TAKOTNA, ALASKA. SATURDAY,. JULY 8, 1933.
PRICE, 25 CENTS
Pittman Gold
Resolution
AFTSfiVED*. BY SUBCOMMITTEE
OF THEJBVQRLQJECQNOMICi
CONFERENCE..
U&NLON.—The gold resolution of
iareM. by Sunator Key Pittman of the.
American delegation has been ap
proved by the commission’s gold com
mittee, but the silvet. section.was sep*
arated and sent to another committee.
The gold clause provides for the ul
timate stabilization and return, to the
gold, standard., when., feasible; for
withdrawal of. gold from, international
circulation, and for lowering legal
gold coverage, of central banks to 25
pgr cent.
LONDON—Approval of Pittman’s
gpld resolution, which, provides,
among other things* for the with-*
dvawal of .the. yellow, metal from cir
culation .and the: reduction of gold,
coverage of . central, hanks to 25 per
cent, was., formally reported by the
subcommittee which has been study
ing Jthe problem. Theparent. commis
sion will now. study, the matter.
In the meantime the conference is
said to be awaiting on.Moley, who is
supppsed to be bringing from Roose
velt “medicine” to cure the many ills
of .the assemby. Lobbies are throbbing
with steady talk of the- man who is
heraded by the press as the. mysteri
ous. but all-knowing head of the:
Roosevelt “hrtin trust.”"
Minerals
Of Alaska
•MINES IS ALASKA, PRODUCEI*
MINERALS' WORTH $11,638,
L U00 IN YEAR 1932J
WASHINGTON, June Id.—Mines
n A’aska produced minerals worth
$11,638,000 in 1932, as against $12,
278,000 in 1931, according to an am
nouncement made by, the Interior De
partment today through the Geolog
ical Survey. The totaE vaLue of the
3 tineral output of the Territory since
4880 i* $653,229j00(k.
The following table shows fn sum
mary form the.-mineral,, output t of
Alaska for 1932 and, for comparison,
the production of. the same- minerals
in 1931:
1932 1931
Gold ..11 $10,209,000, $9,507,000
Copper _ 559,500 1,877,000
Silver . 66,000 102,000
Coal _ 513,500 5564100;
Lead . 16.600 125,000
* Miscellane
ous .-. 223,400 108,00ft
Total .$11,638,000 $12,278,000
including petroleum, platinum.
metals, limestone, etc.
The decrease in the value of the
total mineral production of Alaska -n
1932 as compared with 1931, as shown
above, was about 5 per cent. To per
1 famjljjyr with, the general busi
THE MUKLUK TRAIL
By E_L. B*jrtfett
WASHINGTON, D, C., June 16.—
Delegate,; Dimnd called upon the
counsel of the Federal Reserve board
to interpret, the GJassStegall banking
bill in so far as its application to Ter
ritorial banka: in Alaska is-concerned
The hill • provides.. among other things
for guarantee, of hank deposits. Full
protection of deposits up t $2i5Q0 ani
prtectionof specified percentages oi
deposits, above that figure will go intc
effect. January 1,1934, under the tem
porary plan, and the permanent plan
effective at a later date, will insure
all deposits.
The Feaferal Reeerva Beards counsel
gave an informal opinion to the effect
that,-the Territorial banks in Alaska
will.came under the. provisions of.the
temporary aad permanent guarantee
plan,
Cdpies £ the banking bill are to he
mailed promptly td all hanks and
newspapers in Alaskan
Congress adjourned without pass
ing the bill transferring from* the
Federal to the Territorial Govern
ment the land occupied by the Pio
neers' Home in Alaska. No action
could.be obtained foe that reason that
the (mmitUn which had the bill in
charge did not meet during the latter
pgrti of ..the .session and hence the
measure could not be reported out.
However, all the departments con
concerned Have submitted favorabHs
repta and Delegate Dimond will press
for action an it early in the regular
session. He anticipates ne difficulty
whatever in getting the bill approved
at that time. "
Upon receipt, ^an affidavit frdra
Postmaster B. TL Grant, of Wrangell,
ita tbcneffaet.that.there-waa.no prop
erly equipped, unemployed person in
Wrangell, to da the work, the Post
office Department has authorized him
to retain his .daughter, Miss Jean
Grant, as clerk;. The Department is
endeavoring to spread work among
, as many. as. possible and for that rea
, son a showing of the character men
. tioned above must be made before *
.5 postmaster can continue too employ ..a
!. member of his family.
In these, days of contracting appro
> priations, news of any increase is ah*
ways cheering, and the information
given by Horace M. Albright, di
; rector of ttte Natibnal Park Service;,
to Delegate Dimond fell within that.,
category. Director Albright an
nounced that, dependent. upon final.
- approval of the Service’s program, un
der the public works act, $250,000
would fie allotted for road construe—
i tion in McKinley Park. It is intend
ed that the money shall be spent this
season: and next and will bt suffi
cient, or nearly so,, to extend’ the road'
to its planned terminus iiii the Ran
tishna area. Not only wilT thkt.open
a vast new. wonderland fos the tourist
but it will provide muqh. cheaper'
transportation for. an imppEtdafc. min
eral region..
. The special session- of Congress,
which witnessed enactment iritoJegis
lation of a long list ofC.pfopoaabi.de
fcigned.toead the depnessipn, came to
a close early yusUsdayyinorning. •
Delegate DimondLgpwd&th*. way:
for consideration ah the filrat ^regular
session of the Seventy-third Ofingress
of n number of irapfiiantybiH^which
he introduced in .thh.- siskin-, just
haded.'
He had not expeethd their «iramedi
ICoHtimdhB .P«IkD)
ness situation throughout the world,
so small a decrease demonstrates the
fundamentally sound condition of the
mining industry in the Territory. To
those less familiar with general con
ditions it may be stated that a com
parison of the average selling price
of three of the common metals that
contribute to the mineral output of
the Territory—copper, lead, and sil
ver—showed tha* the prices received
in 1932 were,1 respectively, 76, 83, and
97 per cent of the prices for the same
metals in 1931; or only ahout 36, 49,
and 49 per cent oLthe>prioes received
in 1929.' ,
It was not the direct effect of de
creases in selling prices of these met
als,, however, that has caused the drop
in mineral production, so much as
their indirect and less obvious effect
in deterring operators from opening
up new1' properties or maintaining
even a normal rate of output from
many of the mines already producing.
In many places development work,
was considerably curtailed, retrench
ments instituted to effct economies,
and the undertaking of new enter
prises except gold mining practically
ceased.
There was, of course, no change in
the unit price of gold, and this very
stability, when compared with the de
creases in price of other commodities,
stimulated th eoutput of this metal,
and as a result there was a very large
increase in the gold' production of.
Alaska. In fact, the output of gold
from the Territory in 1932 was
greater than it had been in any other
year since 1917. The output of gold
was distributed between lodes and
placers approximately in the propor
tion of 46 to 54—|4,687,00fl from
lodes and $5,522,000 from placeca.
producing gold lodes are widely dis
tributed through , various pacts, of the
Territory, but nearly threerqparters
of the output* came from lodes, in
southeastern Alaska, where accessi
bility to deep-water, routes off com
munication and other favorable con
ditions have permitted. the- successful
mining of. immense tonnages of low
grade gold ore.
The output of. placer gold was
about two-thirds, of a. million dollars
more than., in. 1931. Hundreds of
camps contributed, to the output, but
those in the Yukon basin contributed
the greatest amount,, and those' in
Seward Peninsulaicarae next. Nearly
75 per cent of the. total placer produc
tion of the Territory, was mined by
dredges, of which 25 were active dur
ing 1982^—IT inuthe camps, in the Yu
kon valley; 13 in Seward Peninsula,
and 1. in. the. Kuskokwim. valley. To
gether these dredges produced gold
to the value of $4,293,000. They are
wstimatedi to have handled about
10.210.000 cubic yards of gravel, and
the gold recovered was worth about
4U5. cents a cubic yard. No new
dredges were built during the year,
but one old dredge that had been idle
ftnr some tune was again active in
1932:. Four drudges that were active
in 1931 were idle during this year.
The output of copper in 1932 was
8.738.000 pounds, or nearly 14,000,000
pounds less than in 1931, and its
value waa about $1,300,000 less than
in 1931. Practically the whole of the
Alaska copper cumes from two mines
operated by the Kennecott Copper
Corporation, Both in the Copper River
region^ The'ore from the properties
hr that egioir Is largely high grade
copper sulphide and carbonate. All
the Alaska copper ore is shipped to
the-States for-smelting.
None of the-AIfcska ores are mined
solely for their silver content, but
considerable silver & recovered as a
minor constituent from the ores of
gold and copper. In 1932 silver to
(Continued on Page 4.)
Items of Importance
In Recent News Events
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Applica
tions are ready for obtaining loans
from the Federal public works admin
istation, as provided by the recent
session of Congress, to aid cities,
counties and private agencies which
are eager to share in the $3,000,000,
000 fund, but State administrations
must be set up first, which awaits the
return of President Roosevelt. Im
mediately after his return things will
be set in motion.
Hugh Johnson, industrial director,
said that 4,000,000 people out of the
nation’s 12,000,000 idle men will be
back to work by October under the
nation’s big public works program.
With, this addition to the payrolls,
money is expected to begin to flow
more freely in all channels. Secre
tary Frances Perkins, of the Depat
ment of Labor, says a remarkable in
crease has been made the last month
1 in factory payrolls. The 30-day gain
' was the largest of any month since
1923.
LONDON.—The world economic
conference faces another grave crisis
precipitated bv ti'r'*:,ts ■'e several of
gold bloc to quit the conference un
less there is a currency stabilization
in the near future.
The ultimatum of the gold group is
■couched in courteous terms to that
effect. It was presented to Premier
Ramsay MacDonald of Great Britain,
chairman of the conference, by
France, Switzerland, Holland and
Belgium, demanding that Britain act
immediately.
Calm uneasiness prevails over , the
situation in high quarters. The move
is interpreted as an effort to force
-Britan to render active aid to prevent
currency fluctuations and to obviate
the possibility of the gold countries
Being forced off that basis. A heavy
drop in the dollar intensified the feel
ing among the gold representatives.
No decision has been reached as to
whether the American would consider
any fresh scheme on the proposal for
stabilization.
Meanwhile the United States dele
gates face a serious dilemma in an
effort to save the domestic policy
from collision with the foreign situa
tion*
LONDON.—A new currency sta
bilihilization crisis developed in the
world economic conference with an
eagerly awaited British promise of a
plan for solution chucked overboard
and the responsibility for the way oat
laid at Washington’s doorstep in the
attempt to offset the threat by the
gold bloc quitting the fonference if
the curencies are not stabilized.
SAN FRANCISCO.—Returns from
1,826 precincts out of 9,347 in the
state of California gave repeal of the
eighteenth amendment a total of 222,
886 against 9,448.
LONDON—From Washington came
word to the undersecretary of the
Treasury, Dean Acheson, that no ac
tion is being considered there regard
ing stabilization.
NEW YORK.— One-third of the
states out of 48 have voted to strike
the Eighteenth amendment from the
constitution, West Virginia and Cal
ifornia making the score 16 to 0 in
favor of repeal.
The repealists must win 20 more
states in order to wipe out the Eight
eenth amendment.
JUNEAU.—“If Alaska will present
a plan and make known her wants to
Congress, the plan will be approved,”
declared Senator Arthur R. Robinson,
of Indiana, member of the Senate
territorial committee, who arrived
here Tuesday on the cutter Chelan.
The Senator made the foregoing
statement after having conferred with
Governor Troy practically all day
yesterday.
“Out of over three billion dollars
authorized by Congress for the emer
gency relief works program, Alaska
should have at least ten million,” said
the Senator after discussing the mat
ter of Alaska projects.
The Senator also stated he would
aid Delegate Anthony J. Dimond in
securing territorial control of fisher
ies, game and fur.
NE WYORK.—Roscoe “Fatty” Ar
buckle ,age 45 years, and leading
comedian of the screen about a dozen
yeais ago, was found dead in his bed
in an apartment hotel in this city
where he and his wife lived. * His wife
awoke to found Arbuckle dead from
a heart attack. Jle had just com
plied a picture yesterday in a film
comeback.
Arbuckle lost a fortune defending
I hn i <’i in the- trials in connection
!wi'. t.se deal'; ; '>. iu.ri i Ifippt, a
! seven actress, in .t'.ui Francisco, in
■ • '.•21, foliowi"g a p:rt;. in Arbuckle’s
J hotel .-uite. il. fin Iv was ac ,'in '*-d.
CHARLESTON.—West Virginia,for
i 20 years regarded as one of the driest
! of dry states, became the fifteenth
^consecutive state to vote for repeal
! of the eighteenth amendment. With
| two-thirds of the precincts reported,
| the wets held a lead of 738 votes. Ten
| dry precincts conceded defeat.
j WASHINGTON—Attorney General
! Homer S. Cummings announced today
j that 13,000 employes of the prohibi
tion bureau will be furloughed or dis
; missed June 30 to save $4,000,000
i during the,coming fiscal year. Five
! employes will be dropped in Alaska.
Their names are not yet known.
! Twenty-three will be dropped in the
State of Washington.
I WASHINGTON.—A. V. Dalrymple,
director of prohibition, recommended
J to the Attorney General that general
prohibition officers in Alaska and Ha
waii be withdrawn. A suggestion is
approved by the Attorney General to
the effect that the prohibition dis
tricts in Alaska and Hawaii be abol
ished and that all prohibition activi
ties for Alaska be placed in the hands
of the United States marshals, and
that the agents be furloughed under
he plan.
LONDON.—Gold bloc countries
now include Italy. The exact nature
of the message from Hull and Moley
to President Roosevelt is not dis
closed, but in well-informed circles, it
is understood, the message strongly
advised the American chief that there
should be no change in his policy as
Regards control of too abrupt move
ments of currency. It is reported
Roosevelt has already replied, but the
delegation is non-committal.
At American headquarters it is un
derstood the Federal Reserve Bank in
New* York is ready to proceed with a
program for stabilizing the dollar by
halting speculation by means of .con
trol machines Already in in.