THE KUSKO TIMES
"" " — '■■■■ ■■ ■ - ■ —— ■
VOL. VI. NO. 14
TAKOTNA. ALASKA. SATURDAY, APRIL, 10 1926
PRICE 25 CENTS
Ask for Complete Re
organization of Federal
Govt. Activities, Alaska j
Washington, April X.-—Complete re
jrganization of Federal Government
activities in Alaska is recommended
0y Secretary Work of the. Interior
Department, Secretary Jardine of the
Agricultural Department and Secre
tary Hoover of the Department of
Commerce, in joint, letters to the
chairmen of the SeSate and House
•ommiitee on territories.
The three secretaries havu-submit
od a bill which would place all Alas
kan activities in the Departments of
Agriculture, interior and Commerce,
under a single administrative head
In each case a Federal constabulary
rof Alaska was suggested, and the
Secretary of Interior would be direct
ed to inquire into its feasibility. Ti e
onstabularty would take over the en
forcement of all Federal laws in
Alaska.
The three Secretaries, . in submit
ting thCihiD, characterize it as a1 con
structive step toward eliminating du
plication of unnecessary expense.
Under the .measure the depart
ments’ representatives would form an
advisory .'hoard for Federal adminis
tration of the Territory, and to them
would be. delegated authority on mat
ters now-requiring reference to Wash
ington.
The' Secretarial'heads say the plan
has the merit of initiating effective
reorganization of Alaska without in
creasing the personnel or expel.
The three department heads in
Alaska would be known as ex-officio
commissioners for Alaska for The de
partment from which they are select
ed. and be' required, to reside' and
maintain offices In the capital of the
Territory.
The plan is for each department to
Captain Wilkins Tells
of Polar Explorations
(Fairbanks News-Miner.)
Captain George H. Wilkins, com
mander of the Detroit Arctic expedi
Con, last Wednesday afternoon ad
dressed an assembly of the Alaska
Agricultural Oolloge and School of
Mines. Taking as his subject, “Polar
Cohlilions North and South,’’ Captain
Wilkins, whose work in scientific re
search and exploration has taken him
both to the Arctic and Antarctic re
gions and to practilaly all of the little
known regions of the earth, held his
audience, numbering besides the stu
dents and faculty, nearly two hun
dred townspeople for more than' an
hour. The speaker, who was intro
dcued by Charles E. Bunnell, presi
•dent of the College, in part, said:
“It is a privilege for me to be here
this afternoon and tel you something
of the conditions whiph I know first
hand. Most, of you have been to col
lege and derived some idea of polar
conditions. I, too, studied these con
ditions in school, but in uter years I
have found that most of the facts I
learned in school were wrong, not be
cause the teacher intentionally told us
anything that was wrong, but because
they had been misinformed.
“In 1913 I had an opportunity to go
with Stefansson on a Canadian expe
dition to the Arctic, and during the
first twelve months I kept a diary,
and when I returned home my friends
upon reading my diary said that the
first year’s report was much more in
teresting than the remaining two
years. I told them that that was be
cause my first impressions were
wrong and that the last two years
were spant in clearing up the misin
formation gained during the first year.
A good deal that has been written
about polar conditions is from first
impressions.
“Stefansson told us when he was
preparing to go north that he had de
cided to set out on an expedition tak
ing.. only food .sufficient to, last until
appoint from among its present
forces in Alaska one man who will
supervise and co-ordinate the work of
his department, which in some cases
now is divided among as many as 22
bureaus. These executive officers will'
not occupy any new office; they will
be vicersec retaries for Alaska for
their respective departments, and
would have powers, subject to appeal
to their superiors, to decide all mat
'■rs, reorganize the work of their re
spective department, and arrange to
co-ordinate with the other depart
! ments. Other departments not inelud-i
j ed in this arrangement will continue j
; to function as at present.
Washington, April 9.—The Admin
I istration measure designed to bring
■ about closer co-ordination of govern
mental activities in Alaska, was in
(T airman Willis, of the Senate com
mittee on territories. Willis said he
would press for action on the measure
at this session.
; WETS OVERWHELMINGLY
IN MAJORITY IN NATIONAL
NEWSPAPER STRAW VOTE
j New York.—The newspaper straw
j vote on the prohibition question,!
which is in progress very generally!
j throughout the United States, reached
the 2,000,000 mark yesterday, with i
the-wets overwhelmingly in the ma-j
jority. The reults thus far announced j
show that 514,441 are opposed to the!
dry law, while only 44,369 are in
favor, of it.
Dry leaders declare-, that the news- j
paper canvass of the country does not
represent- the real sentiment of the
people.
he reached the Arctic, -saying that, hi
was preparing to live on the food of
the country. Most people thought
that was foolish, saying that you must
take a certain amount of provisions
and equipment in order to be success
ful. I think that neary everybody on
the expedition thought that was true,
and so we prepared to take more with
us. We went to considerable trouble
to equip boats, and even had to buy
an extra boat to carry our food. Then
we set out, hut we hadn’t been gone
ver yong when a storm arose and we
lost our most important ship and
most of our food. Possibly this was
the best thing that could have hap
pened to us, and it wasn't very long
afterward that we were forced to live
on the food of the country. We had
with us only two days’ food for our
selves and our dogs, and we had 500
; miles to go before we could get any
| more. We had to get just what we
could find, and we went along the
coast and came to a place where we
i could see that polar bears and foxes
had been digging in the snow. We
i knew that there must be something
: underneath it, so we started digging,
; and found there a whale carcass,
! which we cut up and fed to our dogs,
and were glad enough to eat our
selves. While at Point Barrow Mr.
Brower asked me about our trip, and
supposed that we must have had a
pretty hard time of it. I said, ‘Yes, i
we might have had a hard time, but
we discovered a whale carcass on the
point just above the bay.” Mr. Brower
then asked, ‘Where did you find that
whale?’ I said, ‘Why, on the point
just above the bay.’ Mr. Brower
laughed and said, ‘Why, that whale
was killed there four years ago.’
Of course, in the North there is a
good deal of new work to be done.
The work of that expedition was to
explore the waters which lie to the
east of where we go to explore today.
Mr. Stefansson and the party set out
to cross with dog teams, in the hope
of finding land in the Mackenzie river
region, but it was impossible to take
(Contrmed on Page S.l
Testimony That Se
attle Sheriff Engaged
in Private Bootleging
Seattle, April 8.—Testimony that
Sheriff Matt Starwich engaged in pri
vate bootlegging business in addition
to his official duties was brought out
yesterday afternoon by G. Behneher,
a oderal prohibition agent testifying
in the joint case being heard by Judge
Gilliam.
,OVT. FILES SUIT AGAINST
ALASKA BACKERS' ASSN. FOR
ALLEGG KI) SPOILED SALMON
Washington, April 8.—The govern
ment today filed suit in the District of
Columbia supreme court to recover
£.1.19,210 from the Alaska Packers As
sociation, of San Francisco, for al
leged spoiled salmon supplied during
the world war.
Telegraphic Ticks.
Juneau, April 7.—J. J. Connors was
elected mayor at yesterday’s election.
Anchorage, April 6.—C. M. Eckman
was re-elected mayor at today's elec
tion.
Washington, April 8.—The Amer
ican Publishers’ Association today
asked Congress to reduce postal rates
on newspapers.
Berlin, April 7.—President von Hin
denburg today celebrated the sixtieth
anniversary of his entrance into the
German army, with the rank of sec
ond lieutenant.
Washington, April 9.—The sale on
September 1, by auction, of the
buildings and improvements at Fort
Davis, an abandoned military post
near Nome, was ordered today by the
Interior Department.
VSSETS OF $742^13,568 SHOWN
HY FORD MOTOR COMPANY
Boston, April 8.—Assets of $742,
t:j,5C8 are shown in t.he annual finan
■ial statement of the Ford Motor
Company, filed today with the Massa
chusetts state tax commissioner.
McGRATH NOTES.
McGrath, April !>. Recent arrivals
; here are as follows:
T. A. McClure, from Med fra, who is
I here for a brief visit.
Halfdan Wiig, well known oldtimer,
: who is down fro mthe Nixon.
Jack Dunn, who comes from his
headquarters on the Tonsona.
Kinor Carlson, who has spent the
winter in the Sojfth oik section.
Dan McRae, from Nixon, who is
here for a short town visit,
Billy Gibbs, who recently returned
here from a visit of some months
spent mostly at Anchorage.
Harry Allaine, a recent arrival
from the Outside.
Pete Carlson, of the well known
firm of Carlson & Huiman, Ophir, was
a Monday arrival to give attention to
a few business affairs, again return
ing home on Tuesday.
Howard Langley, chief engineer of
he Tana, and Mrs. Langley, who win
ered on the Outside, arrived in Mc
Jrath Sunday night. Coining from
Nenana, Mrs. Langley drove her own
team, and Mr. Langley ditto.
Paul VVabnig, a well known old
imer, who spent the winter at his old
home in Europe, is among those re
cently returning, on his way to Flat.
Freighter Billy Jones returned
Monday from McGrath, bringing up a
load of horse feed.
J. H. McLean, who drove a string
if speedy dogs, made a round trip to
McGrath on Monday.
Andrew Olson, a well known old
timer, was a Monday visitor, and re
turned to McGrath on Tuesday.
M. Hibert left Sunday for Ganes
creek.
BULLET FOR
MUSSOLINI
Woman of English No
bility Attempts to As
sassinate Premier.
Home, April 8.—An attempt was
made to assassinate Premier Musso
lini this morning- A woman fired a
revolver point blank at him, but he
escaped with a shot through the nose.
The shooting occurred while he was
leaving a session of the Congress of
International Surgery to enter his au
tomobile. A great crowd was around
the entrance cheering the Premier
when the woman pressed to the front
and, pointing a revolver directly at
him, pulled the trigger.
The woman was arrested. Premier
Mussolini, however, ordered that no
retribution be taken.
Koine, April 8.—The woman who
fired the shot at Premier Mussolini
gijye her name to the police as Violet
Albina Gibson, nee Dulkey. She is 50
years old and a British subject. A
dispatch from London says Violet Al
bina Gibson, who is in Home at pres
ent, is the daughter of the late Lord
Asbo-urcie.
WILL LEVY AND COLLECT
TABS ON MOONSHINE
Washington. — General Andrews,
head of the dry enforcement organiza
tion, has announced that deputy in
ternal revenue collectors serving with
prohibition administrators will levy
and collect taxes on moonshine. He
thinks that sufficient revenue would
result within a few years to defray
the cost of enforcement. The law
provides for <1 ■ collection of $fi.40
per gallon on distilled spirits, and it
is the intention of Andrews to at
tempt to collect taxes not only on the
amount of liquor seized but on the
total amount the bootlegger is esti
mated to have manufactured. It is
claimed that the collection of such
taxes in Pittsburgh and Texas is
working successfully.
Deputy United States Marshal
Peter McMullen was officially notified
of his reappointment to that office on
April I, the oath of office being ad
ministered by Commissioner W. T.
Vanderpool shortly after the word
was received, according to advices re
ceived from McGrath.
Joe Ferris returned here Sunday,
after an absence of two or three
months in the Cripple section, during
which he moved a large quantiy of
freight for Sid Paulson, to be used in
the opening up of a large block of
ground in that section.
_
Robert Lowrie left today for Mc
Grath, taking down a few shortages
needed at that place, and is scheduled
to return here tomorrow with a few
needed here.
Mrs. Robert Lowrie, who left here
with Henry Martella, arrived at Ne
nana on April 2, and at last accounts
was expected to be in Seward this
date to take passage for Seattle.
Ikey Hayes returned here Thursday
from McGrath with one of Billy
Jones’ horses, bringing up a load of
horse feed.
Joe Oates, who left Tuesday for
Flat, returned here Thursday, owing
to the poor condition of the trails be
yond Ophir.
Superintendent Carl Lottsfeldt, of
the A. R. C., returned here yesterday
from a trip to Big river.
Charlie O'Halloran returned here
today from a fe wdays visit at Mc
Grath.
John Krieger, from the Tolstoi, was
among yesterday arrivals.
WILKINS’
AIRPLANE
Residents of Circle Sur
prised as Ship Hovers
Over Yukon Town.
Circle, April 6.—Residents of this
place at 4:15 p. m. today were sur
prised to see a large white airplane
hovering over the town. The piano
could not be identfied. The plane cir
cled around for about five minutes
and then set sail in direction of Fort
Gibbon.
Twenty minutes later the plane was
seen to be returning, landing shortly
after on a sandbar in front of the
town. The plane was then seen to be
the Alaska, the airship of the Detroit
Arctic expedition, those on board
being Captain George Wilkins and
Pilot Ben Eielson.
Captain Wilkins stated that the
plane had been eight hours out from
Point Barrow, bucking hea.y head
winds all the way. The plane passed
Wiseman all right, but shortly after
was apparently blown olT its course.
The plane was out of both gas and oil.
Circle, April 7.—The Wilkins plane
left here at 0:30 a. m. today for.Fair
banks.
Fairbanks, April 10.—The Wilkins
airplane, which returned here Wed
nesday from its first trip to Point
Barrow, left this morning on its sec
ond trip to Barrow.
The Fairbanks airplane, with Pilot
Bennett at the helm, passed over Ta
kotna on Tuesday. The plane left Mc
Grath at 2:10, passed over Takotna 12
or 13 minutes later, and arrived at
Mat at . R. T. Hirsch, well
known head of the New York-Alaska
Dredging Company, was passenger on
the plane to Flat, on his way to the
company’s headquarters, Bear creek,
near Akiak.
Dr. .1. B. Beeson, f miner well known
head of Anchorage hospital, and one
very popular with many Alaskans,
has established offices in Seattle, ac
cording to advices recently received
here. These offices are located in Nos.
1007-1014 in the Medical Dental build
ing, while his telephone number is
Main 6880.
Operations are starting in several
directions. Quite a force of men will
be at work on the Frank Joaquin
dredge, Ganes creek, within the next
few days, doing preliminary work in
anticipation of starting dredging op
erations on or about May 20.
There is absolutely no snow beyond
Akiak. and for some distance above,
according to report received here a
couple of days ago, which also state
that all signs go to show an early
breakup of the lower Kuskokwim.
Charlie Goebel returned, here Mon
day from a trip to the Tolstoi section,
and departed Tuesday for McGrath,
on his way to his Nixon headquarters.
Have you made out your income tax
return. Blanks for this purpose, re
ceived a few days ago, are available
for all at the Takotna postoffice.
James Howard, a well known old
timer, after some months on the Out
side, passed through Takotna a few
days ago, on his way to Flat.
Frank Joaquin returned Thursday
from Ganes creek, and is spending a
few days at home.
John Griffin, who returned from Mc
Grath Thursday, is spending a few
days in town.
Pete Jensen left Monday for the
Joaquin dredge, Ganes creek.
A1 Gaslow left Sunday for Qpttisk
on his way .to Flai,