the additional of statehood, Mrs. Hermann took the $1,750,000 surplus” in the ,000 to come from is not a question of confi- cost the sealing industr: a proposed increase in the tobacco and some other income from us sources, Senator Anderson got busy with announced that the t was still out of I balance by about $820,000 a year. to suggest that Sen- “but bal- “I would hate your additien is wrong there, ator}” said Mrs. Hermann, that budget was completely anced when I gave it to you.” She quickly appologized for an oversight, however, and cleared up the discrepancy by saying: “What I have left out is a statement that we would have to have additional taxation fer that amount of mon- pecificaliy, Mrs, Hermann said, $850,000 could be found by doubling the motor fuels tax. “That would balance it,” Senator Anderson admitted. “Of cousre, by that theory you could keep dding a million here and five million there.” Room For More “We have room for more taxes if we need them,” Mrs. Hermann said during her testimony. “But we do not think we are going to need any particular amount of taxes under this.” It was perhaps in support of the latter statement that Mrs. Her- mann delivered what has been widely callea the let-'em-eat-beans speech . What she actually said was: “If we cannot buy steak, we will eat beans. We will fit the pattern to the cloth. If we cannot make the kind of a dress we want, we will make one that will cover us any- way, and we are perfectly willing to pull in our belts and do without some things for the purpose of statehood.” There is a possibility, of course, that the witness did not mean her statement literally. She could have bad in mind the cutting down of some governmental expenses in Al- aska. The evidence, however, is against this supposition. Mrs. Hr- R e e e Fares Reduced One Way Anchorage Kodiak Homer Naknek A. B. 10% Reduction *Plus Tax Daily Flights — and Air Cargo Connections at Anchorage for all Interior and Westward Points Lciiic NORII it is a question of whether | $300,000 from | 104.50- Naknek Village 114.50- lature and some of her sharpest |criticism has been directed at ef- |forts to pare the budget and de- crease expenses. We must, then.{ take her statement pretty much |t its face value: Alaskans can pay the cost of statehood, although! |to do so they may have to go on sub-standard diet and wear sack- cloth Review of Costs To review Hermann on Cost of | Statehood: Three years ago, when territorial government was costing around five million a year, she estimated the cost of state govern- ment at between seven and eight million dollars. At the same time she labeled as “ridiculous” an es- timate of $10,500000 a year for state government operation. Now, in 1950, with the cost of running the Territory up to $8,250,- 000 (plus another two million or so that Mrs. Hermann says was capital exvenditure and not an ex- pense item) she has raised her sights to $12,491,000 for state oper- ation. This is a 50 percent increase ower territorial costs and more than 50 percent above her previous estimate. Other Witnesses i Other witnesses at the statehood hearing had some ideas on prob- ible cost. Bob Ellis of Ketchikan estimated 25 percent increase over the cost of territorial govern- ment. And a number of witnesses serted that Alaskans are able, willing and even eager to assume whatever tax burden is necessary to pay for statehood. o “They have just begun to tax themselves in Alaska, in the full sense,” said Secretary Chapman. “Our tax system,” said George Sundborg, “even after the enact- ment of the basic taxes at the last session, still provides what I be- lieve is the most modest levy in any State, and there is still abund- ant room to use other sources of revenue without hurting anybody.” Mr. W. C. Arnold, listed as an opposition witness, recited some figures and estimated about sixteen million dcllars the annual cost of state government if the roads are maintained and if Alaska takes full advantage of the Federal High- way Act (a matching fund arrange- ment) for the construction of new roads The sixteen million dollar figure, said Mrs. Hermann, “is completely fantastic.” What is statehood going to cost? Well, there has been a lot of guessing. You can take your pick,; lor you can do your own guessing. | | Round Trip 176.40. 144.00. 188.10. 206.10.. on Round Trip 63.00- 98.00+ 80.00. Passengers, Mail Tickefs and Reservations BARANOF HOTEL Phone 716 ny AIRTINVES, INC connected with that one. The next and final article in this es will review the opinions of various witnesses on business and industrial development in Alaska and on other matters. CAP CADETS DISCONTINUE TRAINING FOR SUMMER In order that students who are out of town for the summer will miss none of the pre-flight train- ing, the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Corps program will be discontinued until school reopens in the fall, it was announced today by Col. Neil Fritchman, Cadet Commander. Cadets, who are aviation-minded boys and girls of 15, 16 and 17 years old, have met weekly for training and instruction. FROM WASHINCGTON, D. C. Charles E. Kellogg of Washing- ton, D. C., is staying at the Bara- l | MOTHERS REACH FOR IT | WITH CONFIDENCE | Aok your Doctor ) ARIGOLD i uMu.n INDEPENDENCE DRIVE May 15 through July 4 Official Independence Drive Symbol The next few weeks may he the most imporfant Between May 15th and July 4th, you can make a move that may change your life, During these seven weeks of the U. 8. Treasury’s In- regardless of your age. dependence Drive, you groundwork for making dreams come true. The next decade will be one of the greatest America has ever seen. opportunity of a lifetime millions — it can come to The opportunity to start your own business. To buy a share in the business in your life you're now can lay the your fondest grab it! The will come to you. in. pays less at mendous future. Even to take a job that the start—but has a tre- Don’t let your opportunity pass be- cause you were financially unable to If you are not now buying U. S. Sav- ings Bonds automatically, this is the time to begin. extra bonds. Sign up and buy up all you If you are, sign up for can. That golden opportunity in the 50’s may be the “one in a lifetime” for you— be ready for it! This advertisement prepared by The Daily Alaska Empire in cooperation with the U. S. Treasury and the Advertising *Council.