Bartlett Given Data by O’Connell on ACS Hate Raise
Maj. Gen. J. D. O’Connell,
chief signal officer of the Alaska
Communication System, replied
yesterday to Delegate Bartlett
concerning the telegraph rate in
crease.
Some of the data forwarded to
Bartlett by O’Connel follows:
“The rates the (ACS) charges
civilian users have always been -a
matter of concern to the Congress
and the Department of the Army.
There never has been any inten
tion of charging the citizens of
the United States and Alaska ex
cessive rates for services, nor to
make a profit.
“Subcommittees on appropria
tions of the House of Representa
tives have frequenlty expressed a
desire that the Department of the
Army raise the rates of the ACS
to bring the revenues more in line
with the cost of providing the
commercial services.
“In response to these urgings,
the chief signal officer took action
to determine the adequacy of the
rates. First it was necessary to
establish a commercial type of
cost accounting system. This was
done on 1 July 1953. . . .
“Pursuant to a recent sugges
tion by the appropriations sub
committee of the House, the chief
Record of 624
Tornadoes From
Jan uar y-Mav
WASHINGTON—The Weather
Bureau, U.S. Dept, of Commerce,
announced today that 624 torna
does were reported in the United
States during the first five months
of 1957.
This total is the all-time nation
al record for tornadoes reported
in the Jan.-May period of any
year. The previous five-month
record total was 392 in 1955.
During May 1957, 324 tornadoes
were reported • throughout the
United States, according to pre
liminary findings issued by the
Weather Bureau. This is a-record
total for any month.
During April of this year 236
tornadoes were reported—a rec
ord for that month.
In this year of records more
than 100 lives were lost in torna
does through May.
The remarkable increase in the
number of tornadoes reported in
recent years can be attributed
primarily to the expansion of the
Weather Bureau’s storm reporting
networks. The increase in the
number of storm detection and
tracking radar stations, the new
public awareness of possible dan
ger thru the issuance of tornado
forecasts have contributed to the
recent increase in the detection
and reporting of tornadoes.
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signal officer directed in the fall |
of 1956 that a complete cost and |
revenue study be made of the
ACS. The purpose of this study
was to show whether any rate
adjustment was necessary and, if
so, in what areas. The study . . . 1
revealed that the total expenses |
of the ACS for fiscal year 1956
were $11,118,024.
“Confusion appears to exist as
to what part of the total expenses
of the system are provided by the
ACS appropriation. A consider
able part, in fact the majority, of
the expense ... is borne by other
than the ACS appropriation.
The ACS appropriation for fis
cal 1956 was $5 million. However,
some of these funds, $640,911,
were used for capital improve-"
ments and therefore were not in
cluded as costs. In addition, $118,
762 were not used and were re
turned to the Treasury as unobli
gated.
“Of the $11,118,024 total cost of
operating the ACS for fiscal 1956,
$4,092,159 was determined to be j
a purely military cost, with $7,
025,865 applicable to public of
fering communication serviced.
The telepgraph portion of the
total public offering of commer
cial cost of operating the system
was $1,630,474.
“The cost of providing the pub
lice offering telegraph message
service . . . exceeded the revenue
by $694,361. A 74.17 percent in
crease in rates would be required
to recover the deficit. The Army
did not consider a rate increase
of this magnitude proper. In ad
dition, it was considered that cer
tain economies could be effected.
“Under the new ACS rates the
customer can include 15 words
in a message for the minimum
charge. Present rates permit only
10 words for the minimum charge.
The intra-Alaska rates will be
generally lower than the present
Western Union rates for the same
mileage zones within the United
States. The Alaska-U.S. rates will
be comparable to U.S.-overseas
rates. . . .”
Never Before Has One Car Won All
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The men who know the most about cars pick Plymouth as tops in value, styling, handling, economy!
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PLYMOUTH - "Your over
all best buy"—Car Life
Magazine. “After testing all
the 1957 cars we choose
Plymouth as today’s over-all
best buy because we feel that
it offers more and better
transportation value than
any other 1957 car regard
less of price.” (From the
June issue of CAR LIFE, the
family auto magazine.)
PLYMOUTH—"Style leader
of the year" —Dell's 1957
Cars Annual. “Style Leader
of the \ear Award, presented
to Plymouth Division of
Chrysler Corporation, by the
editors of Dell’s 1957 Cars
Annual who have chosen the
1957 Plymouth as the style
leader of the American auto
motive industry.” (Inscrip
tion on the actual award.)
PLYMOUTH — "Economy
leader of its field"—1957
Mobilgas Economy Run.
“In the 1957 Mobilgas Econ
omy Run Plymouth won first
place in Class ‘A.’ the divi
sion that includes all of the
well-known low-price cars.
The Plymouth was powered
by a V-8 engine with auto
matic transmission.’’ (From
U. S. Auto Club records.)
PLYMOUTH — "Superior
roadability" —1957 Motor
Trend Magazine Award.
“Presented to Chrysler Cor
poration for superior han
dling and roadability qual
ities of their family of fine
cars.’’ (Citation of 1957
Motor Trend Award, pre
sented annually to U. S. man
ufacture* making the greatest
engineering advancement.)
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LARRY GALVIN, FRONT ST., NOME, ALASKA
Some Details Given
On Proposed Chugach
Atomic Power Project
WASHINGTON, —-The Atomic
Energy Commission has given a
Senate-House AEC Committee
some details on the proposed
atomic power project of the Chu
gach Electric Assn, at Anchorage.
The AEC will provide a $5,500,
000 reactor; research and devel
opment valued at $8,080,000, and
materials use .valued at $790,000.
Chugach will provide site and fa
cilities valued at $1,850,000.
The subcommittee has approved
an amendment to the Atomic En
ergy Act requiring the AEC to
advise Congress specifically of
the contributions it expects to
make to power projects before
seeking spending authorization.
While the proposed legislation
requiring detailed information is
yet to be acted on by either House
the commission gave the subcom
mittee Wednesday the sort of
data the bill calls for.
Fine Job Printing at The Nugget
Strong Earthquake
In Outer Aleutians
Recorded Across U.S,
SITKA, i/?>-—A strong earth
quake in the outer Aleutian Is
lands was recorded here and at
seismograph stations across the
continent early yesterday.
It was described at Fordham
University in New York as a
"very, very big earthquake.”
Attendants at the Coast and
Geodetic Survey station here said
the tremor recording seemed to
be strong enough to be of tidal
wave-causing proportions. How
ever, there were no reports of
any wave within the few hours it
would take one to reach other
islands of the Pacific.
Frank Neuman of the Univer
sity of Washington said it prob
ably * centered near the western
part of the Andreanof Islands or
in the Rat Islands—slightly to the
west of where the major tidal
wave quake centered last March.
Letter-size and legal file folders
available at The Nome Nugget