The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, March 14, 1951, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE “ALL TLE NEWS ALL THE TIME” VOL. LXXVI,, NO. 11,757 JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14, 1951 Millions Terrified by PROPERTY TAX REPEAL BILL PASSES HOUSE By BOB DE ARMOND The Alaska Property Tax repeal | bill one of the most voted on meas- ures of the present session, passed | the House of Representatives late yesterday afternoon by a 14-10 vote. The bill failed to pass last Satur- day. On Monday the House rescind- ed this vote but the bill was held over another day by Rep. McCut- cheon’s notice of intention to re- consider his vote on indefinitely postponing the bill. The measure now goes to the Senate, which may not receive it. It is expected that the two-thirds rule will be invoked there and 11 votes will be required to rececive the bill Also passed by the House yester- day afternoon was the $18,319,558.50 | general appropriations bill, which | went through without amendment. | A motion by Rep. Miscovich to strike the $90,000 appropriation for the Alaska Development Board lost | by a 6-17 vote and another motion | to reduce the appropriation to $40,- | 000 lost on a voice vote. Rep. Metcalfe objected to a cut of $39,700 from the appropriation | request of the National Guard, but | was unsuccessful in amending the | appropriation upward. An amendment offerd by Rep. Laws to forbid the spending of any of the Governor's $6,000 entertain- ment appropriation for liquor was voted down. Memorial Troubles The House spent much of its aft- ernoon session generating a high head of steam, as it has several times in the past, over a memorial. House Memorial No. 36, asking that Congress provide for the election of the Governor of Alaska, sent the‘ gauges soaring when an amendment | was offered by Rep. Kay. H * The amendment, finally votkd | down 11-13, provided an additional request that Alaska be allowed to draft and amend her own consti- tution to replace the Organic Act. | “It looks, I am sorry to say, as| though statehood will be delayed at least two years and perhaps longer,” said Rep. Kay. “Meanwhile, Con- gress may accept the election of the governor as an adequate substitute ! for statehood. I think it would be a mistake not to drive as hard a bar- gain as we can. We should ask for a constitution, control of our lands and control of our fisherics as well | as an elective governor.” Too Many Subjects Rep. Franklin objected to the| amendmex® and other proposed amendments on the grounds that the memorial would cover too many subjects. Rep. Stepovich, one of the au- thors of the memorial also objecteil “This is not a complicated memor- | ial and the amendment, which is not { germane to the subject of the me-! morial, would only confuse the PROPERTY | other House after the 50th day. 1in the old country.” issue,” he said. “This whole memorial is designed to confuse the issue,” contended Rep. Scavenius. “Senator Butler’s bill for the election of a governor was a sidetrack to statehood.” “We have repeatedly been ig- nored by Congress, and Senator Butler is the biggest traitor we the people of Alaska have ever had,” added Rep. McCutcheon. “He has done everything possible to knife the people of Alaska in the back and he is now waiting back there to get his hands on this memorial so he can wave it around to show that Alaska will take an elective governor instead of statehood.” Picked Side Issues Senator Butler, McCutcheon as- serted, had picked side issues to de- feat statehood. “He took up the Palmer airport and used an hour of the valuable time @f the U. S. Senate to make false charges. He charged me with forging the name of Rolland Snodgrass to a docu- ment when he had a written state- ment from Snodgrass that refuted the charge,” McCutcheon said. “I don’t see what Mr. McCut- cheon’s feud with Senator Butler has to do with the subject of this amendment,” broke in Rep. Misco- vich. “I don’t believe Senator Butler wrote the bill for the election of a goverrior,” said Rep. Metcalfe. “T see in it the fine hand of some of the vested interests.” He cited a re- port of the Interior and Insular Alaska Railroad Is Taking High Toll of Moose; (an't Budge An TAXREPEAL BILL DEAD By JIM HUTCHESON A bill to repeal the 1949 Alaska general proparty law died today without ever getting through the Senate door The bill that had been killed, r: cinded, resurrected and reconsider-, ed, to earn the title of “most voted on” bill of 1951 in the House, was rejected 10 to 6 by the Senate. A two-thirds vote of the Senate would have been required to receive the bill. That meant 11 votes would have been required, and it only polled six — Butrovich, Coble, Enge- breth, En om, Lhamon and Sni- der. The two-thirds is necessary to suspend the rules for receipt of any- thing but appropriations or reve- nue-raising measures from the o5 This is the 52nd. The Senate had a number of flurries during the morning. It voted 14 to 2 to ask Lt. Gen. William Kepner, commanding gen- eral of Alaska, to appear before the Senate on civilian defense needs and problems. The invitation was proposed by Sen. Frank Barr, who introduced the $1,100,000 civilian defense bill which has not yet been acted upon by either House. Barr said he was certain Kepner would come if invited. The votes against inviting him were by Sens. Joe Coble and Heinie Snider. They contended his appear- ance would be a lobbying move for the civilian defense bill, Opposing the general’s appearance before the lawmakers, Snider de- clared: “that’s the way they do it Senate Furore A bill by Sen. Anita Garnick to increase Territorial officials’ and employes’ salaries caused one “rief furore before it was delayed further by referral to the engrossment com- mittee. It failed to poll the needed two-thirds vote to suspend the rules and put it up for a final vote. Sen. Elton Engstrom proposed an amendment to eliminate the follow- ing lines: “Deputy auditor “Deputy Labor Commissioner . $7,500" Senator Garnick retorted hotly that “Senator Engstrom is trying to take out his spite on my brother.” Ed Garnick is the deputy labor commissioner. The Senate voted 13 to 3 for a bill by eight senators for $100,000 aid for community health facilities (while the House was tabling a sim- ilar measure for $40,000 this morn- ing after having previously voted down one for $150,000). It also passed unanimously a bill authorizing the micrfilming of Ter- ritorial Health Department vital statistics records. It has a $16,400 appropriation. $7,500 Some ‘Clashes * The discussion over the health facilities aid measure brought some clashes over the Territory’s financial status, Sen. Gunnard Engebreth, one of the eight sponsors, started off with the comment: “These facilities are so sorely needed in the isolated spots in the Territory I don’t see how anyone could be against it.” Sen. Howard Lyng noted that the House already had killed such a measure, and added: “I think it is bad practice to introduce a bill in one House when it already has been beaten in the other.” Sen. John Butrovich declared: “I just don’t believe in writing any more bum checks. I voted for a $200,000 appropriation last session for hospital aid, but we've got to) face hard financial facts.” The} money, he insisted, just isn't there. He cited the commissioner’s of- ficial estimate, before the session, of anticipated revenue of $18,000,000 for the general fund. He noted that | (Continued on Page Two) (Continued on Page Two) b— imals ANCHORAGE, March 14.—(®— Faster traveling passenger and freight traihs are taking a new high toll of moose this winter despite all efforts of the Alaska Railroad to keep the animals off the tracks. In the past two winters approx- imately 320 moose lost their lives No official count has been annuon- ced but the moose toll this wniter is certain to set a new record. Six moose were killed on one trip alone. How to keep the moose off the tracks is the big problem to the railroad. Trainmen have tried everything from throwing snowballs to build- ing “parking lots” for the animals. The latter are large 45-degree turnouts which the railroad hopes will be used by the moose as their exercise area, rather than the tracks. One engineer tried to persuade a group of moose to leave the tracks by throwing snowballs. How- ever, one stubborn animal charged the locomotive and broke his neck. Deep snows, escpecially between Houston, mile 174, Curry and mile 248, lead the moose to use the tracks rather than try to break through the drifts. Oscillating lights, piercing whis- tles, fuses, steam and snowballs all failed to budge the moose. Moose killed on the railroad are immediately dressed by the train crew. The meat is given to the Fish and Wildlife Service for distribu- tion to charitable groups, and to schools for cafeteria meals. MEDIATION POSTPONES PAA STRIKE NEW YORK, March 14 —®—A threatened strike of port stewards against Pan American World Air- ways has been postponed for 10 days to allow more time for media- tion of a wage dispute. The port stewards, members of the CIO Transport Workers Union, had set the strike for midnight fo- night. The union, announcing the post- ponement last night, told the Na- tional Mediation Board in a tele- gram that the action was taken “in view of the present national emerg- ency and in recognition of your invaluable expert services , . . .” Involved in the dispute are a small number of workers in New York, Miami, San Francisco, Seat- tle and Brownsville, Tex. The main demand of the stewards is for an increase of 16 cents an hour. Their pay now ranges from $1.25 to $1.91 an hour. GORDON SMITH HERE Gordon Smith of Lions Interna- tional from Seattle is in Juneau at the Baranof Hotel. He plans to join the Juneau Lions and go to Sitka for the Alaska convention this weekend. ® ® o ® o & 0o 0 o WEATHER REPORT Temperature for 24-Hour Period ending 6:20 o'clock this morning In Juneau Maximum, 33; minimum, 26. At Airport — Maximum, 32; minimum, 22. FORECAST Snow tonight and Thurs- day. Easterly winds 15 to 25 miles per hour decreasing Thursday. Low temperature tonight near 28 and high Thursday near 34, PRECIPITATION (Past 24 hours ending 7:30 a.m. today City of Juneau — .10 incheg; Since March 1 — 1.06 inches; Since July 1 — 5195 inches. At Airport — .01 inches; Since March 1 —81 inches; Since July 1 — 33.19 ‘inches. .6 0 0 0 0 0 0 o ®0000c0e00c00c0ccc0c0cs0000o0 e © 000000000000 0000000000000000 —_— ALLIES ARE AGAIN BACK Bitter Fighting Gives Way fo Sudden Ominous Quiet on Front By Associated Press Five South Korean patrols enter- | . ed Seoul tonight and raised the Republican flag over the old capitol building. The Eighth Army said they met no opposition. “They will stay there if they can,” an Eighth Army spokesman said. Communist forces for the past three days have been reported mys- miles of the Korean front. Enter Fourth Time If the Allies stay in Seoul, this will be the fourth time the old South Korean capital has changed hands since the Korean Reds stormed across the border last June. The Eighth Army said patrols of the ROK First Division raised the flag Wednesday afternoon. How- ever, a dispatch from AP corre- spondent Jim Becker said the west gate was not reached until 7 p.m. Happy Again The capitol building is in the northern section of the city. “I am very happy to be entering Seoul again,” said Gen. Paik Sun Yup, commander of the ROK Di- vision. U, S. 25th Division troops eaN one week ago and driven 10 miles northward against steadily weaken- ing Communist opposition. These forces already were northeast of the city. Rear Guard Actions Elsewhere the Reds Wednesday fought rear-guard delaying actions on the East-Central front but con- tinued their mysterious withdrawal in other sectors. For two hours they held up U. S. Second Division infantrymen ad- vancing up the mountainous spine of the peninsula. The Doughboys met intense small arms fire from about 150 Reds dug in one mile north of Yudong. Reds Blasted The Reds were blasted by air and artillery fire. Shortly after noon the Americans were able to move north- ward again. All along the 70-mile front Al- lied patrols were seeking the re- treating Reds. The Chinese and North Koreans had fled so fast from most sectors that UN troops lost almost all contact with them, of the city had crossed the Han|. MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTS = on Tracks) IN SEQ UL o teriously withdrawing all along 70| Associated Press correspondent. (P down the slope from hilltop where he was hit by machinegun fire. Action took placenorth of Hoensong. Leathernecks in background rest after heavy fire forced withdrawal. This is a picture by John Randolp, ‘Wirephoto. Mysterious Shuddering Wounded Marine Treated : NORTHERN EUROPE 1S SHAKEN UP Tremor Se@sl Ever Re- corded-Was it Quake or Atomic Explosion? LONDON, March 14—(P—Millions of persons in Northern Europe were terrified today by a violent shudder- ing of the earth's crust which some thought might have been caused by an atomic-sized explosion inside Eastern Germany, The tremor, one of the severest ever recorded in Germany, was fol- lowed in some sections there by a giant blast of wind. The shock and wind rattled windows, shook down war ruins, and tossed pictures off the walls of many homes. No ex- tensive damage was reported. Seismologists speculated that the epicenter was either in the Eifel mountains of West Germany or in Thuringia, in the eastern zone of Soviet-occupied Germany. The terrestial convulsion, which lasted from five to six seconds with “echoes” of 15 minutes duration, was felt in varying degrees in a wide arc including Belgium, Hol- land, Northern and Eastern France, Denmark and Sweden. Beside the earthquake, temptes- tuosu gales and heavy rains com- SEATTLE LUMBER 0. WILL BUILD MILLINSE ALASKA Construction of a swamill with i annual capacity of 25 million board feet is to be built in Southeast Alaska, possibly in the Juneau area by the Nettleton Lumber Company of Seattle, it was revealed here this morning by M. L. Nelson, mechan- ical superintendent of the company. Nelson is in Juneau this week to look over possible local sites suit- able for establishing a mill. In Southeast Alaska with Nelson 'is Benjamin Gardner, company secretary, who is now looking over possible sites for a mill in the southern districts. He is accompan- jed by Charles Burdick, assistant lregional forester of the U. S. For- est Service. Nelson is conferring with Forest Service officials today and is con- Imnu\ng investigations of possible sites for a mill on Gastineau Chan- nel, Nelson said the sawmill will be l Operations of the Eighth U. S.|an entirely modern electrically pow- Army forces were cloaked by a se-lered type with the newest labor- curity blackout. *saving devices for employes. The Bombardments company will install a log boom and At sea, the U. S. Battleship Mis-}cargo dock facilities. souri returned to action with a A total of at least 70 persons will heavy bombardment of the Chong- | be employed in the mill and office. jin area on the North Korean east coast, The “Big Mo” had been in Tokyo Bay for maintenance work. The east coast port city of Won- san was also bombarded — for the 26th day. |ARCTIC WORK LED BY REDS SAYS ARMY ST. LOUIS, March 14 —®— An instructor at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces says Russia is outspending the United States and Canada ten to one for Arctic ex- plorations. Col. Frederic G. Bryan yesterday told 300 civilians and reservists en- rolled in an economic mobilization course here that the Russians know the Arctic “and, in many cases, like it.” Bryan said Russian bases would probably. give ‘the Soviets the first round in a fight with the United States “Some bases are only 180 miles from Attu,” Bryan said. “The hub| of their bases is believed to be at Tiksi, 400 miles from Nome.” FROM SPENARD J. B. and C. P. Steward of Spen- ard are at the Gastineau Hotel. i It is expected the mill will main- tain a year-rounc operatiuu, Nelson said the company will buy logs on the open market from inde- pendent loggers. The Nettleton Lumber Company’s president, Walter B. Nettleton, is a ploneer sawinill operator on Puget Sound and his company has oper- ated the big mill at West Seattle the past 41 years. It is now oper- ating at a production level of 40 million board feet annually. During World War II the Net- tletor. Lumber Company was the larges:; of nine contractors cooper- ating with the Forest Service in the Alaska spruce log program for airplanie constructicn. Forest officials in Juneau today said the company has an excellent rating and the Service is glad to see companies of its type expand operations to Alaska. OPS REGULATION 9 AVAILABLE HERE NOWI Fred Hanford, OPS director for Aldska plans to leave next Monday on trip through Southeast Alaska towns in connection with price stabilization duties. Hanford announced today that :Price Regulation No. 9, . dated March 7, was being mailed out to {all Alaskan merchants carrying business licenses. Anyone else de- siring a copy may obtain one at the OPS office in the Valentine Bldg. This regulation concerns the territories and possessions. Enemy Might Set Forests of Afire, Asserts E Confrel Program for Alaska Nafion L2 WASHINGTON, March 14 —P—| An enemy attacking the United States might try to set the nation's richest forest afire, a government fire expert says. Such a fite would be aimed not | merely at destroying timber or ham- pering defense movements but at pr&vidlng a smoke screen for the advance of enemy forces, said Vance Tribbett, chief of forest protection DEMOCRATS BLOCK GOP RFC SWAT WASHINGTON, March 14 —(®— Truman Democrats, rallying sup- port from the southern wing of the party, turned back in the house today a Republican eifort to block an RFC reorganization. A roll call brought 200 votes to disapprove the reorganization pro- posal submitted by President Tru- man and 196 for the plan. But the issue came before the house in a way that required a constitutional majority—218 votes—to kill the pro- posal. The President’s plan is to replace the RFC's present five-man board of directors with a single admini- strator. 3 On the senate side of the Capitol, there was a move to pin down Rep. Hays (D-Ohio) on what he knows to substantiate his charge that two senators influenced an RFC loan to (Continued on Page Two) STOCK QUOTATIONS | NEW YORK, March 14 - - CloSing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 3's, American Can | 104%, American Tel. and Tel. 153, Anaconda 39%, Douglas Aireraft 94%, General Electric 53%, General Motors 51%, Goodyear 71, Kennecott 71%, Libby, McNeil and Libby 9%, Northern Pacific 32%. Standard Oil of California 44':, Twentieth Century Fox 21%, U. S. Steel 41%,) Pound $2.80, Canadian Exchange 95.56. Sales today were 2,110,000 shares. Averages today were as follows: Industrials 24397, rails 80.84, utili- ties 42.56. bined to give Europe one of her wildest 24 hours of the winter. _ In New York, the Rev. Joseph Lynch, diveector of the Fordham University observatory sald the estimated location of the center definitely inmcated an earthquake of the “resettlement” pattern com- mon in certain areas. TR perf; Prof. Friedrich Becker, director. of the Bonn, Germany, observatory, said the atomic explanation had not been entirely eliminated, but the western scientists trying to run down the origin and cause of the shock were handicapped for lack of definite information from behind the Iron Curtain, Given sufficient information in such occurrences, scientists would be able to pinpoint the source. . for the bureau of land management. For that reason, Tribbett told a reporter, civil defense planning s taking the potential threat of in- cendiary forest fires very much into account. , Fire-Controlled Programs The Land Management Bureau, an Interior Department agency, re- cently has been given responsibility for coordinating fire-control pro- | grams for the forest and range land of Alaska. The bureau administers 80 per cent of the land in the terri- tory. “We are operating on the possi- bility that enemy bombers would try to set Alaska’s forests on fire"” Tribbett said. “We also are mindful of the pos- Earth tremors, however, are fairly frequent in the area of the West German volcanic range, the Eifel mountains. By telephone, Prof. Friedrich Gerecke of the Soviet-controlled Earthquake Research Institute at Jena in East Germany said the quake was one of the strongest ever sibility of sabotage — of fires being set on the ground. “An enemy might thus set up a smoke screen to delay detection, and didn’t stop him in Alaska, he could go on down the Pacific Coast.” to ailow him to move in. And if wgl registered there. But he ruled out the possibility of an explosion. He {did not give any reasens for this view, Officials at Stuttgart University | scotched reports an explosion of i atomic intensity might have been | chikan are at the Baranof Hotel.l‘lnur Hotel. ithe cause of the shock. that last| Prof. Wilhelm Hiller said after a year, when lightning-set, wind- |careful éheck of records an earth- whipped fires burned over more |quake whose epicenter was near than 2,000,000 acres in Alaska, the | Euskirchen in the Rhineland caused smoke pall extended to a height ot | the tremors, Smoke Pall Tribbett pointed out in the Fairbanks and Anchorage‘added. area that commercial planes were | “Enough fires could be set to hamper military movement and pre- Tribbett said Alaska’s fire control | Bills to provide for the election of and fire prevention forces should be | the governors of Alaska and Hawaii | b, a St g, PR AR | | STEAMER MOVEMENTS | | Guard, Juneau and Anna Josephine Princess Norah scheduled to snlimelspn of Juneau have filed an 11,000 feet. “We are absolutely sure the cen- He said the smoke was so thick | ter was not. in East Germany,” he grounded and military aircraft had to fly by instrument. The condition was not relieved“ until the weather changed and rain came. vent air interception,” Tribbett said. 4 ’ “The same thing could happen in the Pacific Northwest—in Wash- | ington, Western Oregon, Western Montana, Northern Idaho and parts of Califorhia — our main sources faull of timber.” | WASHINGTON, March 14 —(®— doubled in order to provide ade- by residents of the Territories were quate civil defense. | introduced by Rep. A. L. Miller (R~ Tribbett said plans for forest fire | Neb), yesterday. control in the Pacific Northwest| The governors now are appointed are to be completed by May 1. | by the President. MARRIAGE APPLICATION Donald Jerome Kane, U. S. Coast from Vancouver 8 tonight. | application for a marriage license Denali scheduled to sail !rumiln the office of the U. S. Com- Seattle 4 pm. Friday. | missioner. Baranof scheduled to arrive Sun-| ——————— day a. m. southbound. | FROM PETERSBURG Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Jones of Pe- rsburg are registered at the Bar- Mr, and Mrs. L. M. Lucas of Ket- | te