The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, January 19, 1951, Page 1

kS e > HE DAILY “ALL-THE NEWS VOL. LXXVI, NO. 11,712 ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1951 Federa AGE TALKS START WITH CONTRACTORS Parleys SIarTin Anchorage Next Week-Dilemna Is Presented , ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan (PContractors start 1951 parleys with labor unions week. No matter the outcome, th contractors feel they can't win. A contractor today outlined the | dilemma. | If wage increases are not grant- | ed, prospects are that few construc- | tion workers will come to Alaska this spring and summer. If wage increases are given out, many contractors who hold $70,000,- | 000 worth of work under the old | wage scale will be unable to meet increased costs. . There is some discussion of seek- | ing renegotiation of government | contracts in the hope of boosting them to cover an increased labor cost. The Associated General Contrac- | tors will meet with seven labor | unions next week. In the first meeting, they’ll talk things over with teamsters, laborers, operat- ing engineers, cement finishers, ironworkers and roofers. The car- penters want to talk things over separately. One of the main topics on the | agenda will be wages, although | other working conditions will be discussed. A meeting Monday likely will conflict with—or defer to—a meet- ing with ex-Sen. Frank P. Gra- ham of North Carolina and military and other governmental agencies. The Graham meeting will try to obtain a no-strike pledge in case negotiations for working agreements fail to result in contracts, a spokes- man said. Graham will serve “in the nature of a consultant to the Interior Department,” it was an- nounced in Washington, D. C. Meanwhile, electricians are meet-| ing Fairbanks, Some local elec- 19— wage n tricians are taking exception to having Anchorage wages set at Fairbanks. | Painters and sheet metal workers wil meet soon with sub-contractors. Plumbers, having signed a two- year-pact last year, have negotia- tions coming up. STEAMER MOVEMENTS Princess Norah from Vancnuver‘ scheduled to arrive Saturday after- noon or evenings. Denali scheduled to sail from Se- attle, 4 p.m., today. Baranof from westward sched- uled to arrive 1 p.m., Sunday south- bound. i The Washington| Merry - Go - Round By DREW PEARSON (Copyright, 1951, by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) | ASHINGTON — Only a hand- full know it ,but the raging argu- ments between President Truman and Sen. Robert A. Taft could have been avoided. A few weeks after his big elec- tion victory in Ohio in November, Taft sent word to the White House he would be glad to sit down with Mr. Truman and talk over the problems of defense with the view to reaching a closer cooperation between the Adminisiration and the | GOP leadership. Senator Taft's position, as ex- pressed by such nonpolitical mem- bers of the Administration team as Undersecretary of Defense Robert | Lovett, was that he had not made | up his mind on foreign policy | and wanted to hear all sides. In: fact, friends of Taft said that he! was so anxious to attain the sta- ture of invalid Sen. Arthur Van- denberg, that he was willing to! drop isolationism if he could be shown it was against our best in- terests. This was reported to President Truman by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, also by Secretary of De- fense George Marshall, They urg- ently felt the Senator should be | |had asked, disclosed that he had | for overall controls to become ef- STRENGTH OF RED 16 FROM ANCHORAGE Shakeupin ESA Ranks By I_ruman Valentine RTaiudanin Fir- ed-Eric Johnston Placed in New Command WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 — (® — President Truman shook up the nation’s economic high command today. In an effort to resolve a high level row over when to clamp a price-wage freeze on the country, Mr. Truman reluctantly fired Alan Valentine as Economic Stabilization Director and replaced him with Eric Johnston. Johnston, granted leave as Presi- dent of the Motion Picture Associ- ation of America, formerly h(-udedj the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. { ‘Whether the shakeup would speed or delay the imposition of the long- rumored wage-price freeze was up in the air. Charles E. Wilson, Defense Mobi- | lization Director, would say only that it would speed a decision of when to apply the controls. Valentine, in a letter of resigna- tion which he said the President laid before Wilson yesterday a plan fective “about February 1.” He also wrote that: “I can fully appreciate pressures | upon you for drastic action which, though it has seemed to me pre- mature, you now feel should be| taken immediately. I should not; stand in the way of your desires.” Mr. Truman replied that Valen- tine had served the public interest| by stating his position “so openly and honestly.” Michael V. Disalle, ESA’s Price Stabilization Director, two weeks ago urged an immediate 30 day moratorium on price increases, but was overruled by Valentine. John- ston, the new ESA chief, was a} backer of Disalle for-the price direc- tors job. KOREA TROOPS IS STILL UNCHANGED, WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 — (® —! An Army briefing officer said to- day that Chinese Communist troop strength in Korea appears un- changed from that of recent weeks. In answer to questions, he told reporters the army here has no in- formation indicating any with- drawal of the best elements of the Chinese Communist armies. So far as is known at the Penta- gon, Chinese Communist strength in | the Korean battle zone still re- mains at about 300,000, with another 450,000 in the combat field l'l)rces,l the so-called “striking reserve,” to! the north. This reserve force is in| the Yalu river area, but the brief- ing officer said it could not be estimated what part of it is on the Korean side and what part in Man- churia. He said that while the Chinese Third Field Army, which operated {against U.N. forces in North Korea, may have suffered heavy casual- ties—possibly as much as 50 percent —the Third Army appears still to be in that general area. 3 FLY WESTWARD | VIA PNA THURSDAY| Sixteen arrived here from An- chorage yesterday via Pacific North- | ern Airlines and three flew to An—l chorage. To Anchorage: Ralph Zwolsman, A. V. Collar and R. Brown. From Anchorage: Steve McCutc- heon, A. Conright, Mr. and Mrs. D. N. McDonald, Gunnard Engebreth, Mr. and Mrs. Les Disson, Paul Johns, Bill Soule, B. Gutherie, T. Thorson, H. Nelson, D. Brestrom,; Elmer Mork, R. Nathan and Lee Charles. \ CONTRACTOR HERE Bob Slater, Fairbanks contrac- invited to the White House. The White House Staff, however, | | (Continued on Page Four) tor, planned to leave today for Se- weeks. i Pound [ Grant A Branding Red China Aggressor Few Dissents on House Voice Vote—Joint Repub- lican-Democrat Action WASHINGTON, Jan. 19—(»—The House of Representatives, after a flurry of debate, called on the Un- ited Nations today to brand Com. munist China the aggressor in Kor- ea, A resolution to that effect sped through on a voice vote. Only a few dissents could be heard. Action was delayed for a brief time after some Republicans con: tended the resolution was equiv- alent to a declaration of war on Red China, The resolution was brought to the floor by Democratic Leader Mc- Cormack of Massachusetts jointly with Republican Leader Martin of Massachusetts. McCormack told the House the resolution was presented as a move to “show clearly not only to the country, but to the world, the bipar- tisan unity of sentiment which exists among Americans.” McCormack made clear it was the | product of joint action by him- self and Martin, and was drawn with the prior approval of other leading Republican and Democratic members of the House. Rep. Shafer (R-Mich) forced a roll call of the membership to de- lay action after asserting the GOP collaborators on the resolution “don’t speak for the Republican Party.” Rep. Hoffman (R-Mich) also criticized the resolution as a step to turn over to the United Na- tions the authority of Congress to declare war. “I don't see how you have the nerve—how you dare to presume— to do such a thing,” he said. UN DELAYS BRANDING RED CHINA LAKE SUCCESS, Jan, 19—(®— Sponsors of a move to tag Com- munist China an aggressor decided today to delay introduction of their resolution until tomorrow to allow more time for delegates to con- | sult their governments. The decision was disclosed by a spokesman for the United States delegation after a busy morning of conferences between Americans, French and British commonwealth nations. It.had been expected that a joint resolution would be pre- sented at this afternoon’s meet- ing of the UN political committee. The situation was further compli- | cated by opposition of some c9\11"-l13u'.r0v1(:h predicted it will be tied tries, especially from Asia and the middle east, to any condemnation of the Peiping regime. Representa- tives of the ten Arab-Asian coun- tries met privately in New York this morning for more than two hours to consider the possibility of a new peace bid to the Chinese Communists. They declined to say whether they had reached an agree- ment. NORTHWAY VISITORS Mr. and Mrs. Warren R. Cyphers and daughter of the CAA station at Northway are guests at the Bar- anof Hotel, STOCK QUOTATIONS NEW YORK, Jan. 19 — Closing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 3%, American Can 99%, American Tel. and Tel. 154%, Anaconda 41%, Douglas Aircraft 106%, General Electric 52%, General Motors 48%, Goodyear 71, Kenne- cott 78%, Libby McNeill and Libby 9%, Northern Pacific 33, Standard Oil of California 94%, Twentieth Century Fox 22%, U.S. Steel 456%, $2.80, Canadian Exchange 95.12%. Sales today were 3,160,000 shares. Averages today are as follows: in- ‘attle to return here in about two |dustrials 246.76, rails 8381, utilities 42.40. laska BUTROVICH Here Sunday, Gives Pic: fure on Taxation | By JIM HUTCHESON | | SEATTLE, Jan. 19—P—The Sen- ator who is likely to be the Repub- | lican leader in the new Alaska Le- | gislature predicted today that the | 1951 session will be a no-tax session. “I doubt seriously if any new | taxes will be enacted,” Territorial | Sen. John Butrovich of Fairbanks | said. He expressed the belief there is no need for new ones and that there certainly is no desire for them on the part of the public. The 1951 session opens at Juneau | Monday, with Democrats solidly in control of the House and an even eight-eight split of the two parties in the Senate. Butrovich, who has been hos- pitalized here for surgical treat- ment, expects to fly to Juneau Sun- day. ' “The Budget problem; I think it is the only real problem,” declared the businessman who played a key {role as chairman of the 1949 Sen- | ate Finance Committee in drafting i the budget under which the Terri- tory now is operating. Butrovich sald he thinks “it will| be a very peaceful session—once we | get organized.” He predicted the major contro- versies will be over “side issues"— such items as the disagreements thgt figured prominently in the election campiagn. But he acknowledged the organi- | zation of the evenly divided Senate | might bring a lively battle to start things off. He recalled the deadlock of several days in electing Senate | officers when the 1949 Senate was. 1 evenly divided. ! Possible President Butrovich himself has been men- tioned prominently as the possible choice for Senate President. He declined to comment on whether he | would be interested in holding the | 1 presiding officer’s gavel if it is thrust in his direction. The budget- framing Finance Committee job is his first love. In discussing the tax possibilities, Butrovich said the only likely new sources would be a boost in the in- come tax or a levy of more excise taxes on the things the public buys. He said he doesn’t think anyone wants either. The favorable phase of the taxa- tion picture, he said, is the revenue from the income tax. Since it is 10 percent of the federal income tax, it will automatically increase when the 'iederal tax goes up. “T think it will produce $7,000,000 in the next biennium,” he asserted. «1t will more than make up for what is lost in the general property tax.” The property tax, enacted by the 1949 legislature, was held invalid by the District Court in Alaska. iup in the courts for the next bien- nium, so it can not be taken into the revenue picture. Cites Report Butrovich cited a report from Tax Commissioner M. P. Mullaney of income tax collections of $3,302,077 for 1950. That’s a rate of $6,600,000 for the biennium, and the Senator recalled that the 1949 Senate Fi- nance Committee estimate was only $4,000,000 for the two-year period. He recalled there were skeptics in 1949 who predicted the tax would fall short of the $4,000,000 estimate. The income tax, part of the basic tax program long advocated by Gov- ernor Gruening, was the biggest source of revenue, by far. The total 1950 tax take listed by the Tax Commissioner was $9,549,- 310. The other major sources were: raw fish tax $1,399,913; liquor ex- cise taxes $1,367,836; fuel tax for roads $915923; fish trap licenses $584,050; tobacco tax $442,632; auto license plates $278,840; non-resident fishermen’s licenses $249,541. In discussing the prospect of ap- propriations in the next budget,; Butrovich said he doesn't think| services of the territory will have to be curtailed, “but’we won't be able to enlarge on them. We will have to hold the lines.” et iR A L Bt TR T Mike Stepovich, Fairbanks, is at the Baranof Hotel. | MEMBER A SSOCIATED PRESS ALASKA EMPIRE PRICE TEN CENTS Airport Being Probed So Coldin Fairbanks that LEGISLATORS - FORSEESNO | GATHER HERE - NEW TAXES, FOR SESSION | Fairbanks S_e;lalor Due|More Ihan_rralf of Mem- bership Was in Juneau by Noon Today With only two days remaining before the opening of the 20th session of the Territorial Legisla- ture, members of the Senate and House have been gathering in Ju- neau for the past week, looking for apartments or other living quarters and generally preparing for the coming 60 days. As of early this forenoon a bare majority—21 of the 40 members— was in Juneau. These included 10 Senators of the total of 16 and 11 Representatives of the 24 who’ are due to take their seats. Members of the 20th Senate are: FIRST DIVISION Elton E. Engstrom, Juneau Re- publican, serving the first session of his first term, now in Juneau. Anita Garnick, Juneau Republi- can, serving the second session of her first term in the Senate, now in Juneau. James Nolan, Wrangell Democrat, serving the first session of his first Senate term, was due to arrive from Wrangell today. R. M. MacKenzie, Ketchikan Democrat, serving the second ses- sion of his first term in the Sen- ate. Due to arrive before the open- ing of the session. SECOND DIVISION Howard Lyng, Nome Democrat and Democratic National Commit- teeman for Alaska, is serving the second session of his second Senate term, He arrived in Juneau last week after attending the Anchorage meeting of the Alaska Statehood Committee, of which he is a mem- ber. Edward Anderson, Nome Demo- crat, is serving the second session of his first Senate term. He has not yet arrived in Juneau. Wwilliam Beltz, Nome Democrat and serving the first session of his first Senate term, arrived from Fairbanks via PAA yesterday. Percy Ipalook, Republican from Kotzebue, is serving the first ses- sion of his first term in the Sen- ate. He has not yet arrived in Juneau, THIRD DIVISION Gerrit, “Heinie” Snider, Republi- can from Wasilla, is serving the first session of his first Senate term. He arrived from Anchorage on Wedenesday. Gunnard Engebreth, Anchorage Republican, is serving the first session of his second term in the Senate and was Senate President in the 19th Session. He arrived from Anchorage yesterday. Steve McCutcheon, Anchorage Democrat, is serving the second session of his second term in the Senate. He came to Juneau from Anchorage yesterday via PNA. Walter Huntley, Palmer Demo- crat, is serving the second session of his first term in the Senate. He had not yet arrived in Juneau at noon today. FOURTH DIVISION John Butrovich, Jr., Fairbanks Republican, is serving the second session of his second term in the Senate, He was due to ‘arrive in Juneau from Seattle today. Frank Barr, Fairbanks Democrat, is serving the second session of his first Senate term and arrived from Falrbanks yesterday via PAA. A. F. “Joe” Coble, Fairbanks Re- publican, is serving the first session of his first Senate term and arrived from Fairbanks yesterday. W. L. “Dan” Lhamon, Fairbanks|. Republican, is serving the first ses- sion of his first Senate term and arrived from Seattle on Tuesday. Members of the House of Repre- sentatives of the 20th Legislature are: — FIRST DIVISION Dorls M. Barnes, wrangell Re. publican, served in the 19th Leg- islature and arirved in Juneau on Monday. Waino Hendrickson, Juneau Re- publican, is serving his first term and is now in Juneau, his home. Vernon Metcalfe, Juneau Demo- erat, serving his first term, is in Juneau. J. 8, e —— (Continued on Page TWwc) “Sim MacKinnon, Juneau | 1 E | e o ] . . . . . ] L] . ] . . . . . [ . . [ . . . . . . Cold Storage Freeze; Po\[lerloa UN PROWL FORCENOW IN WONJU No Oppogn_ion Is Met- Thousand Reds Killed, Others Are Routed (By Associated Press A United Nations prowl force re- occupied the ruined and abandoned road-rail hub of Wonju today with- out meeting any opposition. Two air-supporte Allied attack regiments on another sector of the snowclad east-central Korean bat- tlefront killed 1,000 Reds and rout- ed the remainder of their strong force in a continuing fight. A big Red offensive effort was still expected to break out all across the peninsula at any time. Allied patrols have been entering and leaving Wonju, the key traffic junctfon in central Korea, since the U. 8. 8econd Division withdrew Tuesday from & looping line two miles south of the-town. Only civilians were on hand to watch the reinforced patrol reenter The two UN attack regiments— normally 6,000 men—smashed a large enemy force seven miles southeast of Yongwol, on the east- ern end of the war front. “We put the enemy on the run,” an officer said tersely. Meantime, Communist forces ap- parently continued to shift to cen- tral and eastern sectors of the Korean front. After two full weeks of quiet—the Chinese always take plenty of time mounting offensives—the enemy was maintaining most of his force south of Seoul but was feeding it to central towns leading to Taegu, pivot point of the old Pusan line toward which Allieq forces have been slowly withdrawing. One captured North Korean sold- ier said his outfit had been ordered to intiltrate Allied positions and to reach Taegu. Associated Press correspondent Don Huth reported from Eighth Army headquarters it appeared “posible that the long-awaited Red offensive to drive the UN troops from Korea may start rolling again soon.” DEC. QUIET FOR CG Last December was an unusually quiet month in the search and res- cue section of 17th U. S. Coast Guard, headquarters reported here today. SAFETY MEET TODAY A regular monthly meeting of the Southeast Alaska Federal Safety Council was in session at the Coast Guard headquarters here today. The objective of the meetings is to pro- mote safety-consciousness among federal agencies. WEATHER REPORT Temperatures for 24-Hour Period ending 6:20 o'clock this morning In Juneau—Maximum, 17; minimum, 11. At Airport—Maximum, 18; minimum. —1. FORECAST (Juneau and Vieinity) Mostly - fair tonight with lowest temperature near 1 degrees. Increasing cloudi- ness Saturday with occa- sional light snow flurries by afternoon. Highest tempera- ture Saturday near 18 de- grees. PRECIPITATION (Past 34 hours ending 7:30 a.m. today City of Juneau — Trace; since Jan. 1 — 382 inches; since July 1—41.81 inches. At Airport Trace; since Jan. 1 — 221 inches; since July 1—30.21 inches. ® 0 0 0 0 0 0 00 Perishables dsHeavy FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Jan. 19— (M —Fairbanks’ steam-gengrating plant was taxed to capacity today to provide heat to combat a severe subzero colkd wave that has grip- ped interior Alaska for nearly a week. Merchants and hotel and apart- ment-dwellers reported increasing hardships as steam pressure fell off in the face of 52-below-zero cold. The Fairbanks Cold Storage Co., retail food store-and cold storage lockers, after five days without heat, reported heavy losses in vege- tables, eggs and canned goods. Ef- forts to save the food by using el- ectric heaters and coal oil stoves unsuceessful. Utilities officials said the trouble resulted from a combination of the bitter cpld, extra heavy power loads, and an inferior grade of coal used in the manufacture of steam. The Northern Commercial Co., power plant was strained almost beyond capacity, and electrical crews worked to reduce loads. Per- mission was sought to use the boil- er in the Federal building. Lack of steam pressure affected downtown stores, hotels, apart- ments and business houses gen- prally. Stores had exhausted their sup- plies of perishables, fresh milk, Lfih meat and éggs received in the {ast commercial flight a week ago today. There were plenty of staples but no fresh foods. The temperature dropped to 52 degrees below zero last night and the weatherman said no relief was in sight. A thick fog covered the Fairbanks area has complicated the problem of supply. During a six-hour break yesterday, two planes slipped in and picked up five legislators who were flying to the legislature at Juneau. The fog closed in again and last night visibility in the streets was reduced to less than 10 feet. Cold On Rail Belt ANCHORAGE—®—Bitter cold— down to minus 68 at one point— continues, The report of 68 below came from Dunbar on the Alaska Railroac yesterday. That was four degrees warmer than two days ago at that interior point. It was 60 below at Mount McKinley Park, -64 at Fort Yukon. At Anchorage the temperature reached 32 below at 6 a.m. yester- day, the lowest January mark on record here. It was 37 below Wednesday eve- ning at Palmer, lowest in 10 years. Other points in the Matanuska Valley reported temperatures down to 50 below. The cold spell hit last weekend, after a previously mild winter. JACK HOLT, MOVIE MAN FROM ALASKA, DIES IN HOLLYW0OD HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 19 — (A — Death has claimed Jack Holt, 62, hard-riding cowboy of both the open and cinema range. He succumbed last night at the Veterans' hospital in West Los An- geles to coronary thrombosis. He had suffered three severe heart at- tacks since shortly before Christ- mas. His son, Tim, also an actor in westerns, was with him almost con- stantly during his last illness. Jack Holt was a former Alaskan, in Nome, Fairbanks, also Dawson but chiefly in Valdez. He was a miner, prospector and previous to going south was a dog musher out of Valdez on the old Fairbanks trail. He broke into the movies when he was watching production of an Alaska picture in Hollywood, re- sented the director'’s methods, told him he was way off and the direc- tor said, “you take over” and Holt did and remained in the movies. —— BARRS HERE Mr. and Mrs. Frank Barr of Fairbanks are stopping at the Baranof Hotel, He is Territorial Senator. PALMER DEAL IS TAKEN UP Two Applic_aa)ns Investi- gated - CAA Officials Giving Testimony By FRANK W. VAILLE WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 — (B — Mgmbers of a Senate Investigating mmittee are probing into whau they said appeared to be “slip- shod” and “hasty” methods of the Civil Aeronautics Administration in the approval of federal grants for alrports. ‘The subcommittee is inquiring into purported irregularitiés in con- nection with the allocation of fed- eral funds for a field at Palmer, Alaska. R The investigation resulted from the Alaska Aeronautics Commis- sion’s rejection of one CAA-ap- proved grant for the Palmer field and its subsequent submission of a second application in which the value of the airport land was in- creased from $5,500 to $150,000. The second application also ob- tained CAA approval but no federal funds have been transferred under it. Variations Noticed The variation between the two applications increased approved federal participation in the Palmer field from $94,750 to $145,125, Com- mittee counsel said. The committee members directed their principal questions at what efforts had been made by the CAA to verify land values claimed in the applications and to check owner- ship of the land involved. CAA of- ficials called as witnesses sald no such checks had been made. Land Involved In its initial request the Alaska Commission said it owned one tract of the land involved and was nego- tiating for the second. Its later re- quest said none of the land actually was owned by the commission and that it would cost $150,000. Edward G. Fisher, airways engi- neer for the CAA’s Eighth Region at Anchorage, told the committee yesterday afternoon that he had “apparently misunderstood the ques- tion” when he testified earlier that it was “obvious” to him the com- mission was attempting to recover construction costs incurred before any federal aid was asked when it subimitted its second application, including the increased land values. No “Subterfuge” He said he did not consider that any “subterfuge” was being used— that the commission reasoned that as long as previous construction costs were not allowable under the federal afirport act it would put in for the value of the land which it had not entered in the original ap- plication. Several CAA officials testified it was not required under the agency’s operational procedure that an ap- plicant for funds show a holding of title to the property involved or that improvements had been made until the applicant asked that the government make an initial pay- ment on any grant. Chris Lample, CAA Administra- tor for Alaska’s public airports, tes- tified it was permissible under CAA interpretation of the federal air- port act for an applicant to apply for grants based on the property value as enhanced by construction improvements even though it was not permissible to include the cost i+ of those improvements as such. He denied ever having talked with any territorial official concerning means of “getting around” the re- striction on inclusion of improve- ment costs. Also testifying yesterday were William Conover, Operations Offi- cer for the CAA in Washington; and Joseph Fitzgerald, regional CAA at- torney in Anchorage. Two territorial officials—George | Schwamm, Alaska Aeronautics Com- i mission Director, and Stanley Mc- Cutcheon, Commission Counsel — and Roland Snodgrass, Secretary of the Palmer Aeronautics Committee, were to testify today SCHWAMM TESTIFIES WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 — P — The director of the Alaska Aero- nautics Commission told investigat- ntinued on Page TWo)