The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, June 20, 1950, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL THE NEWS.ALL THE TIME” VOL. LXXV., NO. 11,634 Property HEAVY VOTE BEING CAST IN ELECTION By 3 p.m. today, 535 Juneau voters had cast ballots approving or re- jecting a one-percent municipal sales tax ordinance. City officials at that time de- scribed it as “a good vote for a one- question election.” The polling place in the City Council Chambers of the City Hall will remain open until 7 o’clock this evening. i Mayor Waino Hendrickson fore- cast this ‘morning that the ordi- nance would be approved if the vote exceeded 500. Strongest opposition to the sales tax ordinance has been from locai labor organizations, which object to consumer taxes. The ordinance must be approved by 55 percent of the voters before it becomes law. It sets up a one-percent special- purpose sales tax on sales and serv- ices of more than 35 cents. The rev- enue from the tax would be used only to pay off the present and fu- ture bonded indebtedness of the city., City officials have pointed that the sales tax, if passed, wil! end in the quarter in which the bonded indebtedness of the city is paid off. This will, in effect, give to the voters of the city the power with which to end or continue the tax: if they vote in favor of further gen- eral obligation bond issues, they will be voting in favor of -extending the sales tax. out HOOVER REQUEST 300 FBI AGENTS MAY BE APPROVED WASHINGTON, June 20 — (® — J. Edgar Hoover's campaign for 300 additional FBI agents to hunt down Communist spies appeared to- day to be tabbed for victory. The House appropriations com- mittee and a Senate appropriations subcommittee were reported to have agreed to approve the FBI direct- or's request, The Senate subcommittee’s 1zc- ommendation is expected to be ac- cepted in turn by the full appid- priations group and the Senate. Hoover told the Senators months ago in a secret session that there are 54,000 known Communists and some 500,000 Red sympathizers in the United States who form a potential fifth column of traitors. & FROM WHITEHORSE Mr. and Mrs. John Forbes of Whitehore are guests at the Bara- nof Hotel, TENNESON HERE J. T. Tenneson of Seattle is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. VIRGINIAN HERE E. T. Parks of Arlington, Va., is a guest at the Baranof Hotel. The Washington Merry - Go- Round Bv DREW PEARSON (Copyright, 1950, by Bell, Byndicate, 1nc.) — ASHINGTON — Senator Mec- Carthy is now demanding that the full text of Emmanuel Larsen’s testimony in the Amerasia case be published. Obviously, however, the Senator does not know what's in the full text or ‘he would not be urging publication. For, in the secret testimony, he, McCarthy, is called a “fool” by his fellow Republican, Senator Wherry of Nebraska. Wherry was anxious to know in advance what Larsen was going to testify to; also not averse to influencing Larsen's testimony. Therefore, hg sent for Larsen and told him: “Mac (McCarthy) has gone out on a limb and made kind of a fool of himself, and we have to back him up now.” Three other Republicans also conferred with Larsen in the at- tempt to get some help for Mc- Carthy—Congressman Dondero of Mich.,, who brought him to Sen- ator Wherry's office; Senator Fer- guson, also of Michigan, who had a separate secret talk; and Mec- _— (ConTl!;l;d— on | Page Four) MOVIE STAR JUDY GARLAND (CUTS HER THROAT; HYSTERICAL HOLLYWOOD, June 20 — (® — Judy Garland, movie actress, cut her throat in a fit of anguish, her studio disclosed today. The wouna is not serious. After Miss Garland's husband, Vincent Minelli, earlier denied such a report, Ralph Wheelwright studio publicity aide, made the fol- lowing statement to reporters who gathered at the distraught actress ! palatial pink mansion on Sunset Boulevard: 3 “Miss Garland was in conference last night at about six o'clock “at 8850 Evansview Drive (another house of Miss Garland’s) with her husband Vincent Minelli, her busi- ness manager, Carlton Alsop, and her secretary, Myrtle Tully. They were discussing Miss Garland’s fu- ture. At one point in the discussion Miss Garland who has been under strain and ill became very despon- dent and hysterical ‘and rushed from the living room through the bedroom and ipto the. bathroom, locking the door behind her. She broke a drinking glass and with the broken glass made a superficial! laceration on her throat. “Minelli got her to open the door and she was immediately very re- pentant and weeping. They sent for Dr. Francis Ballard who treated the wound. He said it was very minor and attributed it to an im- pulsive, hysterical act. “Miss Garland is now resting under her doctor’s care. She is asleep. I saw her and she has @ slight bandage on her neck. No stitches were taken.” DEFENSE COUNSEL "CAUGHLIN QUITS IN DEPORATION CASE SEATTLE, June 20—(®—Surprise withdrawal of John Caughlan as defense counsel forced postpone- ment Monday or deportation hear- ings involving ten aliens, All are charged with belonging to an organization which advocates overthrow of the government by force. Two are officers of Cannery Workers' Local 7-C, International Longshoremen’s and Warehouse- men’s Union which recently tied up much of the Alaska cannec salmon industry by its picketing. They are Ernesto Mangaong, bus!- ness agent, and Chris Mensalves, 7-C president. Caughlan’s action came as the consolidated hearing, called to hear the testimony of an gxpert gov- ernment witness was about to con- vene. Caughlan objected to the con- solidation, then withdrew as counsel for all respondents except Mike Garph. “The reason is,” he said, “that with good conscience I don’t be- lieve I am able to represent them adequately in the type of hearing that has been proposed.” Atomic Submarine > Plant Sife Given IDAHO FALLS, Idaho, June 20— (#—The power plant for the Navy's planned atomic submarine will be built at the eastern Idaho project now under construction, the atomic energy commission says. Approval was given the Navy's construction plans by the Senate armed services subcommittee yes- terday. The multi-million dollar AEC plant now is well underway. It is located southwest of Idaho Falls. HANSEN IS VISITOR On his first trip to Alaska, H. Carl Hansen of Everett, Wash., arrived Saturday to visit his son, Capt. S. C. Hansen, and family for several weeks. Captain Hansen is sector com- mander of the Alaska Communica- tion System. LR E sk bt GILLIS-NAOMOFF Ralph Buster Gillis, taxi driver, and Marion Virginia Naomoff, waitress, both of Juneau, made ap- plication yesterday for a marridge license before U. S. Commissioner Gordon Gray. Both are Aladia |born—he in Ketchikan, she in Cor- dova, ‘ Tentative Agreement L.A. Strike LOS ANGELES, June 20 — (® — Tentative agreement to end the iour-day Los Angeles transit strike was announced today by Federal conciliator Harry C. Malcom. Negotiators, after a meeting which lasted into the early morning hours, agreed on terms which will be sub- mitted to the union membership at 4 pm. (PDT) today. Terms of the settlement were aot disclosed pending a vote by the strikers. If they approve, streetcars and buses will start roll- ing again at 4 am. tomorrow. GIVE US CROWN, WE'LL FREE MAN, SAY HUNGARIANS VIENNA, Austria, June 20—(#— Communist-ruled Hungary has of- fered to swap imprisoned American businessman Robert A. Vogeler for one of her most venerated religious relics, the Allied-held crown of St. Stefan, it was learned here today. Reliable sources said progress ot negotiations between the U.S. and Hungary indicated Vogeler, sent- enced to 15 years imprisonment last Feb. 21 for spying and sabotage, might be released within a few weeks. The crown, which dates back to Hungary's 11th century King Stefan 1, was taken from Hungary by the Nazis and found by American troops in Germany. It was last reported at Wiesbaden, in Western Germany. (Army authorities and the prop- erties division of the high commis- sion for Germany said at Frankfurt this morning that they do not know the present whereabouts ot the crown.) The United States, reportedly at Vatican urging, has refused re- peated demands by Hungary’s Red government for the crown. Return of the crown, the sources here said, was the only ransom price set for Vogeler by the Hun- garians. Many Hungarians attribute miraculous powers to the crown and believe that no government holds power legitimately unless it has possession of the relic. Father of Five Drowns, Fairbanks, In Boat Accident FAIRBANKS, Alaska, June 20— M — William Apple, 44-year-old father of five children, drowned Sunday in nearby Birch Lake, the U.S. marshal’s office said yesterday, after being struck on the head when two companions overturned their small boat. The marshal’s office said Apple remained in the boat while his companions went swimming. When the men sought to climb back. in the boat, it overturned, striking Apple in the back of the head. Unconscious, he was dragged to the surface by the other men. Another small craft hastily dis- patched from the shore also over- turned when it occupants tried to pull Apple aboard. He was finally taken to shore by a small plane, but efforts to rev¥e him were unsuccessful. Surviving him are a son, Robert, and a sister, Esther, both of Fair- banks; his widow, now in Lewiston, Mont., and four other children whose present address is not known. Apple came here from Parker, Colo. FROM FAIRBANKS K. E. Favell of Fairbanks is at the Baranof, Hotel. e FROM HAINES Felix Hakkinen of Haines is stop- ping at the Gastineau Hotel. FROM TULSEQUAH John Farnell of Tulsequah, B.C., is at the Gastineau Hotel. FROM FAYETTE, OHIO Mr. and Mrs. B. D. Violet of Fayette, Ohio, are registered at the Baranof Hotel, ; held by the Western -Allies in 1947] __JUNEAU, ALASKA, TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1950 EXTENSION MINE ASSESSMENT BILL GOES T0 TRUMAN WASHINGTON, June 20—P—A bill for a three-months extehsion of mine assessment work was sent to the White House today. On the recommendation of Sena- tor Cordon (R-Ore), the Senate ap- proved House amendments extend- ing its provisions to Alaska and making minor technical changes. Under basic mining law, $100 worth of work must be done each fiscal year on minings claims on public lands. The fiscal year ends June 30. The bill would let the claimant have until Oct. 1 to com- plete the work on his claim if he has filed notice by July 1 that ne will use the extra time. The extension is effective only for the 1949 work. PENTAGON USED FOR INSURANCE GROUP, REPORT} WASHINGTON, June 20 — (# — House investigators received testi- mony today that a private insuf- ance group was organized at ihej. Pentagon and operated from there, making use of government tele- phones. ‘The witness former Maj. Gen. Willlam H. Kasten, said the group was founded in 1946 with the ap- proval of Gen, Dwight D. Eisen- hower, then Army Chief of Staff. Kasten, retired Army Chief of Finance, is now the $12,000-a-year secretary-treasurer of the insurance organization, known as the Armed Forces Mutual Benefit Association. The association’s “meémi limited to Army officers. now a $44,300,000 concern, Kasten testified before a House armed forces subcommittee check- ing into the organization and oper- ation of the association as part of its investigation of alleged irreg- ularities at the Army finance cen- ter in St. Louis, He denied he used his regula: duty time for its management, but said he did work at nights and over week-ends. The association moved from the Pentagon in Jan. 1949, he said. SCIENTIST FLIES NORTH TO JOIN RESEARCH GROUP SEATTLE, June 20—{M—Froelich Rainey, University of Pennsylvania archeologist, will leave here tonight by plane for Fairbanks, Alaska, to join fellow workers in renewed ef- fores to trace the origin of Ameri- can Indians and Eskimos. Rainey said the group will look for a link between Europe, Asia and North America through a crossing of the Bering Straits perhaps 10,000 years ago. Rainey will join John Helge Lar- sen, of the Panish National Mu- seum, Copenhagen; Louis Giddings of the University of Alaska and a group of Danish and Alaska stu- dents: The Universities of Pennsylvania and Alaska together with the Dan- ish Museum are undertaking the research financed by the Viking Fund, New York. Rainey said the group will con- duct further research into the origin of the Eskimo, now believed to date back 1,000 years. Chiang Kai-Shek Is Not in Japan Nor Okinawa.-.kepon TOKYO, June 20—®—Top Amer- ican military authorities today de- nied emphatically that Nationalist Chinese President Chiang Kaui- Shek was in Japan or Okinawa The rumors popped up in Hong Kong and. Formosa, Chiang’s re- treat from the Communist main- land of China, ° The dispatches from both places said Chiang had gone to® confer with U. S. Defense Secretary John- son on defense of Formosa, listed by the Chinese Communists to e invaded this year, It is MfiMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS STATEHOOD FOR ALASKA | IS TAKEN UP WASHINGTON, June 20 — (® —| The Senate Interior Committee will| start work tomorrow on legislation | to grant statehood to Alaska. It| hopes to finish its study late this| week. { The committee concluded its ten- | tative study of a bill to grant state- hood to Hawaii yesterday. Final ac- tion on the bill was deferred until the amendments on the Alaska bill are completed. Then the committee will vote on each of them. Chairman O'Mahoney (D-Wyo) has said previously he hopes to send both to the Senate for action this week. Other members of the committee, however, say they do not believe such speedy action will} be possible. (CONTEMPT CASE . AGAINST JAFFE RECOMMENDED| WASHINGTON, June 20 — (B — Counsel for Senate investigators to- | day recommended that Philip Jaffe be cited for contempt for refusing to answer questions about the 1945 Amerasia case. Jaffe was editor of the magazfe Amerasia when government agents raided its New York offices during the late stages of the war and found hundreds of secret Navy all State Department documents. A Senate foreign relations sub- now _js. digging into the old case as an off-shoot of its general investigation into charges of Senator McCarthy (R-Wis.) that the State Department harbors Communists. Edward P. Morgan, counsel for the subcommittee, told a pews con= ference his recommendation for contempt proceedings against Jaffe already has been approved by Sen- ator Tydings (D-Md.), the commit- tee chairman. Morgan said that the other four members had not yea acted on the proposal, BULLETINS ‘The Republican National Com- mit/zeman from Connecticut, Har- old Mitchell, was found dead today at his home in West Hartford. The | coroner says it was a heart attack. | Mitchell was 48 years old. i In a speech at Corvallis, Oregon, last night, Assistant Secretary of the Interior C. Girard Davidson said that President Truman’s Point Four program will lay the groundwork for | a lasting peace. 1 The Supreme Soviet Parliament has voted unanimously to continue¢ in office the government of Premier Josef Stalin. The vote was taken last night — as Communist party members cheered and applauded. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt is sight- seeing in Holland today. Her itin- erary includes a visit to the Roose- velt ancestral home, on the Dutch island of Tholen. A veteran forest ranger in Den- | ver says the forests of Colorado and | Wyoming are ready to roar into | wild infernoes at the drop of a ! match, They haven’t had rain in weeks, and they're dry as tinder. Cloudbursts accompanied by winds | of tornado force deluged East and Central Kentucky last night. In some areas the water was four feet deep in the streets. A two-year-old boy drowned at Rush, Kentucky. FROM ANCHORAGE Among Anchorage residents stop- ping at the Baranof Hotel are |Tony Schwamm, Territorial aero- | nauties director; E. G. Fisher, CAA engineer in charge of construction; Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Fuqua, alsp with CAA; Mr, and Mrs. E. M. Skousen, C. C. Darlington, William J. Craig, L. P. Halverson, D. K. Joselyn and D. M. Kantolo. FROM FPETERSBURG { Mr. and Mrs. Earl Nickerson of | Petersburg are guests at the Bar- | didn’t wait long. (® Wirephoto. Vs N ol All dressed up for school and no way to get there is the plight of these three girls (left to right), Pat Hemning, Bessita Levine and Dolores Tahti, who were among the early victims of a transit work- ers' strike which halted trolley and bus service at Los Angeles. They use a time-tried method to catch a ride from motorists, and SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAM CHANGE IS AGREED BY (OM. WASHINGTON, June 20 — (B — The Senate financing committee today agreed to increase to $3,600 the maximum annual wages on which social security taxes dre collected to finance old-age pen- sions. The effect of the change, if ac- cepted by the Senate and House, would be to boost to $80 a month the top retirement benefit pro- vided in a bill to liberalize the Soclal Security Program. The bill, as now drawn and on which the Senate is to start voting at 3 p.m. (EST), retains the pres- ent wage base of $3,000 and pro- vides for a maximum pension ot $72.50 a month. Chairman George (D-Ga.) told reporters after a closed meeting of the finance committee that he had | been authorized to accept an am- endment ir7scasing the wage base to $3. e o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 WEATHER REPORT In Juneau—Maximum, 77; minimum, 56. At Airport—Maximum, 77; minimum, 56. FORECAST (Juneau and Vicinity) Partly cloudy, not much change in temperature to- night and Wednesday. Tem- perature tonight about 52. PRECIPITATION (Past 24 hours ending 7:30 8.m. today City of Juneau—0.08 inches; since June 1 — 083 inches; since July 1—71.96 inches. At Airport — 001 inches; since June 1 — 0.34 inches; since July 1—46.11 inches. STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, June 20 — Closing quotation of Alaska Jupeau mine stock today is 2%, American Can 115, Anaconda 30%, Curtiss-Wright 8%, International Harvester 28% Kennecott 55%, New York Central} 13%, Northern Pacific 15%, U. S.{ Steel 35%, Pound $2.80%. Sales today were 1,470,000 shar Averages today are as follows: in- dustrials 220.72, rails 5530, utilities 14326, DOLORES JONES HERE Mrs. Dolores Jones, author and teacher, came over from Sitka and anof Hotel, is stopping at the Gastineau Hotel. l WALKOUT STOPS “WORK ON 12-STORY APARMENTT BLDG. Work stopped on the Mendenhail Apartment project yesterday atter- noon as carpenters, supported by other workers, struck in protest tc certain employment practices. The strike was called at noon, but necessary work was continued intc the afternoon. The 38 men employed on the job were idle today. The dispute arose when the An- derson Construction Company which is building the 12-story apartment at Fourth and Franklin Street, refused to pay for the trans- portation of carpenters from the point of hire to the jobsite. Ervin Hill, business agent for the United Brotherhood of Carpenter: and Joiners of America, Local 2247 (AFL), charged today that the con- struction company had withheld from carpenters’ paychecks the cost of transportation from Seattle, which had been advanced to them. He sald that it has been the practice here for the past 12 years for contractors to pay the trans- portation costs when workmen are brought in for jobs and to pay their return passages if they stay until the job is completed. A He said this provision was in- cluded in the local’s 1949 contract with the Associated General Con- tractors. Anderson - Construction Company agreed verbally to accept the provi- sions of the 1949 contract, Hill de- clared. 3 A. K. Eskestrant, superintendent of the apartment project for the Anderson Construction Company, sald no agreement had been signed with the carpenters. “The only verbal agreement I've heard about is a verbal wage agree- ment,” he said. The local wants the transporta- tion costs paid to the men immedi- ately, and the company wants to pay the carpenters’ transportation costs both ways “If they stay for the duration of the job.” The carpenters’ business agent said the objection to this plan is: “They say they will pay transpor- tation here and return if the car- penters stay to the end of the job, but it is at the discretion of the construction company that a worker is fired.” “We are not trying to force any- thing new on the contractor,” Hill continued. “We are trying to make him live up to past practices.” Spokesmen for both the contrac- tor and the carpenters were hope‘ ful that negotiations leading to a settlement of the dispute would be- gin soon. Polls cloze at 7 p.m. VOTE! Tax Held Invalid; To Appeal Strike Strands Girls JUDGE HITS MINE CLAIM PROVISIONS Organic Ad—VEIaIed, Says Decision-No Uniformity in Law Nofed FAIRBANKS, Alaska, June 20— (M—Alaska's new one percent prop- erty tax law has been ruled illegal by Federal Judge Harry E. Pratt. In a memorandum opinion filed yesterday in District Court, the Judge held that two sections of the law enacted at the last session of the Legislature violated the Terri- tory's Organic Act. Consequently, he sald, the entire law is invalid. The decision was the outgrowth ot a suit brought last December 6 by Luther Hess and the Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Co., asking that the law be declared void and a perma- nent injunction be issued against further property tax collections. Judge Pratt issued a temporary injunction January 28 pending a final decision. His ruling today said that the section dealing with the taxation on mining claims violates the Or- zanic Act which requires taxation according to the “true and full value” of the property. Lacks Sameness f Another section giving cities the right to assess property within their boundaries and collect taxes had resulted in a lack of uniformity as required by Organic Act. As examples-he cited the 2 percent re- bates allowed non-delinquent tax- yers in Juneau and Douglas, He held further the plaintiffs had submitted evidence proving that taxpayers lack adequate remedy under the new law for recovery of taxes paid under protest, as re- quired under certain circumstances by Section 48-7-1 of the Alaskan Compiled Laws. Will Appeat Attorney General J. Gerald Wil- liams gave notice of appeal througn his assistant, John Dimond. Wil- liams is at present on a six-week vacation in the states, but told Di- mond before he left that in case the decision went against the Ter- ritory that appeal would be filed. Attorneys for the co-plaintifis were Edward F. Medley, Seattle; Charles o). Clasby, Fairbanks, and H. L. Faulkner, Juneau. With the Territory as defendarnts were the city of Fairbanks and the Fairbanks school district. ‘The judge ruled against the min- ing claim section, basically, on the ground that an owner has to pay the same tax for one acre or 20-- and twice as much for 20% acres as for 20. Arbitrary $500 The law sets an arbitrary $500 valuation as the “assessed value of unimproved, unpatented mining claims which are not producing, and non-producing patented claims, upon which improvements orig- inally reqtired for patent have be- come useless through deterforation, removal or otherwise” for “each 20 acres or fraction of each such claim.” Under that provision, such a min- ing claim of one acre would be valued at $500 for tax purposes. So would a claim up to, and including 20 acres. That makes the tax rate range from $500 an acre to $25 an acre, the judge noted. The tax on 20 1/10 acres, which is the maximum area of a quartz claim, would be a valuation of $1,000—or just under $50 an acre. The judge held the two sections of the law to be “clearly invalid.” He sald the whole law is built (Cortinued on Page Six) STEAMER MOVEMENTS Aleutian from Seattle in port and scheduled to sail westward at 3:30 p.m. Princess Norah from Vancouver in port and schedul to sail for Skagway at 11:30 tonight. Chilcotin from Vancouver sched- uled to arrive 6 p.m. Thursday. Princess Louise scheduled to sail from Vancouver tomorrow. Alaska scheduled to saill from Seattle Thursday. Baranof scheduled to sail frog> Seattle Saturday. Princess Kathleen scheduled ¥ sail from Vancouver Saturday.