THE KUSKO TIMES
VOL XII NO. 20
TAKOTNA ALASKA. SATURDAY. JULY 2. 1932
PRICE 25 CRN<*£
*
Working for
Legal Beer
ACTIONS OF CHICAGO CONVEN
TIONS GIVES ENCOURAGE
MENT TO WETS.
-WASHiNuTCN.—The Senate has
..consented unanimously to place on
. the calendar for future consideration
..a proposed constitutional amendment
which would substitute State control
of the liquor question for the Eight
eenth Amendment. Senator Barbour,
. who is the author of the proposal,an
. nounces that he will press for the
• consideration of the question before
the adjournment of the present ses
. sion of Congress.
WASHINGTON. — Consideration,
before adjournment, of the question
of legalizing the manufacture and
sale of beer is being urged in both
branches of Congress, with Senator
Bingham, of Connecticut, Republican,
leading the movement.
The Connecticut Senator is urging
action on a bill for the legalizing of
three and two-tenths per cent beer
and demanding a vote without, delay.
On the House side, a petition re
questing an immediate vote on the
question of taxing beer as a means
of increasing the nation’s revenue has
been signed by 77 Republican mem
bers.
Alaska Road
Commission
WAS TRANSFERRED TO DE
PARTMENT OF INTERIOR
ON JUNE 30.
Hawley W. Sterling;, superintend
ent of the Alaska Road Commission
for this district, is in receipt of the
following, dated July 2, from Mal
colm W. Eliott, president of the
Alaska Road Commission, with in
i' structions to release same for public
information:
i “The Act of Congress transferring
the Alaska Road Commission to the
Interior Department was approved by
the President June 30th, and orders
! prescribing details thereof are ex
i pected shortly. The Secretary of the
I Interior has stated in his published
correspondence with proponents of
this bill that administration of Road
Commission activities will be assigned
to the Governor and that the Interior
Department expects to operate
through so much of the present
civilian organization as can be main
tained within the appropriations, re
lieving army officers now assigned;
also that no curtailment of program
is expected except as necessitated by
reduction of appropriations. Further
information as to details of transfer
not yet available, but meanwhile the
present members of the Commission
desire to assure the entire organiza
-tion, so far as known, the emprising
change is not due to dissatisfaction
Alaska Interests At
The Nation’s Capital
By W. A. S. ,
WASHINGTON, June 13.—On June
1 the Senate passed House Joint Reso
lution 341, which will have the effect
of exempting the locators of mining
claims from the necessity of doing as
sessment work for the year ending
June 30, 1932. This affects Alaska,
where there have been divergent opin
ions on the wisdom of the measure.
In urging the passage of the resolu
tion Senator Walsh of Montana said:
“Under the law $100 worth of worh
must be done on each claim each year.
The year ends on June 30. By reason
. of the distressed condition many lo
cators have found it impossible to do
the work this year. If the legislation
is not passed, they must do the work
within the current month.” The reso
lution then passed without any oppo
sition, having been previously passed
, previously passed the House, and is
as follows:
Resolved, etc., That the provision of
t.Sectiun .2324 of the Revised Statutes
. of the United States which requires
on each minin gclaim located, and un
. til a patent has been issued therefor,
not less than $100 worth of labor to
be performed, or improvements ag
gregting such amount to be made
each year, be, and the same is hereby,
suspended as to all mining claims in
; the United States, including Alaska,
during the fiscal year from July 1,1
1931, to July 1, 1932.
With the remote possibility that
; the Garner bill might pass Congress
and become a law, Delegate Wicker- \
sham sought to have various Alaska
L projects favorably considered and I
recommended to Speaker Garner for
inclusion in his bill, by the various
committee chairmen. As a result the
bill as introduced in the House con
tained the following interesting
items: Construction of a postoffice
building at Anchorage, to cost $425,
000, and a postoffice and court house
at Ketchikan, to cost $400,000; im
provement of rivers and harbors and
other waterways, Dry Pass, in South
eastern Alaska, $79,000; Kodiak har
bor, $77,000; Nome harbor, $253,000;
Sitka harbor, $67,500; Tolovana river,
north of Fairbanks, $40,000; Wran
gell harbor, $56,000; Wrangell Nar
rows, $142,000; all making a total of
$1,539,500. The total amount to be
appropriated by the bill is $2,100,
000,000.
John E. Barrett, the amiahle rep
resentativ ein Alaska for the New
York Life Insurance Company, with
headquarters at Ketchikan, was in
Washington on business the forepart
of June for a couple of days.
The nomination of Charles A. Shel
don as postmaster at Seward for an
other term of four years was con
firmed by the Senate on June 1.
On June 1 Senator Howell received
unanimous consent to take up Senate
bill 4525 out of order. It provides
for the transfer of the duties of the
Board of Road Commissioners in the
Territory of Alaska from the War
Department to the Department of In
terior. The bill was then considered
by the Senate and was passed with
out on opposing vote. In his state
(Continued on Page 3.)
with the manner Tm.whichr. work has
been performed. In fact, the Secre
tary of Interior stated .the trainsfer
has not been urged, as* a. matter of
economy, bu tin the interest of effect
ive coordination of related . activities
now handled by two departments and
that the endeavor would be to con
tinue the efficient operations now
maintained by the existing organisa
tion.”
BILLY SCHNEIRLA WRITES OF
CONDITIONS IN MICHIGAN
Billy Schneirla, former well known
oldtimer and mining man of this sec
tion, writing from his home at Clin
ton, Mich., to Ernie Gove, has the
following to say regarding conditions
prevailing in Michigan*
“I can imagine the camp is quiet
and, as you write, the oldtimers are
passing. Still Alaska has an advan
tage over some things in the States.
I cannot see where conditions here are
getting any better. Crime surely
isn’t. The siwashes wouldn’t commit
the deeds that are of common occur
rence in the States. In the last
month, close home here, there have
bejn two beastly murders—one an
eight-year-old boy, delivering papers,
who stepped in where a holdup was
in progress, shot him first in the
shoulder, and as they passed on the
way out, shot him. through the chest.
T eother was in- an oil station. A
fellow huys a bottle of pop and when
he should pay for it draws, a gun and
kills the station attendant- Life, at
5 cents’ worth of pop is putting it
pretty cheap.
ill me luiai cumuiunuu^ wr auui
have pretty sane kind of government,
but in the cities the unemployment
situation has made many desperate.
“In case you do not know the
prices, here are some .of .the staples
on the farm: Wheat.'48c, .oats 18c,
eggs 11c dozen, milch cows $35 to
$45, fat cattle 6c per pound, best
hogs 3 l-2c per pound, and so on. We
are not going to have better times
until the farmer gets a living wage
for what he purchases.”
A second letter, written a few
weeks later, says, in part:
“Well, .the big Democratic conven
tion is on, and you will know as sour
as I that the Dems have come out for
repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.
But the party in power does not .seem
to matter much these days. We have
a nation of unemployment, over
taxation, and want. I do not know
how far we are going along this line
but here are just a few indications
which go to show that we are not a1
the botom yet. I base the signs ai
prosperity on the agricultural end ol
the nation. Along the main highways
there is, more or less, a line of hikers
out of work and looking for some
thing to do. A neighbor below us has
a man working for $5 a month anc
board, and personally I know of many
who are working for about the same
wage. The report is that the new
crop of wheat will bring 25c a bushel
and oats 10 cents a bushel. Taxes
haven’t come down, and the Inter
national Harvester people are charg
ing wartime prices for implements
and extras.
“I see no sign where this winter is
going to be better than the last one.
Banks have failed and bond houses
and mortgage companies, and nc
prosecutions. Some of the banks are
opening.again and am .enclosing copy
of an agreement which shows that a
depositor has to sign to open .the
bank and be patriotic. Anyway, you
sign away everything just to he a
good fellow. Alaska can’t be hit as
hard as the States, and still l know
you will feel th eeffects of the de
pression, as it is world-wide.”
Items of Importance j
In Reecnt News Events l
ALBANY.—Members of Congress
who are clamoring for immediate .ac
tion to restore beer through modified
tio nof the Volstead Act will look in
vain to Governor Roosevelt for as
sistance. Those in a position to know
have made it clear that the Demo
cratic standard bearer considers any
effort on hi part to influence Con
gressional action would be an inter
ference and not warranted by his
designatoin as Democratic candidate
for the presidency. He-believes, how
ever, that it is within the power of
Congress to change the dry act.
NEW YdJ'.'.L —John D. Rockefeller,
who has 'vcd through seven major
degressions, is celebrating hi« nicety
tlird birth lay today with the predic
tor that the present strait, of eco
nomic condoi* is will relax ju-t a»
tKre has he jo a relaxing after every
eailier deprti; in had run its course
‘ Prosperity has always returned and
wi1 again," vas his comment nn the
present situation.
But w hat concerns the old timer
more than anything else just now is
his ambition to keep on living. He
says be is .working hard to reach the
century mark before he is called upon
to answer the final roll calL His .ad
vice to Americans is to avoid worry,
for worry poisons .the system.
jucnh.au.—me gow-seeKing e.*pe
dition which was financed in Detroit
and which brought five airplanes
north to . transport ,the. members of
the party and their outfits from At
lin to the Liard district, is to be aban
doned and .the Detroiters wiL.returr
to the States as soon as they can dis
pose of their outfits and equipment.
Announcement of the abandonment
of the project was made yesterday by
C. O. Butcher, weathy Detroit ..con
tractor. This decision was reached,
he explained, after Harry Townsend,
mining engineer, had submitted an
unfavorable, report
The party > was i organized by
Thomas Mitchell,, of Detroit, and thf
last several weeks have been devoted
to transporting men and equipment
from the .Lake Atlin base to the scene
of the proposed prospecting operation
in Southern Yukon.
SEATTLE.—W. .'D. Corner, former
president of the defunct PugetJ3aund
Savings & Loan Association, has been
found guilty by a jury on ten counts,
charging him with fraud in handling
trust funds and the embezzlement of
$78,000. The .conviction came at the
conclusion of a trial lasting seven
years. The., jury . was out alm#st 24
hours.
Francis PerweU, co-defendant, who
is a former vice president of the as
sociation, was exonerated by the.jury.
He was charged with. aiding and
abetting.
This is Comer’s second conviction
arising out of the .association’s toot
ing. He was convicted .previously of
issuing a false statement of the. con
dition of the association.
Both Comer and Powell were .ac
quitted on additional charges of -ob
taining $16,000 by false pretenses in
the sale of bonds of Textile Tower.
NEW YORK.—Gene Tunney, for
mer heavyweight champion of the
world, has announced that he will
make speeches for' the Democrats in
the campaign for the presidency.
He has branded .as jiHy..th» report
that he is going into the- campaign
with th eobject of obtaining a public
office. He declares that.he-will make
speeches for the Democrats but will
not go any urther than that, his only
interest .in the campaign being the
promotion of good government, which
he deems one of his (duties .and re
sponsibilities,
NEWARK, N. J.—-Flying the .same
plane -which carried her across the
Atlantic on the first woman’s solo
flight, Amelia Earhart Putnam, who
hopped off from Los Angeles .shorty
after 1 o’clock yesterday, landed here
at 11:28 d'cjodk this merning, ’East
ern time, establishing.a new woman’s
record for a one-stop transcontinental
flight. She beat the Time -of Ruth
.Nichols by almost 10 hours this hav
ing been made possible by reason, of
the lorg stop madtt by b^l Miss Nich
ols at Wichita on her flight some
time ago. The elapsed time afiMrs,
Putnam was slightly -.more than' *155
hours. However, the actual * -flying
time off Miss Nichols was -only 13
hours, while that of, Mrs. Putnam was
in excsss of 17 ."hours.
Mrs. .Putnam states, that her flight
was -not made for the puepose of low
ering records, but to practice naviga
tion. She plans to return '.to "Los An
geles i nabout a week to be present;
at the Olympic games.
Mrs. Putnam was compelled to stop
at Columbus because of difficulty in
pumping fuel from the .fuselage
tanks.. When the gas had been
transferred to the wing tanks every
thing worked smoothly and the flight
to Newark was resumed.
| JUNEAC.—?An order transferring
: the powers and-duties of the Alaska
I Road Commission and aE of its prop
l erty, unexpended funds and books
[from the War Department to the In
terior Department has been received
! by Governor George A. Parks, as ex
officio commissioner of .the Depart
ment of thei-Interior, who ie given
blanket authority and control over
! roads and trails ^comprising the Fed
| end .system.-.of highways in the Ter
! ritory.
Ike P. Taylor, who has: been con
nected with the Alaska Road Com
mission during the last 11 years, as
-senior engineer, has been designated
by .Secretary Wilbur to be acting
chief engineer under the reorganiza
tion, with complete charge of opera
tions. The traisfer of activities, ."fif
. the Commission is to be consummated
| by July jCO.
Taylor has announced that he does
I not .contemplate any'■changes in per
! sormel or stations, which means that.
, the organization of the Alaska Road
i Commission toil continue to function
very muchas it if functioning at the
present time.
NEW YORK.—The personal for
tune of President' Hoover, which was
’rated ad f4,OOb^WO at the time of his
retirement from busines in 1914, has
shunk in recent years to an estimated
$700,000, according to tin article ap
pearing in the . August issue of For
tune.
The shrinkage is attributed princi
pally to the President’s interest in or
investment company whose acquisi
tions are tow described mostly as lia
bilities, and to his expenses and con
tributions in connection with Bel gist
j relief, peace cdnfereiwKrstnal 'uttn^iww
j nation*.