Anchorage Chosen As Western
Alaska Office of Territory's New
Unemployment Commission
Alaska is to become one of the four
key cities in the administration of the
ai.airs of the Unemployment Com
pensation Commission, and will -have
£n -' -ployment olnce wher they are
es-at .shed on or about October I. R.
S. bragaw. a member of the commis
sion sited recently.
The other cities in which main of
fices will be established Vilh probably
be- jur.eaa. Fairbanks, and''Ketchikan.
It is also possible that an office v. ill
be established in Cordovai. tie said.
“Unemployment compensation is a
step forward in social science insofar
a- Alaska is concerned.*’., he stated.
* o is. however, nut a tier, -mrg for
En.tland has had a form if it since
1011. It is established primarily as
a protection for the worker and the
employer during the periods when
work or need of employment is lax.
It is to prevent the need for heavy
reief rolls and depression periods.
The insurance drawn by men unem
pb'-cd tt31 aid in the rehabilitation
of business and will place the need
for unempoyed to be re-employed.
Under the employment compensa
tion plan. Mt. Bragaw explained, em
ployers set aside a small portion of
their earning; each month, ard thus
fund will be deposited with the fed
eral government at interest, to be
’withdrawn when needed to pay un
exnpipyir.er.t compensation it. Alaska.
Ko portion of the contribution made
by Alaska employers wi.l be sent to
another state. The entire am unt
will be kept for use in the Terr.tory.
None of this amour: will be used for
overhead expense: that will be taken
care .of by the federal government.
The Territory is paying nothing to
ward the maintenance i>f the commis
sion. The entire am<7ur.t is donated
by the federal goverrjntr.t. Under
the federal law, an Alaska employer,
who makes a contribution to the Ter
ritorial compensation fund, is allow
ed a credit on the federal x&x nr to
90 per cent of the entire amount
pr ;. to the Territory.
If at employer runs a business, ex
cudirg a small number exempted.^;
federal and Territorial taws, and em
ploys as many as eight persons dar
ing any 20 -weeks of the year,, be is
subject" to the law. and is reqnired
to pay a percentage of their payrolls
to the Alaska Unemployment "Com
pensation Commission. Any emploj
er hating less than eight on his pay
roll may come within the' law volar. -
tardy by Simg application with, the
commission.
This year all err.plovers of eight or
more, employing them, for a period
of any 20 weeks or more throughout
the year, will be required to pay 1.8
per cent of their pay? -11: next year
the rate will be increased t 2 7 ter
cent. After January 1, 1932. the
commission will have a record to base
the percentage of contribution to be
made by the industries in each class.
In this way, a particular class may
obtain substantial reduction in the
amount bf contributions paid by em
plovers in each classification pud the
total amount paid to the idle wage
earners in each class.
If an industrial establishment Aas
slack business during any period of
the year, and are forced to reduce the
payrolls, the employment service of
the Territory, working in co-opera
tion with the commission, will seek
obs for the idle worker, whose idle
st «? results from no fault of his own,
will be paid unemployment eornptrsa
tior for a period not to exceed 20
weeks, at a rate of payment not to
exceed $i5 a week, based on the
weekly earnings of the employee dur
ing tne time the employer and the
employee were contributing to the
fund.
W hile payments to idle workers
will n : begin until January 1. IMS*,
tmp.oyers are required to make con
tributions to the fund in 1937 and
1938. This being done to create a
fund from which payment can be
drawn. These contributions are be
ing deposited in the federal treasury
and are drawing interest on daily bal
ances. and will continue to draw in
terest until they are needed to pay
benefits to eligible unemployed. This
interest is being added to the unem
ployed wage earners in the Territory
of Alaska.
The local social security laws gov
erning the Territorial compensation
commission are the finest in the
country. Mr. Bragaw said, inasmuch
as they were drawn up by the social
security board in Washington.
In November, an advisory board
will be established. Mr. Bragaw ad
ded. to draw up and discuss new laws
and regulations. This board will be
composed of representatives /'f the
various Territorial industries and la
bor groups, employees and employers.
In addition, the general public will be
permitted voice in the matter, partic
ularly the determining of board and
room rates when included in the in
dividuals’ salaries.
REEVE NEARLY MAKES
ONE TRIP TOO M ANA
VALDEZ—The Bradford Washburn
Mount Luca am expedition will hare
to hike out of one of the most inac
cessible regions of the northwest li
st cad of riding out in *n airplane,
according to Pilot Bod Reeve, who
landed here recently after what was
almost a disastrous last flight to the
base of the expedition’s operations.
Pilot Reeve made three previous
landings early in May on ar. 8,500
foot high landing field, but his last
triD with Mr. Washburn and himself,
will terminate Reeve’s Mount Lucania
flying for this year. Soft, rotting
snow will make future use of the
field impossible, he said.
“A perfect landing was made,”
Reeve said, "but no sooner had 'the
plane come to a stop, than it sank
fully a yard in the slushy snow. The
ship was quickly unloaded but before
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tile tanks could be filled with suffi
cient gas for the return Sight a se
vere storm set in.
“The men worked tirelessly till a
late hour that night raising the ship
out, of the snow so that the skis
would not freeze into the slush.
Then, nearly exhausted, they cimbed
the remaining half mile to their cache
and made camp.
“The storm grew decidedly worse
during the night, but instead of the
zard of snow the men had expect
ed, an electrical storm came up with
much thunder and lightning and tor
rents of rain fell until early Saturday
morning.
“This reduced all of the snow on
the glacier into a regular rvrerc of
deep slush through which..they ziare
could hardly move. With!. hours of
exhausting work, we managed toiget
the plane a few hundred yard* rear*
er camp in an effort to effect a long
downhill runway for the takeoff to
Valdez as soon as the weather clear
ed. All night Saturday and through
out Sunday we waited and prayed for
cooler weather to set in and for a
shift of wind to the nor,..! ast. but a
steady rain kept falling and clouds
rolled in from the south, making con
ditions worse every hour.
’Sunday night the temperatwe
dropped a .little causing the slush to
freeze slightly and a takeoff was at
tempted early Monday morning. The
ship kept breaking through the thin
crust, however, and it was impossible
for me to pull her off into ths vgry
thin air. As I was taxiing back to
get set for another try, one of the
skis broke through a snow-covered
crevasse, the left wing tip being hurl
ed through the ice. luckily with no
serious damage.
“Again we were forced to work to
the point of exhaustion in freeing the
heavy plane. Again the plane start
ed up the glacier and once more the
same ski broke through a crevasse.
After laboring for several hoars, the -
ship was placed on th- surface again
and it was decided that the best
th'ng to do would be to turn around
where the plane stood and try to
take off from that spot rather than
take a chance of having the whr le
plane break through the top of some
large crevasse.
“Tuesday morning, after a compar
atively cold night. I decided it was
“now or never” and down the treach
erous glarier J-went, between deep
crevasses, - ositinp the motor, and
finally the ship was in the air. with i
the miserable experiences or W alsr
glacier a thrr.tr of the nast ”
Owing to the haacawions condition
of the glacier anth tre grave danger
in taking off and landing with a plane
there at this Urn Mr. Washburn has
beer, forced tc «..~»ndon the last trip
which was to have taken Russel Dow
and Nermar Bright tht* other half
of the expedition. Washburn anc
Bates plan to attempt to carry out
the original work of the expedition
as completely as possihle, by thern
seTes They have over a hundred
days of food with them. They will
return to civilization by working
their way eastward down one of the
glaciers leading into- the -valley of
the Donjek River and hope to reach
Burwash Landing. Kinane Lake in
the Yukon before the middle of Aug
ust
C. M. WINANS
(S*cc««s®- T* A. W. Barry :
MEDFRA. ALASKA
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